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Jubilee 2000 was an international coalition movement in over 40 countries that called for cancellation of third world debt by the year 2000. This movement coincided with the Great Jubilee, the celebration of the year 2000 in the Catholic Church. The campaign has been generally hailed as very successful.[ citation needed ] As planned, the Jubilee 2000 Coalition dissolved at the end of the millennium year but left a legacy of organisations around the world.
The concept derived from the biblical idea of the year of Jubilee, the 50th year. In the Jubilee Year as quoted in Leviticus, those enslaved because of debts are freed, lands lost because of debt are returned, and community torn by inequality is restored. It aimed to wipe out $90 billion of debt owed by the world's poorest nations, reducing the total to about $37 billion.
The idea was first articulated by the activist Paul Vallely in his 1990 book Bad Samaritans – First World Ethics and Third World Debt [1] and taken up by Martin Dent, a retired lecturer in politics at the University of Keele, who with his friend, retired diplomat William Peters, linked the biblical Jubilee to a modern debt relief programme and founded the Jubilee 2000 campaign in the early 1990s. [2] [3] [4] [5]
The activities were initially directed through church channels, and youth groups, in particular, became heavily involved. Campaigns were launched via a secretariat in the United Kingdom, franchising the "trademark" to any who directed campaign in the spirit of Jubilee 2000. The Church of England supported the movement; then-Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey addressed a rally in Trafalgar Square with Dent and Peters, and also made Jubilee 2000 the subject of his New Year's Day address on BBC 1. [6] [7]
Several of the UK ministers in charge of the relevant government departments after Labour came to power in 1997 were Scots. These included Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling in the Treasury, and Robin Cook as Foreign Secretary, all of whom would support the initiative. Jubilee 2000 Scottish Coalition attracted widespread support from Trade Unions, charities and different church denominations working together, and held events across Scotland. A feature of the campaign was that local groups were active in letter-writing, advocacy and education on international debt issues across the whole of the UK. [8]
Perhaps the best known part of the movement was the global campaign created to engage the music and entertainment industries called Drop The Debt. Among the supporters were Bono of rock band U2, Quincy Jones, Willie Colón, Muhammad Ali, Bob Geldof, Youssou N'dour, Thom Yorke, N.T. Wright and others. [9] [10] [11]
Jubilee 2000 staged demonstrations at the 1998 G8 meeting in Birmingham, England. [12] At the Birmingham meeting, which, among other things, focused on achieving sustainable economic growth in the context of environmental protection and good governance, between 50,000 and 70,000 demonstrators participated in a peaceful protest in an effort to put debt relief on the agenda of Western governments. The protestors made headlines around the world for their activities aimed at increasing awareness, such as forming a human chain around Birmingham City Centre, passing out petitions, and holding workshops. [13] [14]
The protests caught the attention of Prime Minister Tony Blair and Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown, who met with the directors of Jubilee 2000 to discuss the issue of heavy debt in poor countries. [15] Subsequently, the Prime Minister publicly expressed his personal support for, and dedication to, debt forgiveness. [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] While the UK's move to cancel significant third world debt was also influenced by the millennium development goals, Gordon Brown's decision to support debt cancellation at a Jubilee 2000 rally at St Paul's Cathedral underlies the significance of the movement in influencing UK policy. [21] [22] [23] [24]
Later, a promise from the United States during the G-7 (G-8 financial ministers, excluding Russia) meeting in Cologne, Germany in 1999 to cancel 100% of the debt that qualifying countries owed the US was attributed in part to the influence of the campaign. Jubilee later lobbied the United States Congress to make good on this promise. Congress responded to the growing pressure to address debt relief issues in 2000 by committing $769 million to bilateral and multilateral debt relief. [25]
From early 2001, Jubilee 2000 split into an array of organisations around the world; [26] Jubilee South (encompassing many former Jubilee campaigns in Africa, Asia and Latin America); Jubilee Debt Campaign, Jubilee Scotland and Jubilee Research (hosted by the New Economics Foundation) in the UK; Jubilee USA Network; Jubilé 2000/CAD Mali in Mali; and many other national organisations. These co-ordinate their actions through a loose global confederation.
Jubilee USA, located in Washington, D.C., is the U.S.'s successor to Jubilee 2000. Erlassjahr.de is the German branch. There are also other organisations around the world which also carry forward the debt campaign.
Former Jubilee 2000 UK staff founded the short-lived Drop The Debt to work in the run-up to the 2001 G8 Summit in Genoa, maintaining Jubilee 2000's combination of lobbying, celebrity work and mass activism. Jubilee Research at the New Economics Foundation, located in London, took over from Jubilee 2000 in 2001 and now provides in-depth analysis and data on third world debt. Jubilee Debt Campaign is the UK's campaigning successor to Jubilee 2000, comprising much of the UK's original Jubilee 2000 membership, while Jubilee Scotland campaigns north of the border. The campaign calls for cancellation of debts owed by the world's poorest countries.
Debt was one of the targets of 2005's Make Poverty History Campaign.
Although it did not meet all of its stated goals [27] —which were hugely ambitious—the campaign did receive very positive assessments for its grassroots involvement, vision, and measurable impacts on policy and poverty. Jonathan Glennie called it "one of the most important global movements for justice of our time." [28] Then-UN Secretary General Kofi Annan wrote "Many events in the past few years have shown how powerful and influential NGOs can be ... We saw it with the campaign to ban landmines. We saw it with the coalition for the International Criminal Court. Perhaps most impressively of all, we saw it with the Jubilee 2000 campaign for debt relief." [29] Archbishop Justin Welby described it as "perhaps the churches' finest hour in dethroning Mammon ... Sustained support from Christians and others across the world led to the cancellation of more than $100 billion of debt owed by 35 of the poorest countries." [30]
Scholars have described the campaign as contributing to "a wider context of international demands for global justice" going on around the same time (for example, at the World Conference Against Racism). [31] As part of an academic study, one campaign participant described it as having "much tied and linked to the reparations demand that many of us were making at that particular point in time." [31]
Debt relief or debt cancellation is the partial or total forgiveness of debt, or the slowing or stopping of debt growth, owed by individuals, corporations, or nations.
The debt of developing countries usually refers to the external debt incurred by governments of developing countries.
The Catholic Agency for Overseas Development, commonly known as CAFOD, is an international development and relief charity. It is the official aid agency of the Catholic Church in England and Wales.
Make Poverty History were organizations in a number of countries, which focused on issues relating to 8th Millennium Development Goal such as aid, trade and justice. They generally formed a coalition of aid and development agencies which worked together to raise awareness of global poverty and achieve policy change by governments. The movement has existed in Australia, Canada, Denmark, Finland, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Romania, South Africa, Ireland, the United Arab Emirates, the United States of America, and the United Kingdom. The various national campaigns were part of the international Global Call to Action Against Poverty campaign.
The 31st G8 summit was held on 6–8 July 2005 at the Gleneagles Hotel in Auchterarder, Scotland and hosted by Prime Minister Tony Blair. The locations of previous G8 summits to have been hosted by the UK include: London ; and Birmingham (1998). It is the first G8 summit to be held in Scotland. A sixth UK summit was held in Lough Erne in 2013; and a seventh UK summit was held in Carbis Bay in 2021.
Tearfund is an international Christian relief and development agency based in Teddington, UK. It currently works in around 50 countries, with a primary focus on supporting those in poverty and providing disaster relief for disadvantaged communities.
Global Justice Now, formerly known as the World Development Movement (WDM), is a membership organisation based in the United Kingdom which campaigns on issues of global justice and development in the Global South.
Paul Vallely CMG is a British writer on religion, ethics, Africa and development issues. In his seminal 1990 book Bad Samaritans: First World Ethics and Third World Debt, he first coined the phrase that campaigners needed to move "from charity to justice" – a slogan that was taken up by Jubilee 2000 and Live 8.
Debt, AIDS, Trade, Africa (DATA) was a multinational non-governmental organization founded in January 2002 in London by U2's lead vocalist, Bono, with Bobby Shriver and activists from the Jubilee 2000 Drop the Debt campaign.
Debt Justice is a UK-based campaigning organisation that exists to end unjust developing countries' debt and the poverty and inequality it perpetuates. The organisation’s activities include campaigning, advocacy, community organising and activism and aims to build collective power with people most affected by debt to demand a fair economy for all.
The external debt of Haiti is a notable and controversial national debt which mostly stems from an outstanding 1825 compensation to former slavers of the French colonial empire and later 20th century corruptions.
Drop the Debt is the slogan of the late 1990s campaign for international debt cancellation led by the organisation Jubilee 2000.
Ann Pettifor is a British economist who advises governments and organisations. She has published several books. Her work focuses on the global financial system, sovereign debt restructuring, international finance and sustainable development. Pettifor is best known for correctly predicting the financial crisis of 2007–08. She was one of the leaders of the Jubilee 2000 debt cancellation campaign.
Jubilee Scotland is a coalition of organisations across Scotland that describes its goal as "campaigning to end global debt slavery". Membership of the coalition is broad, and includes faith groups, unions, cooperatives, campaigning groups and local councils.
William Peters, also known as Bill Peters, was a British diplomat who co-founded the Jubilee 2000 Drop the Debt campaign.
Jubilee USA Network is a nonprofit financial reform organization based in Washington, D.C. Jubilee USA's work began in conjunction with the global Jubilee 2000 movement, founded in the late 1990s to advocate for debt relief for developing countries. It is "an alliance of more than 75 U.S. organizations, 650 faith communities and 50 Jubilee global partners."
Martin Dent, OBE was an English academic who was the co-founder with retired diplomat William Peters of Jubilee 2000; an international coalition movement in over 40 countries that called for cancellation of third world debt by the year 2000.
Eric LeCompte is an American commentator on politics, finance and religion. He serves on a working group with the UN Conference on Trade and Development. He is the current executive director of Jubilee USA Network. Prior to working with Jubilee USA, he served as the event coordinator at School of the Americas Watch.
Mike Christie is a British film and television director and producer who has made films for the BBC, Channel 4, Sky, Discovery, History Channel, Apple, Showtime and Red Bull. His career began in the 1990s working with the artist and filmmaker Derek Jarman – who he met at meetings of Act Up London – on projects including the book At Your Own Risk. Other early collaborators included Pet Shop Boys and Suede with whom he worked from 1992 to 1997. In 1997, he co-created Drop the Debt, the mainstream music and entertainment industries campaign of the Jubilee 2000 movement, fronted by Bono and others, and led to the cancellation of more than $100 billion in debt owed by 35 of the poorest countries.
Lidy Nacpil is a Filipino human rights, environmental, gender and social justice activist. She is the coordinator of the Asian Peoples' Movement on Debt and Development, also known as Jubilee South, an international advocacy organization focused on climate justice.