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Enough Food IF in Hyde Park

The Big IF London is your chance to come together with thousands of people from across the UK to make a huge noise about hunger and demand world leaders take action at the G8.

IF the world produces enough food for everyone, why does 1 in 8 people not have enough food? This is the silent scandal and injustice of our age, but the G8 have the power to change it. IF we come together and make enough noise, we can persuade G8 leaders to act and prevent the suffering and death that hunger causes. They can do this by:

Clamping down on tax havens to stop the billions of pounds that flow out of developing countries – money that could be used to end hunger.

Helping poor countries make sure that people, especially children, have adequate nutrition, and supporting poor families to grow their own food.

Giving people in developing countries more control over their land by protecting poor farmers from land grabs and using land to grow food not biofuels.

The Big IF London will kick-start Enough Food for Everyone IF’s 10-day campaign – focused around David Cameron’s Hunger Summit on 8th June, his Tax and Transparency Summit on 15th June, and of course the G8 itself from 17th-18th June – to make sure that David Cameron goes to the G8 Summit with our demands ringing in his ears.

SCM's wonderful programme for the day:

• 11.30 – Ecumenical Service at Westminster Central Hall (doors open at 10.30)
• 13.15-13.30 – Meet people for the main event at St Paul's Knightsbridge
• 13.35 – Walk from St Paul's Knightsbridge into Hyde Park
• 14.00-17.00 – Main IF event!

On the day, you and many others will help build a breath-taking field of flowers, with 2 million petals representing the 2 million children that die from hunger every year – lives that could be saved. In the 24 hours before you arrive, thousands of volunteers will have been working in shifts to plant a quarter of a million flowers in the shape of an enormous cooking pot, held by human hands. But the pot will be empty. On the day of our rally, thousands of us will come down to plant our own flowers in the empty space – filling the cooking pot with food, a physical reminder to G8 leaders that we can make 2013 the beginning of the end of hunger.

As you arrive in Hyde Park, you will be directed to the site of this huge image (it’ll be about the size of a football field), where there will be representatives from your organisations and a special craft area where you can make and personalise your own flower with a message to G8 leaders. Even better if you’ve been able to bring flowers that you’ve prepared at home with the help of our online kit.

IF we all come together to add the power of our voices, G8 leaders will hear loud and clear that they need to act now to tackle the causes of hunger.

You will then be guided by our team of volunteers to plant your food flower into the installation, and experience the breath-taking expanse of flowers – our visual petition calling for action on hunger – from up close.

You can come and plant your flowers at any time from 10am, and we would welcome people to come early as there might be queues later on (the image must be finished by 3pm.) Just make sure you stay around for the main event, which starts at 2pm.

After making and planting your flowers, you will be directed over to the main rally area, where there will be a host of fun activities, big screens and the main stage. The big screens will be showing amazing footage from around the world from the IF Global Day of Action, which will have taken place the day before in over 15 countries. There will be new, powerful films on hunger and its causes, as well as personal messages from celebrities, influential figures and campaigners from around the UK and the world.

The rally finale will be directed by a famous compere who will then introduce keynote speeches by global influential figures, celebrity supporters and faith leaders, as well as stories from inspirational campaigners from developing countries and music. We will also experience the ‘reveal’ of the final image, watching its completion by live-feed from the installation site. We will all pause for a minute’s silence in remembrance of the millions of lives lost unnecessarily to hunger every year, and then make a huge noise (feel free to bring pots to bang, whistles and vuvuzelas to blow, rattles to shake etc!) to demand change, making sure that G8 leaders go to Northern Ireland with our demands ringing in their ears. Because IF we make enough noise, they won’t be able to ignore us.

Throughout the afternoon you’ll be able to wander between special areas on the rally site:

• The children’s area: family-friend fun where children can take part in special craft activities and illustration classes by the Gruffalo illustrators, hear professional story tellers and play various interactive and educational games linked to food.

• The youth area: where young people can gather and hang out, take pictures against cool back-drops and take part in our special IF paint-bombing activity.

• The YouTuber area: come and meet YouTuber extraordinaire, Charlie McDonnell, and other YouTubers, who will be performing throughout the day using their various talents.

• The Bloggers Lounge: a great place to meet up with other bloggers, share tips and live blog from the event.

• Picnic / food area: get lunch on the day from one of the numerous street food stands serving international cuisine, reflecting the international scope and reach of the campaign. Or you can bring your own lunch from home and enjoy it in the big picnic area.

• Information areas: gather at the brilliant IF café to debate and learn more about the campaign and its asks, or visit stalls run by the organisations involved in the campaign to find out more about their work.

Once the powerful flower image is complete, it will begin a journey across to Northern Ireland. We’ll be pulling together a speeded-up film showing the build of the image to present to world leaders at the G8 as a visual petition, calling on them to act on ending global hunger. The spinning flowers from the installation will be sent across the country and used at various events happening in the 10 day campaign before the G8 Summit. We’ll also make sure that each G8 leader gets their own spinning flower on the day of the G8, so they each hear loud and clear the demands of people across the UK and the rest of the world for them to take action on the causes of hunger at the Summit.

And you can have your own reminder of the role you’ve played in the fight against hunger – at the end of Big IF London, you’ll be able to go back to the flower field to join the volunteers dismantling the image and take one home.

We know the potential for positive change when millions of us come together to demand action. Seemingly impossible challenges like ending apartheid, the woman’s suffrage, dropping third world debt, have been overcome by our loud and persistent calls for change. 

With your help, 2013 can be such a year. You can be part of the generation to end hunger. Come to Big IF London!