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The other credit crunch
Dear campaigner,
Could there be a more timely week for it to be Global Debt Week? As the global financial turbulence continues, campaigners around the world are mobilising for a week of action against reckless lending, which has affected developing countries for more than two decades, and is now affecting rich and poor countries alike.
Making the links
Now is the time for us to make the links between what is happening in the City of London and on Wall Street today, and what has been happening to developing countries for years.
Writing to local or national papers is one of the best ways to do this, as well as commenting on web forums and news websites, and talking to your friends.
Here are some points you could make:
- The current financial crisis is the result of reckless lending by private banks, just as the ongoing developing country debt crisis was the result of reckless lending by the rich world in past decades. People all round the world are suffering because of the lack of a fair system for dealing with debts.
- The total debt of all developing countries is $2.9 trillion - around the same amount as has been pledged by rich country governments to bailout the banks in recent weeks.
- It would take only $375 billion - with the cost spread out over many years - to cancel 100% of the debts of the world’s 49 poorest countries.
- Haiti, the poorest country in the Western hemisphere, has faced four hurricanes in a month and continues to suffer the effects of the global food crisis. But the World Bank and IMF have announced that its debt cancellation has been delayed by six months.
Jubilee Debt Campaign has produced a new briefing, The Credit Crunch and the the Debt Crisis, which looks at the similarities between the two and considers how global finance can be changed to work better for development. You can also find more information about the developing country debt crisis in the FAQ section of our website. Thank you very much for all your work, during Debt Week and beyond. Best wishes,
Jubilee Debt Campaign
On Friday, Saturday and Sunday, 17-19 October, tens of millions of people will Stand Up and Take Action against Poverty and Inequality around the world.
There are now 140 Stand Up and Take Action events organised in the UK, and the target is 1% of world’s population taking part in total. See here for a list, and here for how to report how many people took part in your event.
Time to change the system
Rich countries have found ten times as much in ten minutes to bail out reckless bankers as they have in ten years for the world's poor. The current debt system is completely unjust, and an upcoming UN conference in Doha has a chance to change it.
Slow lane for Haiti and Liberia
Last weekend’s annual meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund showed very starkly the double standards that operate in global finance.
While the IMF promised emergency funds for any country to help them face the ‘meltdown’ of the banking system, two of the world’s poorest countries, Haiti and Liberia, were kept waiting for urgently needed debt cancellation.
End Poverty Now Forum
Last Saturday’s End Poverty Now forum saw campaigners from around the country gather in central London to discuss what today’s global crises mean for our campaigning.
Unsurprisingly the financial crisis dominated, with speakers and activists talking about using the opportunity to explain how the overwhelming power of the financial system has been the cause of so much poverty and inequality in recent decades. Read the full report from the forum
Unfinished Business DVD
Our new DVD, telling the story of the Drop the Debt journey so far, is now available. The disk includes footage and interviews from our Journey to Justice tenth anniversary event in May.
Designed to be a multimedia resource investigating global poverty issues for use in schools, congregations and groups, with PowerPoints, activities and briefings in themed sections, it’s available for just £6 including p&p. Order your copy now: http://www.jubileedebtcampaign.org.uk/dvd
Contact details
Jubilee Debt Campaign
The Grayston Centre
28 Charles Square
London
N1 6HT
United Kingdom
Tel: +44 (0)20 7324 4722
Fax: +44 (0)20 7324 4723
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 | | Vulture Funds | | This morning (26/11/09), the Republic of Liberia was taken to the High Court in London by two Vulture Funds seeking to make large profits on a debt dating back to the 1970s.
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 | | Put People First: G20 Counter Conference | | In March, we marched in our tens of thousands to demand the G20 Put People First. But so far the G20 has only tinkered round the margins of the global economy, in an effort to return to business as usual.
On 7 November, as the G20 returns to the UK ..
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| The other credit crunch | | Could there be a more timely week for it to be Global Debt Week? As the global financial turbulence continues, campaigners around the world are mobilising for a week of action against reckless lending, which has affected developing countries ...
More ...
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| A Fairer Way of Dealing with Debt | | Almost daily we are seeing what rich countries can do when faced with a debt crisis. Hundreds of billions of pounds have been made available in recent weeks to bail out western banks whose reckless lending has been found out.
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| Jubilee Debt Campaign - July Update | | New Loans are not the Answer, Over 10,000 chains delivered to UK government, Pick up the Pace: UK responds to campaign, $347m of Togo's debt cancelled, Forget Jay Z - Glasto was all about the Debt, Contact details.
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| Time to drop Suharto's arms debt | | When Indonesia's former dictator General Suharto died last week, one
injustice he didn't take to his grave was his debts. Nearly ten years
after his removal from power, Indonesia is still paying back billions
of dollars to the rich world.
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| Take urgent action for Liberia | | Request for people to write or email Alistair Darling to use his influence to break the deadlock among the IMF shareholders who have been discussing the issue for more than 18 months.
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| That was the week that was | | Campaigners new and old have just finished taking part in a global week of action on debt, reminding politicians, the media and the public that despite progress in recent years, the daily injustice of poor country debt is far from resolved.
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| JUBILEE DEBT CAMPAIGN ACTION ALERT | | Last year your campaigning helped get Hilary Benn to take a stand at the World Bank. He withheld £50 million in protest over the conditions attached to aid and debt relief, which made the Bank sit up and take notice. We need to do it again.
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| JDC Updates | | Opportunity to lobby the UK government to put its money where its mouth is with regard to damaging conditions enforced by the World Bank when making loans.
Also the opportunity to lobby Donegal International and the "Vulture" funds and Zambian debt.
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