[stop-imf] Updates on G-8 Deal

[robert weissman]

From: Debayani Kar <debi@jubileeusa.org>

Hello all,

Below are:

(1) Jubilee South/Americas' statement responding to Saturday's G-8 debt
announcement
(2) Africa Action's statement in response to the G-8
(3) Link to Democracy Now! show featuring Jubilee USA's National
Coordinator Neil Watkins

This is an important first step towards our broad Jubilee vision for 100%
debt cancellation for all impoverished countries without harmful economic
conditions. But we have more work to do to ensure that the debt of all
impoverished countries is cancelled, and that debt cancellation does not
come with harmful economic conditions. Stay with us as we continue our
efforts.

Best,

Debi Kar


(1)
Buenos Aires, June 11, 2005

JUBILEE SOUTH/AMERICAS REITERATES DEMAND FOR 100% UNCONDITIONAL CANCELLATIO=
N
OF DEBTS CLAIMED OF SOUTH COUNTRIES AND AUDIT TO SEE WHO OWES WHOM

The G-8 Finance Ministers announced this afternoon a new proposal to
advance toward the cancellation of part of the multilateral debt claimed of
18 South countries, mostly in Africa but also including Bolivia, Honduras,
and Nicaragua. While some of them celebrated the announcement as a
=93historic=94 step that would make possible a =93new beginning=94 in the r=
elations
between enriched and impoverished countries worldwide, other Ministers
admitted that the agreement had more to do with the needs of the
international financial institutions (IFIs) themselves to salvage their
credibility and initiate a new cycle of indebtedness.

Today=92s announcemente suggests the eventual cancellation of debt worth u$=
s
40 to 55 billion, once the agreement itself is approved by the IFIs, the
countries involved fulfill the conditions demanded of them, and the G-8
governments comply with their promises to make new resources available in
order to compensate the IFIs for their loss of revenues. The debt in
question represents a minuscule part of total South country debt; the debt
of African countries alone is today valued at u$s 300 billion.

Jubilee South/Americas reiterates its demand that any debt cancellation
must be unconditional and take into account the broadly-evidenced
illegitimacy of the debt claims held against South countries. Rather than
debtors, the peoples and countries of the South are creditors of an
enormous social, historical, and ecological debt. That is why any attempt
by the International Financial Institutions, and the debtor governments of
the North, to make cosmetic changes in order to preempt any fundamental
changes, must be rejected. We must furthermore demand that the
International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, the Interamerican Development
Bank and the other regional banksm conduct participatory Audits in order to
determine how much they have already collected in excess.

In the same vein, the announcement made this afternoon comes as a belated
recognition that after years of promises, little or nothing has really been
done to recognize the illegitimacy of the debt and proceed to cancel it.
Only u$s 54 billion of the u$s 2.4 trillion claimed of the so-called
developing countries has been effectively cancelled. And even then, the
prior condition has been that each country must certify its compliance with
the conditions summed up in the widely discredited =93Washington Consensus=
=94,
including the application of structural adjustment programs, reduction of
the state, privatization of essential services and basic human rights, as
well as trade liberalization. This is the case of Bolivia, for example,
where debt cancellation today would have minimal impact in comparison with
the ongoing multi-million dollar losses and socio-political impact provoked
by the policies of water, gas, and other natural resource privatizations
that were imposed earlier as preconditions for debt =93relief=94.

Other countries which are experimenting situations of severe humanitarian
crisis, such as the case of Haiti in our hemisphere, not only continue to
be exluded from these proposals but indeed, the International Financial
Institutions continue to force debt collection at any cost. In January of
this year, the Haitian government disbursed u$s 53 million in back-due
interest, in order for the very same banks to release almost the same
amount of money in new loans =96 destined in large part to help prepare the
way for the privatization of the country=92s telecommunications network.

JUBILEE SOUTH/AMERICAS
www.jubileesouth.org/sp
Secretar=EDa: Piedras 730, (1070) Buenos Aires, Argentina
Telefax: (5411) 43071867 Email: jubileosur@wamani.apc.org

(2)
AFRICA ACTION PRESS RELEASE
Contact: Ann-Louise Colgan 202-546 7961

Debt Deal: Small Victory for Africa, but Not Enough;

Africa Action Rejects Exclusion of Dozens of Countries, Emphasizes
Illegitimacy of Debt

Monday, June 13, 2005 (Washington, DC) - Africa Action today recognized the
success of grassroots movements in bringing the Group of 8 (G-8) to a deal
on the path toward debt cancellation. This weekend=92s announcement of a de=
al
on debt cancellation for 18 impoverished countries, 14 of which are in
Africa, marks a small victory, but Africa Action emphasized that dozens of
other African countries continue to be trapped under a burden of
illegitimate debt, which the G-8 wealthy nations=92 plan still fails to
address. Africa Action also rejected the G-8's embrace of the Heavily
Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative as the framework for debt
cancellation, noting the harmful economic conditions tied to this
widely-discredited program.

Salih Booker, Executive Director of Africa Action, said this morning,"This
weekend=92s announcement marks a victory on the path to debt cancellation,
but will make no difference to the majority of African countries, and other
countries in the Global South, who are excluded from this deal and who will
be required to continue servicing illegitimate debts at the expense of
their own urgent needs. The continued theft of these countries=92 resources
in the form of future debt service payments is completely immoral and this
is made all the more apparent by this debt cancellation for the few."

Ann-Louise Colgan, Director of Policy Analysis and Communications at Africa
Action, noted today, "We reject the G-8's affirmation of the harmful HIPC
framework as the basis for future debt cancellation, when it is clear that
the devastating conditions required by this program have deepened the debt
crisis and exacerbated poverty across the African continent. The continued
exclusion of countries like Nigeria and South Africa, who also carry
massive burdens of illegitimate debt, is unacceptable as a matter of law
and justice."

Marie Clarke Brill, Director of Public Education & Mobilization at Africa
Action, said, "The sustained and strategic advocacy of people across this
nation and the world was crucial to the accomplishment of this debt deal.
In the lead up to the G-8, and beyond, this grassroots movement will
celebrate initial victory and continue the work to dismantle HIPC
conditionality and expand cancellation for all African nations."

Salih Booker added, "Let us be clear that this weekend=92s success comes no=
t
as a result of rich country largesse, but is the fruit of years of
campaigning on the part of African civil society and governments and global
supporters in the debt cancellation movement. This progress is a start, but
the campaign will continue until all African countries are freed from the
burden of illegitimate and unpayable debt."

For further analysis on U.S. and international policies toward Africa, and
on the issues to be discussed at the G-8 Summit and other international
events this year, see Africa Action=92s Africa Policy Outlook 2005 at:
http://www.africaaction.org/resources/page.php?op=3Dread&documentid=3D744&t=
ype=3D18

####

(3) Neil Watkins on Democracy Now!:
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=3D05/06/13/1358213