The Jubilee Blog

Visualizing the Impact of Debt Slavery

Jim Russo, Jubilee's on-call tech guru in Michigan sent these amazing links to Worldmapper, a site that uses maps to help us "visualize some of the statistics we deal with." Jim calls Worldmapper "a collection of world maps, where territories are re-sized on each map according to the subject of interest."

• Total Debt Service 1990
• Total Debt Service 2002
• Terms Of Trade Decline 1980-2002

Introducing the Illegitimate Debt Campaign Bulletin

The International Debt Facilitation Team, which includes Jubilee USA, Jubilee South, Eurodad and CADTM, released the first edition of the new joint Illegitimate Debt Campaign Bulletin. It describes nearly 50 recent or imminent actions plus research initiatives related to the illegitimate debt campaign.

Please circulate widely, copy and print it for your meetings, use articles for your own newsletters, post it on your websites, etc.

Also, let the Team know how you have used it and what ideas you have for improving it. The next edition will be published in mid-May. Please send your feedback and inputs by May 4 to Alex Wilks or Myriam Bourgy at [email protected].

Download the English Version.
Download the Spanish version.
Download the French version.

On the 200th Anniversary of the End of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade

The prison industrial complex aside, debt slavery — the reality that millions upon millions of people in the Global South must daily pay on a debt they had no part in accumulating — is one of today’s most overlooked injustices. At the same time these impoverished nations are expected to reach the Millennium Development Goals, they remain financially unequipped to even begin addressing the issues of inadequate healthcare, HIV/AIDS, high levels of child/infant mortality, and universal education. One large part of the reason is debt.

Bob Edgar, the General Secretary of the National Council of Churches, wrote “Ending Debt Slavery”, the column below, for Commondreams.org. The op-ed draws a comparison between activists who rallied against the enslavement of their fellow human beings more than 200 years ago to what’s happening today in the economic justice movement.

Edgar notes that while slavery is illegal in most places around the world, the very legal debt slavery still persists and is sanctioned by the same governments who eventually wrote law that constitutionally ended the enslavement of human beings by another human being.

Ending Debt Slavery
By Bob Edgar
Last week marked the 200th anniversary of the end of the transatlantic slave trade. Two centuries later, it is clear that one of history’s most towering evils, the enslavement of human beings, came to an end only when citizens challenged their governments to understand slavery as incompatible with basic laws of God and humanity.

Around the world today, citizen campaigners are leading their governments to understand that deadly poverty and crippling debt, slaveries of our own age, similarly are incompatible with the basic laws of human dignity. READ FULL ARTICLE

Religious, Civil Society Leaders Urge Congress to Support Expanded International Debt Relief

Letter Asks Reps. Waters, Bachus, Frank to Support Bold Legislation for Expanded Debt Cancellation in Sabbath Year

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - MARCH 21, 2007

CONTACT: Debayani Kar, 202-783-0215 or mobile, 202-246-8143

WASHINGTON - Following President Bush's trip to Latin America during which the President emphasized the importance of debt relief in the region, more than 20 religious and civil society leaders wrote to Rep. Maxine Waters, Rep. Spencer Bachus, and Rep. Barney Frank today in support of legislation currently under development that would provide expanded debt cancellation for impoverished nations in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

"2007 is the Sabbath Year, seven years after the Jubilee 2000 Campaign. Despite the international community's new commitments to poverty eradication over the past seven years, the basic inequities that fuel deadly poverty in our world are as pronounced as ever," the leaders wrote. "The Sabbath Year is an opportunity to reflect on the achievements of the Jubilee campaign, and to address the unfinished agenda on international debt. Our faith and our convictions call us to support bold and prophetic measures to end the crisis of debt and deadly poverty. We encourage the reintroduction of a Jubilee Act as soon as possible."

http://www.jubileeusa.org/press/media-releases.html

IDB Cancels $4.4 billion in 'Debt' for 5 Countries

From an Inter-American Development Bank Press Release:
IDB Governors approve $4.4 billion in debt relief for Bolivia, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras and Nicaragua
The Board of Governors of the Inter-American Development Bank has approved 100% debt relief for Bolivia, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras and Nicaragua on loan balances outstanding as of December 31, 2004 from its Fund for Special Operations (FSO), the IDB announced today.

Under an agreement endorsed by governors of its 47 member countries, the IDB will forgive approximately $3.4 billion in principal payments and $1.0 billion of future interest payments.

“This decision represents a historic opportunity for a fresh start for Bolivia, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras and Nicaragua,” said IDB President Luis Alberto Moreno. “The agreement backed by our membership will help these countries free up resources to invest in quality education, health and other social services their citizens need to overcome poverty.” READ FULL PRESS RELEASE

From Forward.com

Bill Calls for Canceling Poor Nations’ Debt

Proposal Based on Jewish Tradition of Sabbatical Year
Rebecca Spence | Fri. Mar 16, 2007 | Forward

In biblical times, the existence of the Sabbatical year was a boon to anyone plagued by the habit of overspending: Every seven years, all debts were forgiven, those literally enslaved to their debts were freed and community members were set back on equal footing.

Now, in a fresh twist on an ancient Jewish tradition, a network of anti-poverty activists is using the Sabbatical year that begins in 2007 to shine a spotlight on a distinctly modern bind: the billions of dollars owed by poor nations to the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. READ FULL ARTICLE

Vulture Funds Saga Needs Solutions

The Times of Zambia (Ndola)
EDITORIAL
March 14, 2007
Posted to the web March 14, 2007

THE call by World Bank president Paul Wolfowitz for the international community to come up with solutions which can address the vulture funds saga currently threatening Zambia's macro-economic aspirations is certainly very timely.

Indeed, as the World Bank chief pointed out, it is appalling that a sovereign debt can be bought off on the open market and then the original debtor country made to pay several times what was borrowed.

Donegal International which bought off for US$4m a debt which Zambia entered into with Romania in 1979 for the procurement of tractors and other agricultural machinery is now demanding a repayment of well over US$50m. READ FULL ARTICLE

Wolfowitz on Vulture Funds

Neil Watkins, our director sent this to us today:

Reuters reports that Wolfowitz further said Monday that “A London court decision to force Zambia to repay some of its debt to an investment fund at a much higher price than it was purchased for is ‘appalling.’ He said the international community must come up with a solution to such cases where so called ‘vulture funds’ buy up discounted debt, often of developing countries, and then sue the government for a higher payment. … ‘I'm hoping that...increased attention on this issue may enable the international community to come up with some effective legal remedies that protect countries like Zambia from that kind of unfair dealing and in time sustain an effective credit system for poor countries.’ … But Wolfowitz said finding a solution would not be easy because countries still needed to have an enforceable legal framework otherwise they would not be able to borrow for commercial purposes. ‘I need to see some realistic proposals for how we can deal with it...I don't want to predict what we might come forward with and when.’ …” [Reuters/Factiva]

From Debi Kar, Jubilee's policy director:

See below from the IMF Morning Press today. This comes just as Action Aid USA begins at three-day conference examining the IMF's role in preventing countries from spending what they need to on health care and education. READ FULL ARTICLE

The IEO report referenced below does not contradict civil society's criticisms of the IMF's obsessive focus on 5-7% inflation targets at the expense of poverty-related spending - its findings only recommend the IMF do a better job of explaining to us why they need to maintain this focus. READ THE FULL REPORT

Investors Aim to Profit from Zambia's Poverty

Sameer Dossani | February 21, 2007

A British court recently ruled that Donegal International, a “vulture fund” that makes short and long-term investments for huge profits, has the right to profit from its purchase of millions of dollars worth of Zambia’s debt – acquired for a tiny fraction of its face value eight years ago. This bizarre legal and financial tangle is a clear example of global profiteering at its worst. READ FULL ARTICLE

Sameer Dossani is the Director of the 50 Years Is Enough Network and a contributor to Foreign Policy In Focus.