Lutherans Participate in Jubilee 2000/USA Rally

WASHINGTON, D.C. (ELCA) -- An estimated 6,000 people -- including many members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) -- gathered on The Mall here April 9 to rally for Jubilee 2000/USA. The rally was part of an international effort involving religious, labor, environmental, human rights and hunger organizations which advocate canceling the international debts of the world's most impoverished countries.
The rally included prayers, performances by international musicians and speeches from activists and political leaders, all aimed at increasing awareness of Jubilee 2000/USA and to demonstrate to the U.S. Congress the importance of debt relief. The rally theme was "Proclaim Jubilee! Cancel the Debt Now."
The ELCA has supported Jubilee 2000/USA since 1997, and, its 1999 Churchwide Assembly reaffirmed that support. Through its Lutheran Office for Governmental Affairs (LOGA) in Washington, D.C., the ELCA also sponsored the Jubilee 2000/USA rally.
"The grounding of the ELCA involvement is Christian concern for the poor," said the Rev. Russell O. Siler, LOGA director. "It is one of the principal objectives of the ELCA's statement on economic life."
The impact of heavy foreign debt is most evident in Africa. =20 Sub-Saharan governments owe foreign creditors an average of almost $400 = for every man, woman and child -- more than most Africans make in a year, according to the World Bank. Nearly one-third of children there are undernourished, resulting in a high mortality rate, according to statistics compiled by Jubilee 2000/USA. Half of Africa's population -- about 300 million people -- live without access to basic health care or a safe water source, the campaign said.
The Jubilee campaign was inspired by the "jubilee year" in the biblical text of Leviticus, which speaks of redemption of property and release from slavery.
Among the rally participants was Sven Allenbach-Schmidt, an ELCA member, Silver Spring, Md. Participation in the April 9 rally was an outgrowth of his congregation's reflection on the biblical text, he said.
"This is a perfect example of a modern way we can live up to that material," Allenbach-Schmidt said. "For Christian reasons and basic economic reasons, this is a good idea."
Six Lutheran campus ministry students from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee drove 17 hours to participate in the rally. Jamie Armata, a sociology major, has studied the conditions in poor nations. The Jubilee 2000/USA movement is a way to respond to the concerns he has learned about, Armata said.
"This is a way to break the cycle," he said.
Leading those around him in a chant of "Jubilee means peace -- the debts must be released," fellow student Marcos de Jesus said faith prompted his involvement.
"You have to believe all the way," de Jesus said. "Working for social justice is a cog in the wheel of faith."
Ken Best Sr., a former Liberian journalist, newspaper publisher and ELCA member, sang at the rally with the Grace Lutheran Church Rainbow Choir, Washington, D.C.
"In principle, I welcome the idea [of debt cancellation] and am grateful for those who agitate for it," he said, "but no country should get debt relief until it shows a commitment to good governance."
Grassroots coalitions within debtor nations are committed to using funds freed up from foreign debt payments for poverty reduction, job creation, health and education programs and environmental stewardship, Jubilee 2000/USA organizers said. For example, Uganda spent $3 per person on health care in 1996, and spent $17 per person repaying debt. One in five children there dies from a preventable disease before reaching the age of five. The Ugandan government has established a Poverty Action Fund for savings from debt relief to be used for specific goals such as universal primary education.
The Rev. William E. Lesher, former president of the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, was also a rally participant.
"If we can remove the unpayable debt, we will have given the most help possible to developing nations," he said. Lesher attended the rally with a group of people from northern California called the "San Francisco Bay Area Coalition for Jubilee."
The financial impact of debt cancellation would not be a hardship for the United States, Lesher said.
"The rich don't need the money we're getting. It's a pittance for us," he said. "The bottom line is it won't cost much."
The rally culminated with participants forming a human chain around the circumference of the Capitol grounds. Rams' horns, sounded by members of the Jewish community in keeping with an ancient biblical practice, announced the beginning of a procession of people carrying home-made chains of paper and tattered cloth. At the front of the line were children.
"In impoverished nations, children are at the end of the line," said Siler, referring to limited access to health care, education and other necessities. "Here they are at the front of the line."
The 41 nations identified by the World Bank as Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) hold total debts of $213 billion, of which $169 billion is owed primarily to Western countries or the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank. Debts owed to the U.S. government are estimated at $6 billion.
About 800 people returned to Capitol Hill April 10 to learn more about Jubilee 2000/USA and talk directly with congressional representatives about the campaign for debt cancellation. Congress is considering a budget proposal to designate $810 million for debt relief. Jubilee 2000/USA supporters voiced their support for the proposal in meetings with the legislators and their staffs.
"It is not alone a matter of the cancellation of the debt of the poorest nations in the world -- an exciting concept in its own right -- but of freeing monies consumed in debt service so that they can be used to address poverty and the building of the infrastructure in these poorest countries," said the Rev. Theodore F. Schneider, bishop of the ELCA Metropolitan Washington, D.C., Synod and a rally participant. "It is an act of generosity, soundly biblical, that becomes the seed of hope for millions of the world's poorest peoples and nations."

Editors: Information about Jubilee 2000/USA and the rally is available
on the LOGA Web site at www.loga.org.

[*Karen S. Krueger is communication coordinator of the Metropolitan
Washington, D.C. Synod.]

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John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG
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