 The Melchizedek group is proceeding ahead with its activities, in unison
with the Jubilee 2000 campaign, to write off international debt on the
occasion of the Kyushu and Okinawa summits. I would like now to explain
what was decided at last year's summit in Koln, what the reasons were for
the issue of unpayable debt, and how are we Christians going to proceed
from now on.
 The strong message of the Jubilee campaign was: "Let us, unconditionally,
cancel the unpayable international debt by the year 2000, so that we can
celebrate together with all the people of the world the coming holy year
2000." To achieve that, we could obtain the precious signatures of
many citizens who agreed to the goals of the international campaign and
that were presented to the heads of government gathered in Koln and to
the G7 Finance ministers. Most 500,000 Japanese signatures were brought
to Koln by Cardinal Shirayanagi, one of the 3 representatives of Jubilee
Japan, and were delivered there to the chairman of the Summit and to Japanese
Prime Minister Obuchi. But, as the media reported, the summit only agreed
to cancel $70 billion (about 1/3) of total international debt, thoughtfully
respecting the various states of affairs of the countries participating
in the summit. Since the Jubilee Campaign had called for "a 100 per
cent unconditional cancellation at a time", the international opinion
as well as citizens around the world highly evaluated the fact, that Jubilee
was able to influence world politics. Nevertheless, from the point of view
of the campaign, the results were disappointing. |
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Was the Recovering of Japan a Result of the Cold War?
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The postwar Japanese recovery was the result of the special procurements
of the Korean and Vietnam wars, provoked by the East-West conflicts between
Russia and the United States of America. But there were no such war procurements
for those Asian and African countries that obtained independence, after
the Second World War. Those countries had been colonized by Western powers,
and even after the war they remained economically dependent on former colonial
powers, thus their economies could not develop and they still remain poor.
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Costly Dreams of National Reconstruction
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People of southern countries had the joy of building their own nations
by obtaining political independence. The prevalent myth at that time was:
"Through industrialization nations can become wealthy without limits."
This was misleading, but the southern nations, competing with each other,
borrowed money from the industrial countries in order to invest it in infrastructure
building and in the promotion of industrial projects. But no matter how
much capital they invested in industrialization, due to the continuation
of their former dependence on colonial powers, their situation does not
improve. They sell their natural resources cheaply to the North and buy
industrial products at high prices, so that debts with the interest continue
growing. |
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The North Says that the South is Responsible for Borrowing Capital
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Badly enough, the oil crisis occurred during the second half of the 70s.
The economies of Japan and western countries that, up to that time, had
continued growing at high levels were severely hit and oil producing countries
took the lead in investing huge quantities of oil dollars into the banks
of the industrial countries. Banks, by definition, conduct their businesses
through the profits of capital transactions. In other words, the banks
of industrial countries that had received large quantities of oil dollars
looked for potential borrowers of the capital in their hands. But, since
the industries of their own countries, strongly hit by the oil crisis,
were not in a situation of accepting new loans, banks looked for countries
in the south to invest capital. In any event, countries do not go "bankrupt"
and it was difficult to think that the funds would go astray. Nevertheless,
they established consortiums in order to lend capital to southern governments
for large development programs. Later on, world money interest rates swelled
and, as a result, the debts and interest rates of developing countries
suddenly expanded. Almost during the same period of time, the price of
primary products (agricultural, mineral, etc.), means for developing countries
to obtain some foreign currency, fell sharply. As a result, since the dollars
developing countries could get from their exports had to be shifted to
pay debts, the running of their national economies became extremely painful.
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Rich Countries would not lend money to Countries with Unpayable Debts
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Finally it was in 1982 when the Mexican government, with huge amounts
of accumulated debt, declared it could not pay back either its principal
or even the interests of the debt. That triggered the economic insolvency
of many African countries and as a result the international debt crisis
occurred. Once the debt payment matures, private banks as well as the World
Bank stop their business transactions, and consequently trade and development
aid is also stopped. This situation provokes the destruction of the national
economy and finances. When such debt crisis hits developing countries,
the International Monetary Fund (IMF) stretches out its hand of financial
relief. But, the IMF imposes strict Structural Adjustment Programs (SAP)
as a condition for its financial relief.
In the nineties, after the end of the cold war, financial assistance to
Africa suddenly diminished. Originally, right after Second World War when
both, East and West blocks, conducted a power contest through economic
assistance to reassure their leadership in the UN, African countries received
large quantities of aid.  Nevertheless, once the Soviet block was dismantled, such a power contest
towards Africa became of no use and the money was allocated to East European
countries to help them in their policies of a free market economy.
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Again, in the midst of the actual global economy, Africa, where most of
the poorest countries are concentrated, hardly attracts the interest of
the world market. For this reason, multinationals do not invest there and
economic assistance is practically shelved. In other words, northern countries
and the World Bank as well as multinationals have turned their backs on
Africa.
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Programs Imposed as a Condition for Borrowing
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During the international debt crisis of the eighties, the IMF and WB showed
economic policy programs to the countries with debt crisis, as a condition
for the investment of capital. This marked the beginning of the SAP policy
imposed by the IMF. The following are problems pointed out by the SAP.
- 1. "Earn foreign currency to pay back your debts. In order to obtain
foreign currency, increase the deforestation of your natural resources
and export them in exchange for money. Evaluate your agricultural policies
in order to increase the production of profit earning crops."
- It is pointed out that, as a result of recklessness, the natural environment
is destroyed and the soil, the water and the air are polluted with all
kinds of harmful chemical materials. On the other hand, because coffee
and other profit earning export crops use much of the agricultural land,
small-size land for internal consumption is not available.
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- 2. "In order to administer the national budgets of the poorest countries,
privatize the basic industries"
- The privatization of basic industries results in making the poor countries
sell their basic industries cheaply to the multinationals. Many workers
become unemployed; natural resources and the environment get destroyed.
- 3. "Remove trade and capital investment control barriers so that multinationals
could easily invest their capital."
- Once the import tariffs and controls are removed, local products are not
able to compete with foreign imported products and local business face
a crisis of survival.
- 4. "Cut public works in order to repay your debts. Diminish public
welfare budgets for education, medical and general welfare."
- Such a policy calls for cutting the numbers of public servants, and produces
inconsistent primary education, and by diminishing the productivity of
private business economic vitality drops
To begin with, JUBILEE is an expression based on the Old Testament (Deut
15:12) that refers to the sabbatical year (the year of Yobel). |
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Jubilee means that, seven times seven years plus one, every fiftieth year
will be declared sacred and freedom will be proclaimed all over the country.
All debts are remitted, slaves are to be set free after providing them
with enough food and drinking wine. In other words, this is a system that
leads people towards the implementation of social justice.
The Jubilee campaign includes a Christian meaning. First of all, it aims
at a modern revival of the spiritual values and the system for social justice
of the old people of Israel, as they are recorded in the biblical books.
It means the salvation of our brothers and sisters living in poor countries.
Jubilee is a sharing, together with people around the world, of the joyful
celebrations of the great Holy Year 2000. We all celebrate the 2000 birthday
of Jesus Christ. But, I feel that our commitment, as Japanese Catholics,
to this campaign is very weak. Pope John Paul II has officially declared
that he wants to assist the poor brothers and sisters around the world,
and in answering his call Cardinal Shirayanagi agreed to become one of
the representatives of the campaign in Japan. Moreover, in spite of the
public demands to cooperate with the activities of the campaign oriented
towards the Okinawa summit, why is it that the campaign does not buildup?
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One of the reasons is that many people feel that international politics
and economics are difficult to understand. This cannot certainly be denied.
On the other hand, at this very moment there are, indeed, children that
die because of hunger and diseases. Is it just a matter of international
politics or economics? These problems refer to our faith; it is a matter
of sharing the message of God's love and salvation with all people on earth.
Above all, the heavenly Father has created the planet where we dwell. All
the riches we obtain from the earth belong equally to our Father, the Creator.
The facts are that a few, from the industrial countries, plunder and enjoy
the wealth of developing countries. Will this be in consonance with the
will of the Father?
I think that if, today, Jesus were to be born he would certainly select
the poorest house in a poor southern country, just as he selected a poor
manger. Will not the attitude to let our brothers and sisters from the
south die before our eyes be similar to that of King Herod who, at the
time of Jesus' birth, went all the way to kill innocent children?
We must, today, select between King Herod and the poor shepherds who,
joyfully, celebrated the birth of Jesus. Will you take part in prayers
and action for Okinawa? |
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