Not to dispute the imporance of the J2000UK comrades' work and success in mobilising so far, but there's an interesting debate about anti-debt strategies, tactics and analysis, including whether to call G-8 Koln reforms "a great step forward." Many in Jubilee South argue precisely the opposite: the IMF comes out stronger; the rich-country politicians smell a bit nicer; and conditions associated with this "relief" are in fact going to kill many more Third World people. I'll say all this, in as open and constructive way as I can here, not as someone with any responsibility for J2000 campaigning, and with no intention of knocking the very very hardworking folk in London and other northern sites--but as a petit-bourgeois intellectual (in Johannesburg) who is worried that, as in the case of anti-apartheid solidarity organising, too small a goal (by southerners and northerners alike) leads to less critical analysis than need be, and partly as a result, a potentially unsatisfying outcome. I'll give you details, if you like, from Mozambique, the BWIs' poster-child. (Much more is available if this is not convincing, in large part from J2000UK's Joe Hanlon.) There, 1998 debt "relief" (of US$10 mn on a $110mn annual repayment burden) came at the cost of a World Bank condition (signed by the great Wolfensohn himself) demanding that the Mozambique parliament quintuple public health cost-recovery rates and privatise all municipal water with "dramatic" increases in consumer tariffs. The 1999 debt relief deal, just after Koln, amounting to another $28 mn (still leaving far more in annual repayment requirements than is spent on education and health in this, the world's poorest country, ravaged for 15 years by an apartheid/US-induced civil war), and calls for an end to any rural water initiative driven by the state, in favour of full-cost-recovery privatisation. For the implications of more power to the IMF, e.g. through the gold-sale additions to reserves, check PEN-Ler Bob Naiman's powerful attack on IMF ESAF devastation of Africa, worth getting off the Preamble website (Bob is it http:\\www.preamble.org )? J2000 South chapters have been trading critical position papers about how to deal with "reforming" the G-8/BWI proposals. In Johannesburg in mid-November, I gather that a terrific conference will take further at least one JSouth position: that it is not just "debt" but "development" that must be questioned. A new "Africa Consensus," for example, is being devised by some terrific NGOs and churches to pick up on all the critiques of Wash-Con and Post-Wash Con, and to advance into far more radical development territory. Similar discussions are underway in Asia and Latin America. In other words, this movement is about neither a "final" or a "short" burst of activity up to 2000. An excellent network has launched a variety of superb campaigns out of this, and I would guess that not just the debt, but the very existence of the IMF and WB will soon come under the spotlight. Check the following website for a really stimulating paper on these debates by Dot Keet of the University of the Western Cape: http:\\aidc.org.za And no J2000 South chapter that I know of works closely with Jeff Sachs, either. Consistency in this kind of longer-haul campaigning is terribly important. P. > Reply-to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > From: "Alan Freeman" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: "pen-l new listmembers (E-mail)" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, > "OPE-L list (E-mail)" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subject: [PEN-L:10896] FW: Support Jubilee 2000's final push to drop the debt >by the millennium > Date: Mon, 13 Sep 1999 06:00:00 +0100 > Importance: Normal > Apologies if there are any cross-posts. I thought this worth forwarding - AF > > -----Original Message----- > From: Jubilee 2000 [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] > Sent: Tuesday, September 07, 1999 7:02 PM > To: List Member > Subject: Support Jubilee 2000's final push to drop the debt by the > millennium > > > 7 September, 1999 > > Dear Friend, > > I am writing to you as the Director of Jubilee 2000 Coalition in the UK. > Were on the brink of an historic achievement and I'm writing to ask your > help for the final push to the millennium. > > We have achieved so much in the last few months. At the G8 Summit in > Cologne, we won up to $100 billion in debt cancellation for the poorest > countries. An IMF report in the spring credited us with mobilising world > public opinion in support of the poorest nations, at a time when the > people of these nations had been pushed to margins of the international > agenda. We have won plaudits from commentators around the world. > Journalist Polly Toynbee, in the UK Radio Times, said, Jubilee 2000 has > been one of the most brilliantly successful campaigns of our times.¶ > > But plaudits are worth little. Even the British Prime Minister admitted > the need to go further still on debt¶ after Cologne. The reality is that > childrens lives are still lost seven million every year as countries > are forced to pay off foreign creditors before they spend on basic health, > clean water and primary education. > > So now we find ourselves gearing up for a final short, but intense, round > of international public pressure on the worlds richest creditors > particularly the US, Japanese and French governments. All this has to be > done over the next few months if our goal of a debt free start by the > new millennium is to be achieved. > > Like you, and like hundreds of thousands of Jubilee 2000 campaigners, I > have invested quite a lot of my life in this campaign. I am not going to > give up now. I had hoped the G7 would deliver in Cologne. They did take a > great step forward. But it is now clear that to achieve our goal will > require one more huge push starting this month. > > We firstly need your action over the next few months. Signing petition, > writing a letter to a G7 leader, informing your friends about the issues. > Please regularly visit our web page - www.jubilee2000uk.org to find out > what action you can take. However as we approach our final year, we also > need finance for the campaign. So I am writing to ask you to consider > making a donation to Jubilee 2000. And to email your friends to ask them > to support the campaign too. > > Here at the UK Coalitions hub, we have been thinking up new ways of > applying pressure on the G7. As always with Jubilee 2000, we have been > thinking big. But thinking big and maintaining credibility and influence, > requires high level research, skilled staff and quick responses to > unfolding global events. Were sending a team to the US to bolster > campaigning there. In the meantime the movement is growing stronger in the > South and were helping to channel resources to campaigns in Africa and > Latin America. We are working closely with internationally known > economists like Prof. Jeffrey Sachs of Harvard. And through new > technology, were communicating with millions through our pioneering web > site and other ground-breaking Internet initiatives. All this costs > money. > > Were primarily not a fund-raising campaign. We want you, above all, to > continue taking action. But financial support is in itself a vital form > of action. Please give whatever you can. If you are able to give #250 or > more, please remember that in the UK you can make it go further by giving > it as Gift Aid. You can make a secure donation on Jubilee 2000's website - > <a href="http://www.jubilee2000uk.org">www.jubilee2000uk.org</a> > Alternatively, you can phone us at our London office with a credit card > donation on + (0)171 739 1000. Or you can send a cheque or international > money order payable to 'Jubilee 2000' to Jubilee 2000, 1 Rivington Street, > London EC2A 3DT, United Kingdom. > > We would like finally to assure you that we do not intend to send other > fundraising appeals by email to you. We are a time-limited campaign and > this is likely to be our last appeal. We will be in touch in the next two > weeks with an exciting internet action directed to the G7 that we would > like you to help publicise. > > We appreciate any support you can give - either in terms of time or > financial resources. Without this, we would not now be on the brink of an > historic achievement. > > Yours sincerely, > > Ann Pettifor > Director, Jubilee 2000 Coalition > > > ______________________________________________________________________ > To unsubscribe, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED] > >
