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Get your holiday wish lists ready! Beyoncé and Jay-Z will lead an A-list lineup to celebrate the 100 year anniversary of Nelson Mandela’s birth in a Johannesburg festival by the Global Citizen.
The December 2nd celebration will be broadcast internationally and center on a theme that includes encouraging world leaders to commit to ending extreme poverty by 2030.
This year’s event, titled “Global Citizen Festival: Mandela 100,” will also include an appearance by Oprah Winfrey who will deliver a keynote address remembering the anti-apartheid revolutionary and philanthropist on what would have been his 100th birthday.
The other notables in attendance include: Coldplay frontman Chris Martin, singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran, Pearl Jam singer Eddie Vedder, producer Pharrell Williams and Usher.
The festival will also feature some of Africa’s most popular musicians including South African hip-hop producer Cassper Nyovest and Nigerian artists Wizkid, D’banj and Femi Kuti, who is the son of globally celebrated Afrobeat legend Fela Kuti.
In addition to Winfrey, Gayle King, Naomi Campbell, Sir Bob Geldof, Bozoma St. John and Forest Whitaker are on the lineup to help host the event.
In statement sent to USA TODAY, Global Citizen CEO Hugh Evans talked about the importance of this year’s event.
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“Over the last 30 years, great progress has been made in the fight to end extreme poverty but there is still much more to be done. Ten percent of the world’s population — approximately 750 million people — still remain trapped in this cycle,” he said.
“This is intolerable in 2018. With the Global Citizen Festival Mandela 100 it is our goal to mobilize a generation to take action, calling on governments and the private sector to end this injustice in Nelson Mandela’s memory.”
Global Citizen has held festivals since 2012 in New York’s Central Park on the sidelines of the annual UN General Assembly to rally support, especially among millennials, in the fight against poverty.
The group has now branched out overseas with seminars and music in places including India and Germany.
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Just in 2018 alone, Global Citizens, the advocacy organization behind the festival, has secured commitments totaling over $2.9 billion to help affect the lives of more than 501 million people by 2030. Since the start of their movement, they have secured over $30 billion, which is set to affect the lives of one billion people.
You can earn free tickets to the festival starting Aug. 21 by taking action to end some of the world’s biggest challenges. Just sign up at www.globalcitizen.org.za.