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Loughborough MP Speaks at Drop the Debt 10th Anniversary Celebrations
Posted on 21/05/2008
J. Milton
Loughborough MP Andy Reed on Sunday spoke at the 10th anniversary of the launch of Jubilee 2000 debt cancellation movement that came out of the 1998 demonstration in Birmingham at the G8 meeting. The demonstrators formed Jubilee 2000 a movement calling for debt relief for the world’s poorest countries after the iconic making of a human chain in Birmingham. This movement coincided with the Great Jubilee, the celebration of the year 2000 in the Catholic Church. The concept derives from the biblical idea of the year of Jubilee, the 50th year. In the Jubilee Year as quoted in Leviticus, those enslaved because of debts are freed, lands lost because of debt are returned, and community torn by inequality is restored. It aimed to wipe out $90bn of debt owed by the worlds poorest nations, reducing the total to about $37bn. From early 2001, Jubilee 2000 split into an array of organisations around the world.
The 10th anniversary was a celebration of the achievements so far in the debt cancellation with over $40 billion of debt relief being offered since 1998. That is a huge achievement and one that should be celebrated but more needs to be done with Drop the Debt still calling for $400 billion to wiped off in unpayable and unfair debt in order for developing countries to develop.
Last night (20th May 2008) in Parliament Andy Reed is at the launch of the new report produced for the 10th anniversary called Unfinished Business. The report coming out on the 10th anniversary praises the debt cancellation so far but calls for far more debt relief to be given to help developing countries in their growth and development towards the Millennium Development Goals.
The rally on Sunday and the report launch today both call for more debt relief to help the poorest countries and called on the government to be at the front of efforts to cancel more unfair debt.
The Loughborough MP said:
“Drop the debt has made significant progress in debt relief for the poorest country and that should be celebrated. 10 years of debt relief is great, but more needs to be done.
This rally is both a celebration of what we have achieved and a call to action for more campaigning on debt relief and I was honoured to be a special guest on Sunday.”