wfn.org | Presbyterians were among leaders of Jubilee 2000

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Note #6332 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

12-January-2001
01011

Presbyterians were among leaders of Jubilee 2000 debt-relief campaign

PC(USA) has advocated debt forgiveness for poor nations since 1989 

by Evan Silverstein 

LOUISVILLE -- Presbyterians played a significant role in last year's Jubilee
2000/USA debt-relief campaign, which prodded Congress to write off millions
of dollars owed by some of the world's poorest countries.

Compelled by the denomination's strong policy on the impact of debt on the
world's poor and a tradition of biblical forgiveness, Presbyterians were
among the first groups to pledge thousands of dollars to the campaign.
Members of the denomination also distinguished themselves as particularly
active and generous in the national bipartisan coalition of religious, labor
and social justice groups that advocated international debt relief to help
poor nations feed and educate their people.

"These are just things that are important to us as Presbyterians and as
Christians," said Sally Goerner of Mead, CO, who draped herself in paper
"chains of debt" during a Jubilee 2000 rally she attended with her family
more than a year ago. "It's important that we treat other people in the
world with fairness, and do what we can to make their circumstances better."

The Presbyterian Church (USA)'s involvement in debt-related issues has a
long history. In 1989, the General Assembly (GA) approved a study called
"The Third World Debt Dilemma," on which the denomination's policy was
based. Seven years later, the GA called on governments, lending institutions
and commercial banks engaged in international lending "to strive to insulate
the poor of indebted countries from the costs of debt payment, and to
consider seriously debt forgiveness or debt relief for the most heavily
indebted and poorest countries."

The 1998 GA specifically supported the Jubilee 2000 campaign, and one year
later the commissioners upheld the denomination's commitment to debt
cancellation.

"Presbyterians have been involved at all levels of the process from the
beginning of the campaign," said Melanie Hardison, PC(USA) Jubilee 2000
campaign coordinator. "When the campaign was started, Presbyterians were at
the table creating the structure, the thrust of the campaign. Presbyterians
have been involved on the grassroots level advocating (for debt relief)."

Throughout the 1990s, debt relief was a major focus of the Presbyterian
Hunger Program, a channel for Presbyterian response to hunger-related crises
around the world. In the past four years the program has spent nearly
$70,000 of its public policy advocacy funds on Jubilee-related activities
and resources.

"Jubilee 2000 demonstrated once again the power of scripture to shape what
we often call 'secular history,'" said the Rev. Gary Cook, director of the
Hunger Program, which is part of the Worldwide Ministries Division (WMD)
program area. "God's ancient plan for an economic order that periodically
'sets things right' rang true for many people who echoed the call for
Jubilee. As we celebrate the debt-relief victories, we need to recommit
ourselves to that powerful vision."

As part of the cause, Presbyterians sent hundreds of letters to federal
lawmakers and followed up with visits to Capitol Hill, held Jubilee-related
programs on the congregation and presbytery levels, and turned out in force
for many national Jubilee programs and demonstrations, such as a peaceful
rally last April in Washington, D.C. In 1999, Presbyterians participated in
a nationwide "rolling fast," refusing to eat for one day as part of an
effort to raise awareness of Jubilee 2000, Hardison said. PC(USA)
missionaries around the world are now drafting a letter in support of debt
cancellation.

Moreover, a Presbyterian minister helped develop key debt-relief concepts
that became part of the foreign-aid bill that President Clinton signed into
law on Nov. 6, which includes a $435-million installment on a global effort
to erase as much as $90 billion owed by impoverished nations, most of them
in Africa.

"The Presbyterian Church has been a real leader in this interfaith
cooperation, and we have some partial victories that no one thought
possible," said Dan Driscoll-Shaw, a former Maryknoll priest who served as
coordinator of the Jubilee 2000/USA initiative. "But we're just beginning,
because the problem is that almost all of the victims of debt continue to
suffer every day. So we have to continue the struggle. ... It's great to
know that the Presbyterian Church is with us."

The Jubilee 2000/USA Campaign next month will start operating under a new
structure and get a new name -- Jubilee USA Network. Its leaders equate
modern debt to ancient slavery, and uphold the biblical practice of Jubilee,
in which debts are forgiven every 50 years.

Presbyterians joined an eclectic group of advocates of debt relief that
included Pope John Paul II, singer Bono of the Irish rock group U2, the Rev.
Pat Robertson, a TV evangelist, and anti-hunger agencies such as Oxfam and
Bread for the World. Religious groups, including the Episcopal Church, the
U.S. Catholic Conference, the National Council of Churches and the Union of
American Hebrew Congregations, also took part.

"From the beginning of the campaign, the Presbyterian Church made debt
relief a priority,"said David Beckmann, a Lutheran minister and president of
Bread for the World, a Christian citizens' group that was active in the
anti-debt campaign. "Staff members in the (Presbyterian) Washington office
and the national office in Louisville focused important energy on the
Jubilee campaign. (The denomination's) commitment at this level provided
individual churches with the resources and information they needed to help
make the campaign a success."

The Rev. Walter Owensby, who was the associate for international issues at
the Presbyterian Washington office until his retirement last September,
contributed to another coalition on debt relief, developing language that
made its way into legislation on financing the $435 million U.S. commitment,
which is part of a foreign-operations spending bill.

"While it's not a matter of Presbyterian individuals being more committed on
this issue than others -- there were a lot of individuals who were
committed, representing a lot of different organizations -- but when it came
to formal policy, we (Presbyterians) had more formal policy than most groups
had," said Owensby, a recognized PC(USA) authority on debt-related issues
and a founding member of the Jubilee 2000/USA steering and executive
committees.

With the U.S. funding, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) was expected to
provide debt relief to about 20 of the world's poorest countries by the end
of last month. The measure will allow poor countries in sub-Saharan Africa,
Latin America and Asia to divert money to health care, education and aid to
the poor.

Jubilee champions say the easing of debt by the world's wealthiest nations,
led by the United States, represents a reversal in policy. Most financial
leaders have long opposed plans to forgive the debts of the neediest
countries.

Owensby said the unparalleled success of Jubilee 2000 helped "people to see
the human and moral issues that were at stake," and resulted in a "very
different policy toward the poorest indebted countries."

"I think it really was quite an extraordinary accomplishment," Owensby said.
"(To think) that a broad range of groups, including church groups, came
together around the Jubilee 2000 commitment. The fact that it was able to
take an issue that seemed so far from the ordinary concerns of most people,
an issue of pretty high finance, of governments owing money to other
governments and international institutions. That's a pretty esoteric
concept."

Acting to correct the problem of crushing debt was a matter of faith for
Sally Goerner and husband Phil, who worship at Central Presbyterian Church
in Longmont, CO. They and their sons, Jared, 13, and Alex, 8, joined
hundreds of activists on Sept. 25, 1999, in forming a "human chain" around
the U.S. Mint in Denver, CO. "Drop the Debt Day," sponsored by the Jubilee
2000 Colorado Campaign, symbolized the "chains of debt" that imprison the
people of poor nations.

"As a citizen and a Presbyterian, I feel it is extremely important that we
take bold actions urging our nations to find ways to give hope to the
impoverished people of the world," said Phil Goerner, the Hunger Action
Enabler of the Plains and Peaks Presbytery and a former board member of the
Presbyterian Hunger Program. "I truly believe that the actions we took in
the Jubilee 2000 campaign enabled us to help people ... make a fresh start."

On the national scene, debt relief has become a rallying cry. Street
protests have taken place in Seattle, Washington and Prague, Czechoslovakia.
The campaign has united Catholics, Jews and Protestants in viewing the
dawning millennium as an opportune time to heed the moral imperative of
helping the poor, especially at a time of unparalleled prosperity.

But there is more work ahead, debt-relief advocates warn. Last year,
lawmakers allocated $110 million to begin erasing up to 90 percent of the
debt impoverished nations owe to the United States. Even with congressional
approval of the president's request for $435 million, the new administration
will need to ask for even more. Another $357 million would be needed over
the next two years to fulfill the $920 million pledge Clinton made during a
meeting of the world's seven wealthiest nations in Cologne, Germany, last
year.

"We will have to maintain our pressure on the issue and be vigilant,
especially in light of the new economic reality," said Elenora Giddings
Ivory, director of the Presbyterian Washington office, who appeared with
Clinton, anti-hunger officials, legislators and other religious leaders at a
White House news conference announcing the $435 million in debt relief. "If
we are facing a recession, there may be a temptation to not continue funding
this, certainly not expand it. So we must have continued vigilance."

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