Presbyterians were among leaders of
Jubilee 2000 debt-relief campaign
PC(USA) has advocated debt forgiveness for
poor nations since 1989
by Evan Silverstein, Presbyterian News Service
Click here for links to earlier reports
LOUISVILLE -- January 12, 2001 -- Presbyterians played
a significant role in last year's Jubilee 2000/USA debt-relief campaign,
which prodded Congress to write off millions of dollars owed by some of
the world's poorest countries.
Compelled by the denomination's strong policy on the
impact of debt on the world's poor and a tradition of biblical
forgiveness, Presbyterians were among the first groups to pledge
thousands of dollars to the campaign. Members of the denomination also
distinguished themselves as particularly active and generous in the
national bipartisan coalition of religious, labor and social justice
groups that advocated international debt relief to help poor nations
feed and educate their people.
"These are just things that are important to us
as Presbyterians and as Christians," said Sally Goerner of Mead,
CO, who draped herself in paper "chains of debt" during a
Jubilee 2000 rally she attended with her family more than a year ago.
"It's important that we treat other people in the world with
fairness, and do what we can to make their circumstances better."
The Presbyterian Church (USA)'s involvement in
debt-related issues has a long history. In 1989, the General Assembly
(GA) approved a study called "The Third World Debt Dilemma,"
on which the denomination's policy was based. Seven years later, the GA
called on governments, lending institutions and commercial banks engaged
in international lending "to strive to insulate the poor of
indebted countries from the costs of debt payment, and to consider
seriously debt forgiveness or debt relief for the most heavily indebted
and poorest countries." The 1998 GA specifically supported the
Jubilee 2000 campaign, and one year later the commissioners upheld the
denomination's commitment to debt cancellation. "Presbyterians have
been involved at all levels of the process from the beginning of the
campaign," said Melanie Hardison, PC(USA) Jubilee 2000 campaign
coordinator. "When the campaign was started, Presbyterians were at
the table creating the structure, the thrust of the campaign.
Presbyterians have been involved on the grassroots level advocating (for
debt relief)."
Throughout the 1990s, debt relief was a major focus of
the Presbyterian Hunger Program, a channel for Presbyterian response to
hunger-related crises around the world. In the past four years the
program has spent nearly $70,000 of its public policy advocacy funds on
Jubilee-related activities and resources. "Jubilee 2000
demonstrated once again the power of scripture to shape what we often
call 'secular history,'" said the Rev. Gary Cook, director of the
Hunger Program, which is part of the Worldwide Ministries Division (WMD)
program area. "God's ancient plan for an economic order that
periodically 'sets things right' rang true for many people who echoed
the call for Jubilee. As we celebrate the debt-relief victories, we need
to recommit ourselves to that powerful vision."
As part of the cause, Presbyterians sent hundreds of
letters to federal lawmakers and followed up with visits to Capitol
Hill, held Jubilee-related programs on the congregation and presbytery
levels, and turned out in force for many national Jubilee programs and
demonstrations, such as a peaceful rally last April in Washington, D.C.
In 1999, Presbyterians participated in a nationwide "rolling
fast," refusing to eat for one day as part of an effort to raise
awareness of Jubilee 2000, Hardison said. PC(USA) missionaries around
the world are now drafting a letter in support of debt
cancellation.
Moreover, a Presbyterian minister helped develop key
debt-relief concepts that became part of the foreign-aid bill that
President Clinton signed into law on Nov. 6, which includes a
$435-million installment on a global effort to erase as much as $90
billion owed by impoverished nations, most of them in Africa. "The
Presbyterian Church has been a real leader in this interfaith
cooperation, and we have some partial victories that no one thought
possible," said Dan Driscoll-Shaw, a former Maryknoll priest who
served as coordinator of the Jubilee 2000/USA initiative. "But
we're just beginning, because the problem is that almost all of the
victims of debt continue to suffer every day. So we have to continue the
struggle. It's great to know that the Presbyterian Church is with
us."
The Jubilee 2000/USA Campaign next month will start
operating under a new structure and get a new name - Jubilee USA
Network. Its leaders equate modern debt to ancient slavery, and uphold
the biblical practice of Jubilee, in which debts are forgiven every 50
years.
Presbyterians joined an eclectic group of advocates of
debt relief that included Pope John Paul II, singer Bono of the Irish
rock group U2, the Rev. Pat Robertson, a TV evangelist, and anti-hunger
agencies such as Oxfam and Bread for the
World. Religious groups,
including the Episcopal Church, the U.S. Catholic Conference, the
National Council of Churches and the Union of American Hebrew
Congregations, also took part.
"From the beginning of the campaign, the
Presbyterian Church made debt relief a priority," said David
Beckmann, a Lutheran minister and president of Bread for the World, a
Christian citizens' group that was active in the anti-debt campaign.
"Staff members in the (Presbyterian) Washington office and the
national office in Louisville focused important energy on the Jubilee
campaign. (The denomination's) commitment at this level provided
individual churches with the resources and information they needed to
help make the campaign a success." The Rev. Walter Owensby, who was
the associate for international issues at the Presbyterian Washington
office until his retirement last September, contributed to another
coalition on debt relief, developing language that made its way into
legislation on financing the $435 million U.S. commitment, which is part
of a foreign-operations spending bill.
"While it's not a matter of Presbyterian
individuals being more committed on this issue than others - there were
a lot of individuals who were committed, representing a lot of different
organizations - but when it came to formal policy, we (Presbyterians)
had more formal policy than most groups had," said Owensby, a
recognized PC(USA) authority on debt-related issues and a founding
member of the Jubilee 2000/USA steering and executive committees. With
the U.S. funding, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) was expected to
provide debt relief to about 20 of the world's poorest countries by the
end of last month. The measure will allow poor countries in sub-Saharan
Africa, Latin America and Asia to divert money to health care, education
and aid to the poor. Jubilee champions say the easing of debt by the
world's wealthiest nations, led by the United States, represents a
reversal in policy. Most financial leaders have long opposed plans to
forgive the debts of the neediest countries. Owensby said the
unparalleled success of Jubilee 2000 helped "people to see the
human and moral issues that were at stake," and resulted in a
"very different policy toward the poorest indebted countries."
"I think it really was quite an extraordinary
accomplishment," Owensby said. "(To think) that a broad range
of groups, including church groups, came together around the Jubilee
2000 commitment. The fact that it was able to take an issue that seemed
so far from the ordinary concerns of most people, an issue of pretty
high finance, of governments owing money to other governments and
international institutions. That's a pretty esoteric concept."
Acting to correct the problem of crushing debt was a
matter of faith for Sally Goerner and husband Phil, who worship at
Central Presbyterian Church in Longmont, CO.
They and their sons, Jared, 13, and Alex, 8, joined
hundreds of activists on Sept. 25, 1999, in forming a "human
chain" around the U.S. Mint in Denver, CO. "Drop the Debt
Day," sponsored by the Jubilee 2000 Colorado Campaign, symbolized
the "chains of debt" that imprison the people of poor nations.
"As a citizen and a Presbyterian, I feel it is extremely important
that we take bold actions urging our nations to find ways to give hope
to the impoverished people of the world," said Phil Goerner, the
Hunger Action Enabler of the Plains and Peaks Presbytery and a former
board member of the Presbyterian Hunger Program. "I truly believe
that the actions we took in the Jubilee 2000 campaign enabled us to help
people … make a fresh start."
On the national scene, debt relief has become a
rallying cry. Street protests have taken place in Seattle, Washington
and Prague, Czechoslovakia. The campaign has united Catholics, Jews and
Protestants in viewing the dawning millennium as an opportune time to
heed the moral imperative of helping the poor, especially at a time of
unparalleled prosperity.
But there is more work ahead, debt-relief advocates
warn. Last year, lawmakers allocated $110 million to begin erasing up to
90 percent of the debt impoverished nations owe to the United States.
Even with congressional approval of the president's request for $435
million, the new administration will need to ask for even more. Another
$357 million would be needed over the next two years to fulfill the $920
million pledge Clinton made during a meeting of the world's seven
wealthiest nations in Cologne, Germany, last year.
"We will have to maintain our pressure on the
issue and be vigilant, especially in light of the new economic
reality," said Elenora Giddings Ivory, director of the Presbyterian
Washington office, who appeared with Clinton, anti-hunger officials,
legislators and other religious leaders at a White House news conference
announcing the $435 million in debt relief. "If we are facing a
recession, there may be a temptation to not continue funding this,
certainly not expand it. So we must have continued vigilance."
