Tanabata is an old Japanese custom practiced on 7 July each year. You think of your wishes for the coming year, and tie them to a bamboo, sharing them with everyone else. This year Tanabata time coincides with the G8 Summit in Japan, and Global Call for Action Against Poverty (the campaign formerly known as Make Poverty History) is inviting people to submit their wishes for the G8, to be formed into a petition to the Japanese Prime Minister, as the summit opens. You can now take part in Second Life™ too. We’ve put a Tanabata tree on Union Island, and just so you don’t miss it, we’ve made it a BIG one.

Add your name to the campaign action, and thanks to the wonders of XML (kindly programmed for us by QA Computing’s David Boelke), you’ll see your wish appear on the tree alongside everyone else’s.

If you’ve got a home space in SL, or your own sim, drop us a note and we’ll send you another little Tanabata of your own, which also updates with wishes. Let’s spread this campaign right around SL in time for the G8!

Every year on 7 July, the people of Japan celebrate the custom of Tanabata by making wishes for the coming year, and tying them to a bamboo tree. This July, leaders of eight of the world’s wealthiest and most powerful nations – the G8 – will be meeting in Hokkaido, Japan.

To coincide with the G8, people across the globe are being invited to make a virtual Tanabata wish for immediate action on workers rights, education, health and HIV/AIDS, climate change and international aid. The wishes will be displayed online and presented to the Japanese Prime Minister before the G8 meetings begin.

Situated on Union Island (www.slunionisland.org), the Second Life home for trade unionists, is a giant virtual Tanabata tree, which shows the numbers of people making different wishes for the G8, as well as a list of the most recent to have added their names to the campaign. Users can also take an interactive Tanabata tree for their own space in Second Life, helping to spread the word amongst the virtual world’s 13 million users.

Campaigners will also be hosting events under the giant tree in the run up to the G8 summit, to discuss the issues behind the campaign.

TUC Head of International Relations, Owen Tudor, said: “Union Island is, like the unions who created it, a global phenomenon. With visitors from California to Mongolia, and from Norway to South Africa, it now offers the chance to take virtual action that results in real change. Trade unions share a common desire with development activists to see global action against poverty, and bringing this campaign into Second Life can send a new sort of message to world leaders.”

NOTES TO EDITORS:

• Find out how to visit the virtual island, and more background information on the project and Second Life at www.slunionisland.org
• The interactive Tanabata tree in Second Life was XML enabled by David Boelke of Second Life development company QA Computing.

In July, leaders of eight of the world’s wealthiest and most powerful nations – the G8 – will meet in Hokkaido, Japan for their annual meeting.

Trade unions and other civil society organisations around the world are calling on these leaders to take urgent action to meet their promises, and do far more, to fight poverty and inequality.

Every year on July 7, the people of Japan celebrate Tanabata by making their wishes for the coming year, and tying them to a bamboo tree. This year, people across the globe are invited to make their wish for immediate action from the G8 on workers rights, education, health and HIV/AIDS, climate change and international aid.

Your wish, along with millions of others will be handed to the Japanese Prime Minister on July 6, the day before the meetings begin. Join the growing Global Call to Action Against Poverty, as civil society everywhere calls for change, and an end to the injustices of poverty and inequality.