wfn.org | U.S. Women at WCC Ecumenical Decade Festival

[CAROL_FOUKE.parti@ecunet.org (CAROL FOUKE)]

National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A.
Internet: news@ncccusa.org

125NCC12/1/98   FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

By Carol J. Fouke, NCC Communication Department

Additional Stories on the Decade Festival:
 http://www.ncccusa.org (Link to News Service)
 http://www.wcc-coe.org (Link to Decade Festival)

U.S. WOMEN, IN AFRICA FOR WCC ECUMENICAL DECADE FESTIVAL, 
WITNESS IMPACT OF EXTERNAL DEBT, PRESS FOR CANCELLATION
U.S. Delegation Targets Sign-On Letter to Clintons, 
Albright, IMF, World Bank

 HARARE, Zimbabwe, Dec. 1 ---- The 125-member U.S. 
delegation to a World Council of Churches festival 
marking the end of the Ecumenical Decade of the Churches 
in Solidarity with Women 1988-1998 today demanded "the 
complete cancellation of debt for the most heavily 
indebted countries as a first step in changing the unjust 
economic policies which govern our world."

 Their letter, targeted to President and Mrs. 
Clinton, U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and 
the Presidents of the International Monetary Fund and 
World Bank, reflects both the four priorities of the 
Ecumenical Decade and 50 U.S. women's visits to 10 
African countries, from Egypt to South Africa, pre-
festival.

 U.S. delegation members also committed themselves to 
additional action steps.

 The Nov. 27-30 "Decade Festival: Visions Beyond 
1998" brought together 1,200 women and, by design, a few 
men to celebrate the achievements of the Decade, which 
encouraged the WCC's 330-plus member churches worldwide 
to take initatives in their own contexts under four broad 
themes: economic justice, women's participation in the 
church, racism, and violence against women.

 Among Festival delegates pressing the U.S. 
delegation to take a strong action around the issue of 
external debt was Dr. Thelma Adair, a retired university 
professor and well-known leader in both the ecumenical 
movement and her own Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).  She 
was the first African American woman to serve as General 
Assembly moderator for the PCUSA's predecessor United 
Presbyterian Church.  She is vice president of Church 
Women United and a former CWU president.

 She and her daughter, Dr. Jeanne D. Adair, both of 
New York City, made a pre-Festival woman-to-woman visit 
to Zambia, and were deeply moved at the devastating 
effect of the external debt - graphically illustrated at 
an orphanage for 2,000 children, most of whom lost their 
parents to AIDS-related illnesses.

 "The orphanage, in a Catholic church, is staffed by 
community women who scrape together resources - for 
example, selling bread rolls at two cents each," she 
said.  Few government resources are available - an 
enormous percentage of the budget must go to external 
debt payments.  "The people who want to help have so few 
resources."

 "We as Christians need to help our government and 
the IMF to reflect on how they are asking these countries 
to pay their debt," she said, speaking in support of the 
debt cancellation campaign.  "And we need a Marshall Plan 
of Christian sympathy that goes in to these areas to get 
them where they can participate.  We need a new form of 
sharing."

 The complete text of the U.S. delegation's letter 
follows (signatures to be transmitted at a later date), 
as does a copy of their action commitment.

*  *  *  *

Letter to Clintons, Albright, IMF, World Bank:

We, the undersigned Christian women who are U.S. 
representatives to the World Council of Churches 
Ecumenical Decade Festival of Churches in Solidarity with 
Women, write urging you to take steps towards the 
complete cancellation of debt for the most heavily 
indebted countries as a first step in changing the unjust 
economic policies which govern our world.  The Decade 
Festival which took place in Harare, Zimbabwe, November 
27-30, 1998, has been an opportunity for Christians from 
around the world to celebrate the accomplishments which 
have been made for and by women in the church and in 
society over the last ten years.  The event has also been 
a time to challenge each other in areas still in need of 
progress and to hold ourselves accountable for bringing 
about the vision of God's justice and peace.

As Christian people, we are called to proclaim and enact 
"Jubilee" for those in bondage due to poverty.  The 
biblical tradition of Jubilee is rooted in the Hebrew 
scriptures.  Every fifty years was a year for Jubilee in 
which slaves were released from bondage, property was 
redistributed, and the land was given time for rest and 
renewal.

As part of our experience on the continent of Africa, 
many of us had the chance to visit our African sisters in 
their home countries.  Fifty women and men from the U.S. 
visited ten African countries ranging from South Africa 
to Egypt.  Our experiences had a common thread running 
through them.  We saw that the people of Africa suffer 
greatly because of the unfair burden of debt, which 
drains their economies.  

It is important to remember that for every $1 that 
northern countries spend in aid, over $3 comes back in 
the form of debt servicing.  Furthermore, the original 
debts incurred by these poverty stricken countries have 
already been paid.  It is only because of the unjust 
hikes in interest rates during the 1980's that debts 
increased so dramatically, rendering payback almost 
impossible.

With support from the U.S., the Structural Adjustment 
Programs (SAPs) which have been implemented by the 
International Monetary Fund and the World Bank as a 
condition for rescheduling loan payments have further 
devastated the social and economic fabric of Africa and 
other regions. The SAPs have resulted in less spending on 
basic human needs such as health care, education, and 
food subsidies.  Furthermore, Structural Adjustment has 
forced many small subsistence farms to change over to 
export cash crops.

Not surprising, the burden of debt and subsequent SAPs 
falls most heavily on women and children.  We have seen 
this reality with our own eyes.  Women in Africa are the 
primary agricultural producers.  For example, sixty 
percent of the communal farmers in Zimbabwe are women.  
Because of the trend towards cash crops from which they 
derive little benefit, many women must leave their homes 
to become engaged in cross-border trade or move to urban 
areas to find other work.  

The focus for many women and their families has become 
everyday survival. This means that the social and 
cultural fabric of life has eroded.  Families are torn 
apart because parents must move to where they can find 
work.  In many cases children are left alone.  The 
percentage of rape cases among young children has 
increased.  This reality contributes to an already 
devastatingly high percentage of HIV/AIDS cases, which go 
untreated because of a lack of health services available.
As you can see, the debt crisis touches every aspect of 
life for African people.  As such, debt cancellation has 
become a human rights issue.  

In this fiftieth anniversary year of the UN Declaration 
of Human Rights, we call on you to ensure that U.S. 
policies do not violate the human rights of our global 
sisters and brothers.  It is our responsibility as the 
world super-power to lead the globe in respecting and 
protecting the basic dignity of all of God's people.

*  *  *  *
Action commitment by U.S. delegation to the Festival:

Your sisters from the United States, recognizing our 
racial/ethnic and class diversity, unite our voices in 
solidarity with all women who are impacted by Structural 
Adjustment Programs (SAP) and unjust economic policies. 
We are listening and we hear the challenge and call to 
accountability. Indeed, we understand the role our nation 
has played and continues to play in the victimization of 
two-thirds of the world's people. We name our nation as 
part of the problem in perpetuating the global economy.

As church women looking toward the jubilee millennium, we 
work for the Leviticus 25 Jubilee vision of:
* cancellation of internal and external debt;
* renewal of the earth and its sustainable use; and 
* redistribution of global resources.

We will hold our nations, our churches, and ourselves 
accountable in the following ways:
* We will ask each of our denominations to join/endorse 
Jubilee/USA.
* We will urge each denomination to feature Jubilee/USA 
in 1999-2000 annual conferences.
* We will urge denominations and ecumenical legislative 
offices and United Nations offices: to participate in 
Jubilee/USA and to distribute educational materials/fact 
sheets; to participate in Interfaith Impact Briefing - 
April 1999 in Washington DC, including: Lobbying the 
United States Congress on debt cancellation; inviting 
women whose communities and nations have been impacted by 
Structural Adjustment Program to be part of the briefing. 
* We will link international impact of SAP to domestic 
issues including welfare reform and job flight, and 
asking for investment in domestic communities that are 
impacted.
* We will call upon Jubilee partners to plan and 
coordinate "A Week of Lamentation" in Fall 1999, in 
conjunction with  annual meetings of World Bank and 
International Monetary Fund  (IMF), including creation of 
an Interfaith Wailing Wall where persons can cry and tell 
their stories.
* We will explore with CWU and Jubilee 2000 the 
possibility of conducting "Listening Team" visits to 
affected communities in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, 
Latin America, Eastern Europe, the Pacific, and the 
Middle East.

Personal accountability: In addition to being personally 
accountable for actions leading to implementing the 
recommendations mentioned so far, we pledge to connect 
with at least one other woman to adjusting our lifestyles 
so that we will be living consistently with the Jubilee 
vision of "enough for all."    

We are committed to:
* Accompanying our sisters as, together, we envision and 
act for justice.
* Working with governmental advocacy ministries, other 
organizations, and directly with our elected officials 
and corporations to bring about these changes.

We call upon the World Council of Churches to coordinate 
a women' global network in order: 
* to continue the accompaniment, 
* to sustain the struggle, and to hold us mutually 
accountable.

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