'Forgive our debtors' a plea worth heeding
Too many of the world's poor children needlessly starve or go without education because too many impoverished nations — even after the laudable debt relief provided to date — are still funneling scarce resources to multilateral banks instead of paying for needs at home.
The world community has found crushing debt to be akin to a modern-day apartheid, and has responded with debt cancellation. Unjust debt leaves developing nations at the behest of the powerful. Shall we let the children of Africa and Asia die of curable disease, prevent them from going to school and limit their opportunities for meaningful work — all to pay off unjust and illegitimate loans made to their forefathers?
When I think of the crisis of international debt, I think of my African neighbor, Lesotho. Many of Lesotho's people cannot afford basic nourishment. The AIDS epidemic has plagued the nation, but needed medicine is out of reach for too many.
One-third of Lesotho's children are not in school. Meanwhile, Lesotho's debt repayments equal its entire education budget. Instead of investing in its people, health and development, Lesotho — a nation of 2 million people with external debt of $647 million — sends debt payments to the developed world.
Millions of the world's poorest people suffer hunger and illness as desperately needed resources flow out of their countries in the form of debt payments. Yet many countries, like Lesotho, are not eligible for debt relief because current initiatives are not based on a country's level of poverty or need.
Much of this debt originates from loans made to corrupt and oppressive regimes that did not benefit the population. As a South African, I know firsthand the injustice of this situation as our country continues to repay money that was used to sustain the apartheid system and suppress the movement for racial justice.
The Jubilee Act calls for an audit of the odious debts of countries such as South Africa so that the question of whether this money is truly "owed" can finally be addressed.
The movement to cancel debt is an ongoing moral campaign that joins religious leaders around the globe under the biblical principle of Jubilee, which says that everything belongs to God.
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*** "and he eats for a day.... teach a man to fish and ... forget...
Anonymous | May 11, 2008 at 5:57 p.m.
and he eats for a day.... teach a man to fish and ... forget it -...
give a man a fish... | May 11, 2008 at 3:21 p.m.
I remember seeing a tee shirt years ago: "Bottomless Pit of...
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