Jubilee 2000 campaign
worldwide movement to cancel the crushing international debt of poor countries
secular and religious organizations both participating
Notes:
Some of the poorest countries in the world are suffering from
debt crises so enormous that they cannot provide internal goods
and services for most of their citizens. The countries of
sub-Saharan Africa, for example, spend more each year on
repaying their debts than they spend on all primary education
and health care. In Nicaragua, whose debt repayments exceed
the total spending on social programs, three out of four people
live below the poverty line and one out of four children under
five suffers from malnutrition.
The developing countries’ debt equals over 2 trillion dollars.
Much of this debt has been accumulated since 1982. Much the debt
was accrued due to bad economic advice from agencies such as the
IMF and World Bank. Thus the poor countries are trapped, making
unending interest payments on their debts. This requires them
continuously to divert large amounts of scarce resources from
health care, education and food security. The debt burden
inhibits the social and economic development that is needed
to lift people out of poverty.
Jubilee 2000 was launched at the G7 Summit, a gathering of the top
7 industrialized countries, in Denver, Colorado June, 1996. It
was set up under the auspices of the Religious Working Group on
the World Bank and the IMF (the International Monetary Fund.)
Both the IMF and the World Bank provide loans and other relief
measures to developing countries. Some analysts do blame much
of the debt crises on bad policy decisions by these two agencies.
An additional source is corrupt dictatorial regimes which purchase
military weapons rather than infrastructure support (health care,
education, etc.)
In the United States members of the campaign include church and
poverty relief organizations.
According to the definitions of social movements provided in
Chapter 23, Jubilee 2000 is a new social movement. Its mission
is based on providing debt relief for the world’s poorest countries.
National campaigns exist in other countries including England,
Scotland, Canada, Australia, Ireland, Germany, Sweden, and
South Africa. All these national Jubilee 2000 movements call for eliminating the staggering debt of the poorest countries by or during the year 2000. The millennial year is the target date to bring about debt relief. The movement is inspired by the book of Leviticus in the Bible which describes a year of Jubilee every fifty years. In the Jubilee year social inequalities are rectified; debt forgiven, slaves freed, land returned to its original owners.
PS Please understand that this campaign should not be confused
with the Catholic Church’s Jubilee year.