Debt Week Website

Hmm. Looks like the http://www.debtweek.org/ is unavailable (unless it's just me?). So instead, here's my "Spotlight On..." debt, with thanks to the Jubilee Debt Campaign, whose website makes great sense of a tangled subject.

What is the key message?
The kind of debt we're dealing with here is debt held by countries in the developing world, where there is either no chance of the country ever being able to repay it, or where to do so is impossible without sending its people into a spiral of poverty.

Isn't that their problem, not ours?
It would be if the debt was part of a fair process, but most of the debt in question either has impossible conditions attached (such as unfairly high interest rates), was provided illegitimately (such as to dictators to buy arms to oppress their own people) or removes the ability of the debtor country to support its own people.

So who's making a fuss about this?
Lots of people - there are campaigns all over the world to get this debt cancelled, but often as the first step towards a fairer and more equitable world for all of us, rich and poor, in the developing or the developed world. Third World debt is seen as a touchstone issue by many - as a clear and visible illustration for the way in which we treat each other in ways that are often unfair. Any internet search will throw up many organisations dedicated to this work. Or see some of the other posts on this blog.

http://www.jubileedebtcampaign.org.uk/ is, in my opinion, the best place to start.

Debt Week 2008

Again, from the Jubilee Debt Campaign's email - I did this one last night (though I've got a funny feeling I've mailed him before!)

Pick up the pace in Debt Week 2008
From 12-19 October 2008 it will be the second Global Week of Action Against Debt and the International Financial Institutions. In the UK we’re using the opportunity to keep up the pressure on the UK government to Pick Up the Pace on debt cancellation.
With lots of grand talk expected at upcoming summits about tackling poverty, we need to make the case that more debt cancellation is urgently needed if countries are going to be able to emerge from the poverty trap. TAKE ACTION: Email Douglas Alexander, International Development Minister, and ask him to drop much more debt.

50 crucial days

From the Jubilee Debt Campaign:

Today is the first of 50 Global Days of Action Against Poverty and Inequality, taking place in more than 100 countries around the world. After several years of drifting and inaction, the rich world has a series of opportunities in the coming months to take serious action to tackle global poverty - and we have to make sure they take them.

Make aid work and drop the debt
Rich country governments are gathering in Accra, Ghana, from tomorrow for a summit to discuss the effectiveness of aid. Jubilee Debt Campaign supports the global aid campaign’s efforts to ensure that new, concrete targets and indicators come out of this summit for rich countries to deliver on their aid promises. But we have also joined our voices with other movements and civil society organisations to warn that unless unpayable poor country debts are cancelled, it will be very difficult for aid to work effectively.
Click here to read more.