July 20, 2001, Opinion piece on G8 and Debt
Protestor finds strength on the streets
Says world can't ignore outrage over dubious efforts at debt relief
Toronto Star op-ed, Saturday, July 20, 2001, p. B2
By Pamela Foster, Special to the Star
Last weekend, I joined thousands of others on the streets of Genoa in northern Italy, in a vocal, colourful, mass demonstration. Flags and banners filled the blue sky for kilometers, on occasion blotting out clouds of smoke and tear gas. I went to protest the meeting of the leaders of the G7+Russia, the richest countries of the world. I believe that the mantra of street protests "hi ho, hi ho, x,y or z have got to go" will only change when the mantra of globalization chanted by the G7 "liberalize and privatize", changes. The x,y and z of the global economy -- the WTO, the World Bank and the IMF, are dominated by the G7. These so-called public institutions impose and enforce a particular, corporate-led globalization -- one characterized by trade and investment liberalization, privatization, and reductions in public sector expenditures, in other words, social service cutbacks or the removal of subsidies on food, gas or water.
The Bank and Fund impose this form of globalization through conditioning loans, or more recently, by conditioning debt relief. The first big global mobilization for debt cancellation, resulted in the Highly Indebted Poor Country Initiative. It saw limited debt relief for a few countries after six years of "structural adjustment/globalization" programs. When the debt relief arrived, on average, 100 conditions were attached by the Bank and the Fund for each country.
The on-going outrage at this non-solution to the debt crisis resulted in a huge mass movement for debt cancellation, popularly known as Jubilee 2000. As a result of this movement, two recent G7 Summits have focused on the theme of debt relief. Now, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund provide debt relief after three years of structural adjustment programs. In addition, the country must agree to the development of a poverty reduction strategy. This strategy will be analysed by the Bank and Fund for any gaps that the country will then have to fill. That means that while the Bank and the Fund are writing off some debt, the country has to take on new loans to "liberalize and privatize".
Since the G7 in Koln, only 23 countries have qualified for debt relief. In return for debt relief, Honduras is being forced to privatize its telecommunication sector, liberalize its mining sector and impose bank service fees. In neighbouring Guatemala, the privatization of the telecommunications sector resulted in the removal of coin-operated phone booths and the introduction of phone cards. They cost more than the average daily wage of a poor person. In Bolivia, Bank imposed water privatization resulted in increased user fees, from $5 a month to $25 a month. The average worker earns $80. The Congo was recently refused debt relief by the Bank and the Fund. One reason given - failure to privatize.
I spent the week before the demonstrations in Genoa with colleagues from Jubilee South. Jubilee South is a network of activists from Africa, Asia and Latin America, who are campaigning to have the debts their countries owe to creditors such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund recognized as illegitimate. I learnt from Reverend David Ugolur from Nigeria that the past Nigerian President/military dictator had borrowed around US$ 5 billion dollars decades ago. Nigeria has paid back around US$17 billion as a combined result of the enormous increase in world interest rates in the early 1980's and late penalties. Nigeria still owes on this original debt. A US tribunal has concluded that Citibank is in trust of part of this stolen wealth, which the past dictator had embezzled. No wonder Jubilee South?s banner for the march read - don't owe, won't pay.
The theme of this year's G7 Summit is Beyond Debt Relief. But the debt crisis is far from over. It won't be until 100% of the debt of the poorest countries is cancelled. Canada has agreed to write off all of the debts owed to Canada from the poorest countries. Will Canada push the World Bank and the IMF to write off the debts owed to them by the poorest countries in the world? Will the G7 agree to remove this key lever of control and power?
Another G7 Summit came and went. The world leaders renewed their vows to globalization. New commitments were made for a global health fund. Meanwhile, sub-Saharan Africa pays $337 million dollars a day in debt payments, an amount that dwarfs G7 contributions to the proposed fund in only a couple of months. What can we do, but raise our voices and take to the street?
Upon my return to Canada, the customs agent asked me if I watched or participated in the G8 Summit. I asked him how one can just sit back and watch the G8. On the other hand, how does one participate.
Public protest, for me, is both an emotional and political imperative. By taking to the streets, I join others from around the world in expressing publicly dismay over the current state of poverty, inequity and environmental degradation. I gain strength in numbers. So too, I believe, do the issues. The more people on the street, the more often, the greater the political pressure for change. Seattle, Washington, Windsor, Prague, Quebec and Genoa. I see this movement as a red line rising on a thermometer. At some point the G7 fever will have to break.
