Date: Thu, 30 Sep 1999 11:59:29 -0400 From: Njoki Njoroge Njehu <wb50years at igc.org>
September 30, 1999
Dear 50 Years Is Enough Network Activists/Friends,
Today's headlines may be giving many a false sense of success.
Yes Clinton did announce a $1 billion bilateral debt cancellation package in his speech at the Bank & Fund Annual Meetings (speech under separate cover)...
HOWEVER, the annual meetings reached an agreement -- (i) rename ESAF, the structural adjustment facililty and call it "Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility" which would be administered jointly by the Bank and the Fund (wolf in sheep's clothing); (ii) to give the IMF new powers and mandate involving it in implementation of poverty reduction measures and in defining poverty reduction; (iii) refinance Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility aka ESAF; (iv) affirms imposition of structural adjustment programs, etc.
It is a good thing that Clinton announced/agreed to cancel the debt owed by the most impovershed to the United States, however as it has been said before "the devil is in the details". Given past experiences, many of us expect that the terms and conditions of this "debt plan" will be problematic if not totally unacceptable to the people who live and die in indebted countries because of the debt.
At a meeting last evening of Jubilee 2000 coalitions in Washington for the annual meetings and others the statement below was drafted, agreed on, and signed by the folks who were present. The 50 Years Is Enough Network has signed on and I encourage all of you to sign on as well. The purpose of this document is to provide an immediate response to the statements from the annual meetings and acknowledge the action taken by the finacial instituttions and the Administration.
I fully expect that there will be a more detailed and explict statement being circulated in the next day or so. I will circulate that immediately its available.
In Peace & Solidarity,
Njoki
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Statement on World Bank and IMF meetings by Jubilee 2000 campaigns in Washington
September 29, 1999
Jubilee 2000 Statement following the Annual Meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank in Washington, DC
The agreement on debt reduction made at the Annual Meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank in Washington this week does not meet the demands of the Jubilee 2000 international movement, as set out in its Rome Declaration of November 1998.
In particular, we reject the conditions set for debt cancellation and the enhanced role of the international financial institutions in imposing and policing the implementation of those conditions. Furthermore, the level and breadth of the proposed debt cancellation is woefully inadequate. The Declaration is attached.
We call on leaders to recognize the urgency of the debt crisis and to meet in order to address the need for definitive debt cancellation before the end of the Millennium.
Signed (Alphabetical listing of organizations, each followed by the representing individual):
Campana "Deuda Externa, Deuda Eterna?", Spain
Jaime Atienza
Jubilee 2000 Coalition, United Kingdom
Adrian Lovett
Jubilee 2000 Finland
Riikka Kamppi
Jubilee 2000 Norway
Kjetil G. Abildsnes
Jubilee 2000 Peru
Humberto Ortiz
Jubilee 2000 South
Alejandro Bendana
Jubilee 2000/USA Campaign
Marie Dennis
Nicaragua Jubilee 2000 Coalition
Carlos Pacheco
Also present and signing were:
ASEED Europe
Johan Fryns
Cooperativa de Servicios Multiples, Campesinos Activos de Jalapa, Nicaragua
Cornelio Rivera Centeno
The Development Gap
Doug Hellinger
50 Years is Enough Network
Njoki Njoroge Njehu
Haiti Reborn/Quixote Center
Melinda Miles
Maryknoll Affiliates
Jack Moynihan
Quest for Peace/Quixote Center
Tammy Williams
Washington, DC
September 29, 1999
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Rome Declaration
A Jubilee Call for debt cancellation and economic justice
At the dawn of the third millennium people all over the world hear the Jubilee call for a new beginning, aware that two thirds are impoverished by the global economic system. People have transformed the world before and it is time to do so again. Nourishing hope, we continue in our determination to overcome world-wide injustice to establish equitable relationships between all who share this planet. As one necessary step, we are committed to justice in resolving the debt crisis. We insist that current initiatives for debt relief are not just, comprehensive, or effective in addressing the problems of the debt crisis and of development.
We are gathered in Rome as 38 national Jubilee 2000 campaigns from all continents and 12 international organisations. We come from diverse contexts and experiences combining our efforts to participate in a common movement for debt cancellation: Jubilee 2000. Our diversity is a strength in this campaign.
We are united in the call for debt cancellation by the year 2000, including:
1) Unpayable debt, which is debt that cannot be serviced without placing a burden on impoverished people.
2) Debt that in real terms has already been paid.
3) Debt for improperly designed policies and projects.
4) Odious debt and debt incurred by repressive regimes.
Creditor governments, international financial institutions and commercial banks, which are chiefly responsible for the debt crisis, should not set the conditions for debt cancellation. Civil society in the South must play a significant and influential role in a transparent and participatory process which will define and then monitor the use of resources released by debt for the benefit of the impoverished.
Lending, borrowing, and debt negotiation must reflect a just relationship between debtors and creditors. Transparent and independent arbitration should be available to cancel debt.
This is a call to urgent action. Lives have been destroyed and damage has been done. On the eve of the new millennium, the time for a new beginning is now.
Rome, 17 November 1998 (Adopted at the first Jubilee 2000 international conference, Rome, 17 November 1998) =====================
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Njoki Njoroge Njehû (Ms.) Director 50 Years Is Enough Network 1247 E Street, SE Washington, DC 20003 Phone: 202/IMF-BANK or 202/544-9355 Fax: 202/544-9359 Email: wb50years at igc.org Webpage: http://www.50years.org
Class consciousness is knowing which side of the fence you're on; class analysis is knowing who is there with you.
----from a poster, source unknown
Whenever you are in doubt...apply the first test. Recall the face of the poorest and the weakest man whom you may have seen, and ask yourself if the step you contemplate is going to be any use to him. Will he gain anything from it? Will it restore him to a control over his own life and destiny? True development puts first those that society puts last.
- Mahatma Gandhi
"It goes on one at a time, it starts when you care to act, it starts when you do it again after they said no, it starts when you say We and know who you mean, and each day you mean one more." -- Marge Piercy