wfn.org | $70 Billion Debt Cancellation Is 'Not Enough', Says Jubilee 2000

[PCUSA NEWS <pcusa.news@ecunet.org>]

12-July-1999 
99231 
 
    $70 Billion Debt Cancellation Is 'Not Enough', Says Jubilee 2000 
 
    With Total Debt at $400 Billion, 
    More Relief is Needed, Campaign Leaders Say 
 
    by Stephen Brown 
 
COLOGNE, Germany -  Organizers of the Jubilee 2000 movement -  which is 
calling for the cancellation of debts owed by the world's poorest countries 
-  have criticized as "too little" the proposals by the leaders of the 
world's main industrialized countries to ease the debt crisis. 
 
    But Jubilee 2000 organizers insisted that the proposals would never 
have been made if they had not campaigned for debt cancellation. 
 
    On 19 June, to hammer home their calls for "a debt-free start to the 
new millennium" for the world's poorest countries, tens of thousands of 
campaigners from around the world formed a 10-kilometer long human chain 
around the center of the German city of Cologne where the leaders were 
meeting. 
 
    They were joined by Cardinal Joachim Meisner, Roman Catholic Archbishop 
of Cologne and by several pop stars - Bob Geldof, U2's lead singer Bono, 
Radiohead's Thom Yorke, and the African musician Youssou N'Dour. 
 
    At 2 p.m. the protesters blew whistles and banged drums, and church 
bells were rung throughout the city, as demonstrators paraded a golden calf 
- a symbol of the worship of riches - outside the meeting place of the 
summit. 
 
    A petition bearing more than 17 million signatures supporting the 
campaign was also presented to German Chancellor Gerhard Schroder, who was 
hosting the "G8" heads of government meeting, which brought to Cologne 
leaders of the world's seven major industrial powers, and Russian president 
Boris Yeltsin. 
 
    The actions marked the climax of the "Jubilee 2000" movement, which has 
taken the lead in calling for debt cancellation.  The campaign was launched 
in Britain in 1996 and has now taken root in more than 50 countries.  It 
has been endorsed by many church leaders - including Cape Town's Anglican 
Archbishop Njongonkulu Ndungane and the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr George 
Carey - and by prominent ecumenical organizations such as the World Council 
of Churches. 
 
    On June18 heads of government from the world's seven leading industrial 
nations pledged to write off $70 billion of debt owed by 36 of the most 
indebted developing countries. 
 
    But Ann Pettifor, co-founder and director of Jubilee 2000 in the United 
Kingdom, told ENI: "It's too little, I'm afraid.  It's really depressing. 
These countries owe $370 billion.  In Birmingham [in 1998] the G8 promised 
to cancel $25 billion.  That moved up to $50 billion.  Yesterday it moved 
up again to $70 billion.  That is the achievement of this campaign, but 
it's still far from dealing with the fundamental problems of debt." 
 
    She added: "Getting $70 billion written off is a success in anybody's 
book, certainly the G8 feel the pain of it.  But it's not enough for us." 
 
    She said that the campaign would continue, and singled out the U.S. and 
Japan as examples of industrialized countries where greater awareness about 
the debt crisis was needed. 
 
    Estimates of the extent of international debt vary.  According to a 
1997 UN report, "the debt of the 41 highly indebted poor countries now 
totals $215 billion, up from $183 billion in 1990, and $55 billion in 
1980." 
 
    After presenting the petition to Chancellor Schroder, Roman Catholic 
Archbishop Oscar Rodriguez, from Honduras, described the culmination of the 
Jubilee 2000 campaign as "a great sign of hope for the poorest countries." 
 
    The "participation of civil society" in many industrialized countries 
had made people aware that "there will not be peace for everyone when there 
is no justice for everyone," the archbishop told ENI.  "For us it's a great 
hope, even if the amount of the debt that is going to be canceled by the 
international financial institutions is not what we had hoped." 
 
    The Jubilee 2000 campaign had called for more than 21 million 
signatures to make the petition for debt cancellation the world's biggest 
petition.  Pettifor told ENI  that she was confident that this target would 
be reached, pointing out that more signatures were arriving daily, and as a 
result the number had increased from 12 million earlier this month to more 
than 17 million. 
 
    The biggest number of signatures had been collected in Peru, where two 
million people signed the petition. 
 
    Laura Vargas, of the Peruvian Catholic Episcopal Commission for Social 
Action, told ENI that in Peru "the campaign gave people hope.  It showed 
that it is possible to create a world of dignity where there is justice and 
solidarity." 
 
    According to organizers, 35,000 people from at least 60 countries 
joined the human chain in Cologne.  Dutch campaigners sailed in a boat 
along the Rhine to Cologne.  Swedish campaigners chartered a "Jubilee 
train" from Stockholm to Cologne to bring more than 400 people to the 
demonstration.  They were joined on the first leg of their journey by Mats 
Karlsson, the under-secretary of state, at the Swedish foreign office. 
 
    Karin Akerlund, the (Lutheran) Church of Sweden's coordinator for 
global economics, told ENI: "The G8 decision is not enough for creating a 
new future for the poorest people.  We have to demand much more.  But we 
have succeeded in making the G8 take small steps forward." 
 
    In Sweden the Jubilee 2000 campaign was launched last year by five 
organizations, including the Church of Sweden.  Today it has 72 member 
organizations. 
 
    "This is the biggest campaign we have had which is not related to 
collecting money for suffering people, but is about changing structures," 
Akerlund said, adding that the churches had a special responsibility in 
such campaigns. 
 
    "The churches played a facilitating role in many countries.  The church 
with its sensitivity to issues of justice should take on the role of 
facilitating cooperation in civil society.  We've done that on fair trade, 
now we are doing that on issues of debt." 

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