wfn.org | Born to debt : Three bishops tell of living and dying in debt

["Christopher Took" <storm@indigo.ie>]

ACNS LC044 - 24 July 1998

Born to debt : Three bishops tell of living and dying in debt

By Nicola Currie
Section Communicator

"Why are we suffering so much?" asked an old woman who lives in
poverty in rural Zambia.

"Because of the IMF," came the reply.

"Well, who is this Mr. IMF who makes us suffer so much?" she retorted.

Bishop Bernard Malango of Northern Zambia (Central Africa) uses
this story to illustrate how the rural poor know about the daily
misery of living with the consequences of the Structural
Adjustment Programmes (SAPs) imposed by the International
Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, even if the bodies
themselves are unknown to them.

Zambia, like many countries, is caught in the debt trap. The
government needs grants from these bodies to pay back earlier
loans. In 1991, a SAP was imposed on the country requiring
austere economic measures. Essential commodities were no longer
subsidised, free education and medical care ended, and the
dramatic rise in fuel costs led to further price increases.

Today many of the rural poor are lucky if they have one meal a
day, Bishop Malango said. The extended family system that ensured
the welfare of all the community is breaking down as people
struggle to survive.

It is estimated that every child born in Zambia today inherits a
debt of £450, he said. One result of this debt is the rise in the
number of street children who come to the cities to beg. Bishop
Malango's diocese has set up a feeding programme for these
children, some of whom are as young as five.

But such programmes do not address the cause of the problem.
Bishop Malango calls for a fresh beginning: cancellation of the
debt so that people in Zambia have breathing space.

Philippines still pays for the shoes of Imelda Marcos

"We are not asking for debt forgiveness; we are asking for
justice. We are asking the creditors to repent, and debt
cancellation would be a symbol of that repentance," says
Archbishop Alberto Ramento of the Philippine Independent Church.

The government of the Philippines has to allow an automatic
allocation of 40 percent of its annual budget to service its debt
burden of $46 billion.

Archbishop Ramento says the IMF and World Bank knew of the
corruption of the Marcos regime, yet they continued to give
loans.  The Marcos regime has ended but its inheritance is still
with the people. "We are paying for the shoes of Imelda Marcos,"
Archbishop Ramento says.

To the ordinary people of the Philippines this indebtedness means
"huge amounts of money are allocated to servicing the debts," he
said. "Money and resources that could have been used for
education, health and social services to alleviate the desperate
conditions of our poor peasants are being siphoned off to pay the
debts."

He added, "This means that more and more foreign currency will be
needed to pay off debts-foreign currency that can come only from
remittances of our exploited migrant workers abroad, now
numbering seven million, and from tourism which has encouraged
the growth of the sex industry." Archbishop Ramento says this sex
industry includes the exploitation of children by pedophiles
posing as tourists.

Developing countries "are fighting a war," he said. "We are
fighting to live with dignity and we cannot win this war because
we do not have the power to win it on the streets of Manila
alone. But it can be won in the streets of London and Washington
by those who have the power."

Debt cancellation not enough

"Debt cancellation will not change anything long term; there is a
need for a new economic order," says Bishop Luiz Osorio Prado
Pires of Pelotas (Brazil). Debt cancellation by itself will not
change the underlying unjust global structures he believes need
to be changed for people to become fully human.

The city of Pelotas has a population of 350,000 people, of whom
20 percent live in misery, barely surviving at all. But Bishop
Prado maintains that debt is not a simple North-South issue.

"There are people in our country who live as people in the North.
They are not interested in change, so they support the World Bank
and IMF and share their priorities. But their priorities are not
ours," he said.

"Our condition is a by-product of the development of others at
our cost. We see in horror the fruits of our work being used

just to pay the interest on the debt," he said.

"Our natural resources are exploited in ways that degrade the
quality of the environment, with the same technology that is
forbidden in its countries of origin," Bishop Prado said.

"In our situation our commitment is to the encouragement of those
who live in such horrible deprivation. We try to translate our
faith and vision into political engagement with people."

The Church in Brazil is active in working with the National
Movement of Landless People, a political grouping of the poorest
in society. "They have a very clear picture of the social
mechanisms that produce injustice and misery," Bishop Prado says.

"They also are the ones who outline in the most intelligent way
the political alternatives to the under-development and rupture
with international dependence. The landless people, as a
movement, are a great example to the Christian Churches."

For further information, contact:

Lambeth Conference Communications
Canterbury Business School
University of Kent at Canterbury
Telephone: 01227 827348/9
Fax: 01227 828085
Mobile: 0374 800212

http://www.lambethconference.org