Picture from Guardian Unlimited 25th April 2000
Jubilee 2000 is an international movement whose objective is to campaign for the cancellation of the unpayable debts owed by the world's poorest countries to the world's richest countries by the end of 2000.
Colin Tunnah April 2000.
This is the main Jubilee site and charts the progress of the campaign so far, it gives the organisation's perspective of the origins of the debt crises and lists the objectives and aims of Jubilee 2000. Contact information is also provided as are links to other sites of interest including Jubilee 2000 campaigns in indiviual countries around the world. Information is provided as to how individuals can help participate in the campaign and an opportunity to sign an on-line petition in favour of debt cancellation for the poorest countries is also available.
Netaid is an umbrella organisation who's stated objective is to use the power of the internet to bring together people and provide organisations with new connections to millions of potential supporters to help end extreme poverty, one of the organisations affiliated to Netaid is Jubilee 2000. To draw attention to world poverty on 9th October 1999 the organisation held concerts in New York, London and Geneva which were broadcast live on the internet. Netaid estimate that 2.4 million people logged on to receive the live webcast. The site provides information on the organisations affiliated to Netaid and frontline reports from areas affected by extreme poverty. It is also possible to donate money to Netaid through the site with details provided as to how funds are managed and distributed.
This link will take you to an article from the online version of Newsweek magazine focusing on the efforts of U2 singer Bono on behalf of Jubilee 2000 to lobby politicians and world leaders to write off third world debt. During this process Bono has had meetings with Bill Clinton, Tony Blair, German Chancellor, Gerhard Shroder and Pope John Paul II. In an amusing comment Bono recalls walking into the Oval Office to meet President Clinton in his combat trousers and tee shirt and receiving bemused looks from the security staff. In the article we are told how Jamie Drummond of Jubilee 2000 persuaded Bono to support the cause by telling him that Live Aid raised a total of $200 million for African relief but that the African nations owed that amount of money in debt payments every five days.
This article dated 18th Dec 1999 from the BBC news site details reaction to the announcement from the UK Government Chancellor, Gordon Brown that his government has agreed to write off millions of pounds owed to it by 25 of the world's poorest countries. The article provides quotations from Bob Geldoff, Bono and Jubilee 2000 spokeswoman, Ann Pettifer who puts forward the theory that the announcement will have a domino effect on other nations. Geldof is generous in his praise of Gordon Brown and suggests that future generations will remember this act in preference to other attempts to mark the millennium such as the with the Dome and Wheel in London. The site also provides links to video and audio coverage of story and related articles by the BBC.
This is an article from US network, ABC News from October 1999 when Jubilee 2000 organised a press conference in Washington DC to lobby US politicians to write off third world debt in advance of the issue being debated in the US congress. Speaking on behalf of Jubilee 2000, Republican Congressman Spencer Bachus attempts to put the cost implications of debt relief into context when he proposes the theory that the cost of debt relief to the American is $1.20 a year for three years or put another way the equivilent of the cost of one milkshake. In the article Bachus highlights why he thinks that debt relief is of such importance by offering his theory that the least well off nations are faced with the choice of either educating their children or paying thier debts.