[stop-imf] Jubilee releases in advance of IMF/Bank spring meetings

[Robert Weissman]

For Immediate Release: April 25, 2001
Contact: Tim Atwater 202-783-0214 or 202-486-3566

Drop the Debt—A simple four-step program for international financial
institutions interested in kicking the power and domination habit

More than fifty years ago the World Bank and the International Monetary
Fund were birthed to help war-torn Europe rebuild from the ashes of World
War II, which claimed 17 million lives in Europe. Today the AIDS pandemic
has claimed 17 million lives in Africa alone, and the Bank and Fund are
offering to help. The offer of help is appreciated, according to Jubilee
USA Network – but given the dynamics of the war on AIDS, institutional
retooling is needed first.

“We have a modest proposal for our friends at the World Bank and the IMF
as they prepare for their annual Spring Meetings. Mr. Wolfensohn of the
Bank has been quoted as saying that his institution is trying to make the
transition from a culture of domination to a culture of partnership. As an
organizer and a minister I know how hard it can be to break longstanding
habits,” said Tim Atwater, national coordinator of Jubilee USA Network.
“We have twelve step programs for nearly every problem behavior – let’s
start one for folks who are having difficulty letting go of power and the
culture of domination.”

“Twelve steps may be too many in such a busy week. Let’s make it four.
1) Drop the Debt. Africa alone is paying out $13.5 billion a year in debt
service. Cancelling the debt of the poorest countries held by the Bank and
the Fund would at least help start the funds flowing in the right
direction. 2) Drop Structural Adjustment. Dropping the failed economic
policies that have not worked would be a giant step towards enabling
countries to fund the fight against AIDS instead of feeding institutional
appetites for social control.  3) Drop “user fees.” The poorest people in
the world should not be charged fees for schooling and public health; when
they are, children aren’t educated and visits to the clinic are skipped.
No wonder AIDS has spread so fast. 4) Drop the idea that we know best.
Just admit that what has been tried so far has mostly failed – and start
taking seriously the notion that the poor themselves know more about
fighting poverty than the Bank and Fund.”

Jubilee USA Network is the ongoing US wing of the international Jubilee
movement to cancel the debt of the Global South. More than sixty-five
Jubilee country campaigns are continuing the movement to drop the debt
without structural adjustment and with full involvement of civil
societies. Jubilee USA Network is made up of more than sixty faith-based
and non-governmental organizations.
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For Immediate Release: April 26, 2001 Contact: Tim Atwater 202-783-0214 or
202-486-3566

Break the World Piggy Bank: Cancel the Debt Now

It’s Spring Meeting time for the World Bank and International Monetary
Fund-- time to break the “World Piggy Bank” and cancel the debts of
developing countries, according to Jubilee USA Network.

“The IMF and the World Bank have enormous annual profits from their loans
and vast reserve funds which they are sitting on as if they were needed
for a far-off rainy day,” said Tim Atwater, national coordinator of
Jubilee USA Network. “Our message is that today is the rainy day.  Here we
are in the midst of the AIDS pandemic, the worst public health disaster
since the plague. AIDS has already orphaned 13 million children in Africa
alone. AIDS is claiming 6000 African lives each day. AIDS is destroying
social and economic infrastructure already weakened by adherence to the
dysfunctional economics promulgated by the Fund and Bank. If the AIDS
crisis isn’t reason enough to break the World Piggy Bank, what is?”

“Not to cancel debt is to condemn millions of children to early death. Not
to cancel debt is to speed the spread of AIDS, TB, and malaria. Not to
cancel debt is to perpetuate the myth that there is nothing we can do
except trust the so-called experts who got the world into this vicious
cycle of deepening debt, disease, and despair.”

Until a few years ago the World Bank said treating AIDS was
cost-prohibitive and therefor impossible. Now the Bank is taking the same
line on its capacity to cancel debt. However, both the World Bank and
International Monetary Fund have at least $30 billion available -- ample
capacity to cancel 100% of the debt of the poorest countries in the world
now, according to independent analyses of their balance sheets by an
international accounting firm and financial analysts.  If the bank
followed the accounting practices of the US Congress and most commercial
lenders, it would be valuing its loans to most of the poorest and most
indebted countries at roughly 10 cents on the dollar—enabling cancellation
of much more debt at reduced cost.

Jubilee USA Network is the ongoing US wing of the international Jubilee
movement to cancel the debt of the Global South. More than sixty-five
Jubilee country campaigns are continuing the movement to drop the debt
without structural adjustment and with full involvement of civil
societies. Jubilee USA Network is made up of more than sixty faith-based
and non-governmental organizations.  - # # # -