Blog the Debt

Poto Mitan: Haitian Women, Pillars of the Global Economy

A note from friend and activist Mark Schuller:

Hi friends,

We came so close in last year's congress to canceling 67 countries' debt. Now with the global financial crisis the work will be harder, which is why we can use all the organizing tools we can secure.

I am writing to ask your help in building a movement for justice for women, for workers, and for Haiti.  I am writing to ask your support for the documentary "Poto Mitan: Haitian Women, Pillars of the Global Economy."

Told through compelling lives of five courageous Haitian women workers, Poto Mitan gives the global economy a human face. Each woman's personal story explains neoliberal globalization, how it is gendered, and how it impacts Haiti: inhumane working/living conditions, violence, poverty, lack of education, and poor health care. While Poto Mitan offers in-depth understanding of Haiti, its focus on women's subjugation, worker exploitation, poverty, and resistance demonstrates these are global struggles. Finally, through their collective activism, these women demonstrate that despite monumental obstacles in a poor country like Haiti, collective action makes change possible.

Poto Mitan's unique quality rests upon the women's acute understanding of the power of film. Citing the Haitian proverb, tande ak we se de (hearing and seeing are two different things), the women implored me to share their stories with people in the U.S., people who have the power to make change.

Haiti's poor majority - to say nothing about Haiti's women - are often spoken for and about, but rarely given the chance to speak on their own behalf.  This is what we've worked how to do, to present these women's real struggles, analysis, and activism in a way that showcases their humanity and their dignity.

From the onset, Poto Mitan has aimed to educate and inspire people to think critically, look behind the label, and get involved. Fighting for justice: for women, workers, or Haiti can't help but bring about our own liberation.

In addition to my attempt to repay my debt to these brave Haitian women, and to honor their request to share their stories, activist filmmaker Renee Bergan and I are making Poto Mitan to raise Haiti's profile, to raise the standards for Haiti's media image, to raise awareness, to raise funds for Haiti, and to raise people's voices to demand change.

Together with our 18 organizational partners we're planning a series of house party campaigns to bring people together to watch the film and to raise funds and take concrete actions - like cancel Haiti's debt.

New Video: "Ecuador's Debt Audit: Implications in the Global Economic Crisis"

Have you been following all the news on Ecuador's recent debt audit and debt default? Watch this new video from the Center for Economic & Policy Research featuring Jubilee's own Neil Watkins discussing this issue.

CEPR writes:
Ecuador recently became the first country to undertake an examination of the legitimacy and structure of its foreign debt. The Commission for the Comprehensive Audit of the Foreign Debt (Comisión de Auditoría Integral de la Deuda Externa, CAIC) published the results of this investigation, and the government is considering various policy options based on information revealed in the study.

On December 11, 2008, CEPR sponsored an event to inform the public about these developments.  Ecuador's Minister of Finance, Maria Elsa Viteri, discussed the implications of the Ecuadorian debt situation in the context of the global economic crisis, including the negative impacts of deregulation of the financial markets and the lack of appropriate established international mechanisms for auditing developing country debt.  Following her presentation, Mark Weisbrot, Co-Director of CEPR, and Neil Watkins, Executive Director of the Jubilee USA Network, spoke on the issue, and a short question and answer session closed the event.

Watch the video here

Coalition pushes debt relief for poor countries as economic stimulus

(Check out an article about us in the Catholic News Service)

By Dennis Sadowski Catholic News Service

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- With all that President-elect Barack Obama has facing his new administration regarding the economy, a coalition of religious, human rights and labor advocates hopes that one concern won't be relegated to the bottom of the list: debt relief for the world's poorest countries.

The Jubilee USA Network recognizes that debt relief's profile has declined dramatically from its high point just a few years ago. But the 80 organizations that make up the network know just as well that their advocacy work has kept the issue in front of Congress, the Bush administration and the World Bank, if not in the headlines.

The coalition takes its name from the Jewish tradition of forgiving debt every 50 years, as told in Chapter 25, Verse 10, of the Book of Leviticus:
"This 50th year you shall make sacred by proclaiming liberty in the land for all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you."

Neil Watkins, Jubilee USA's national coordinator, said the network will be encouraging U.S. officials in the new administration and in Congress to continue their commitments to poor countries at a time when funds for international aid may almost disappear.

"We have this challenge and opportunity," Watkins said. "In a time of scarcity when the budget is going to be directed to U.S. human needs we need to help leaders remember that we also have to think about those in the rest of the world.

"I think it's clear the crisis is going to affect developing countries," he added. "That's going to affect our moral leadership but also our security if this crisis makes life so much worse in developing countries. I think our challenge will be to make the political argument and marshal the constituency to say that a great nation can do two things at once. We can solve the crisis at home, but we also have to take strong measures to help the rest of the world."

Watkins points to the highly successful campaign that led the United States and the World Bank to craft plans canceling debt for 23 of the world's 40 heavily indebted poor countries and reducing it for another 10 nations.

Funds the countries would have used for debt payments are being used for health care, food, education, housing and other development programs, diminishing the impact of the global food crisis, he said.

Now Jubilee USA is looking to expand debt cancellation to the remaining 17 poorest nations. Watkins points to Obama's co-sponsorship in 2008 of the Jubilee Act, which would promote wide relief to poor countries, and efforts by Vice President-elect Joseph Biden to champion the debt-relief cause during his time in the U.S. Senate.