Jubilee Update

Jubilee justice

The US House of Representatives will vote on the Jubilee Act in early April!

Please take action by calling your Representative TODAY

[4-7-08]

"Must we starve our children to pay our debts?"
Julius Nyerere, former President of Tanzania

From the Witness in Washington Weekly, published by the Washington Office of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)

April 7, 2008

Join us today as we call on Congress to pass the Jubilee Act and break the chains of debt for the world's impoverished countries (additional information below the call script).

Please take the simple steps below -- and help change the lives of millions:

1. Find out who your Representative is by entering your zip code at http://www.pcusa.org/washington

2. Call the Capitol switchboard at 202-224-3121.

3. Ask to be connected to your Representative's office. The receptionist will answer. Introduce yourself as (your name), a constituent from (city, state).

4. I am calling today to urge Representative________ to vote yes on the Jubilee Act (H.R. 2634), which will be considered on the House floor in early April. This bill would expand eligibility for debt cancellation to 67 impoverished countries. Without debt cancellation these 67 countries will not be able to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). (If you'd like, add an additional sentence about why this issue is important to you). Do you know how Representative _________ plans to vote on the Jubilee Act?

5. Please be sure to thank the receptionist when you are finished.

6. Thank you for taking action -- now send this message on to 10 friends & urge them to make the call too!!

Background Information:

Today, the world's most impoverished countries spend more than $100 million each day in debt payments to wealthy governments and financial institutions like the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). In countries where the majority of the population lives on less than $1 per day, this money should be spent on clean water, basic health care, and education, not sent to the world's wealthiest financial institutions.

In 2000 and again in 2005 world leaders came together to cancel billions of dollars of debt in dozens of impoverished countries around the world. The money freed by debt cancellation so far has been used to fight global AIDS, enroll children in school, provide clean water, improve rural infrastructure and more. But there is still much more that needs to be done С dozens of impoverished countries around the world are still waiting for debt justice!

The most important and prophetic debt legislation in seven years, the Jubilee Act, will expand access to debt cancellation to all the countries that need it to fight extreme poverty. Without debt cancellation, it will be nearly impossible for many countries to achieve the UN Millennium Development Goals to cut extreme poverty in half by 2015.

The Jubilee Act also requires that debt cancellation be provided without harmful economic policy conditions attached, calls for the initiation of a responsible lending framework, and requires a debt audit in countries like South Africa and the Democratic Republic of Congo which have a heavy burden of odious debt.

General Assembly Guidance:

In 1998, the General Assembly called upon presbyteries and congregations to support the goals of Jubilee 2000 by sending statements of support to key policy makers in the U.S. government and multilateral lending agencies. The resolution endorsed and supported the "definitive cancellation of international debt in situations where countries with high levels of human need and environmental distress are unable to meet the needs of their people. . . in a way that benefits ordinary people and facilitates their participation in the processes of. . . debt relief." (Minutes, 1998, p. 676)

If you would like to receive this information directly, please go to http://capwiz.com/pcusa/mlm/signup/ .

JUBILEE UPDATE

After major progress, much remains to be done for global economic justice

by Jane Hanna, president of the Witherspoon Society

[7-23-01]

In spite of major victories, the Jubilee 2000 movement to cancel the debts of the poorest countries has not been completed. Last February during a three-day conference in Denver, Jubilee 2000/USA grew to become the Jubilee USA Network, committed to serve as the US wing of the ongoing global Jubilee movement. In the transition many new faith, labor, and social service organizations have joined in this struggle for Jubilee economic justice.

Recognizing that much of the work of the Jubilee debt cancellation campaign remains to be done, the new organization continues to oppose the oppression often imposed by economic structures. Progress so far can be measured by the increased millions of children in Uganda, Honduras, Mozambique and elsewhere who are attending school in classrooms with books and paper because of the Jubilee work to cancel the debt. However, once again we need to intensify political pressure for change in the global economic status quo.

Debt cancellation has been put on the agenda, so we need to keep building this movement until the momentum becomes so strong that full debt cancellation is won and the poor have a voice at the table. This is a moral issue, one we rich citizens of the world dare not ignore. It is not God's intent that millions of the world's people live in abject poverty while a minority enjoy the fruits of the world's labor and resources.

As I write, thousands are gathered in Genoa, Italy to protest the injustice of the global economic system as it presently operates. Barred from G-8 discussions by 15-foot fences, metal and concrete barriers, heavily armed police and military in riot gear, helicopters, and missiles, protesters from around the world ask to be heard.

Regrettably, the violence of some during such gatherings, for whatever reason, gains the attention of the world press. Focus on the anarchy of a minority diverts attention from the violence of system-structured poverty. It is essential to expose the disastrous impact of decisions made by an elite, sowing misery for the many. Eating sumptuously, housed on a luxury liner, the gathered leaders are protected from the ravages of hunger, poverty, and disease, oblivious to the depths of its existence.

We need not sit idly by. Begin with letters and phone calls to our political representatives, letters to the editor and to the World Bank and IMF in support of the "Drop the Debt" campaign. Jubilee USA is calling for 100% cancellation of debt held by the World Bank and IMF, from their own resources, without structural adjustment.

We need to focus our attention on getting the Administration and Congress to support this year's Debt Cancellation initiative. We must resist Administration attempts to repeal legislation won last year requiring the US to vote against and oppose IMF and World Bank loans that include user fees for public health and education. We must also oppose forced privatization of water and other utility systems.

Melanie Hardison, PCUSA representative on the Jubilee USA Network Coordinating Committee, urges congregations to engage in education/action programs that reveal how rigged the global economic system is in favor of the wealthiest countries. The Global South debt is fundamentally illegitimate when rich countries set all the rules of trade, aid, investment, and exchange rates but are not held responsible for their effects. Impoverished nations and peoples are left with virtually no say in the conduct of their economic lives. Our faith requires that we speak for the voiceless, repudiating an inhumane structure.