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  Issue No 103 Official Organ of LaborNet 20 July 2001  

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International

Behind the Eight Ball


Jubilee Australia's Thea Ormond looks at the international activity being generated around this week's Group of Eight Summit in Genoa

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Genoa, Italy, will be a major focus of attention this weekend. A handful of men will make decisions which will affect the life chances of over a billion people, decisions about trade barriers, global poverty, the AIDS pandemic, the United Nations and - the question of what must be done about the debts of the poorest countries.

Huge demonstrations are taking place in Genoa, and we will have our own Drop the Debt March this Sunday starting from Hyde Park North at 1 pm. The procession will be in memory of the children who are dying because their countries are compelled by the international community to spend precious resources on servicing old debts, already repaid several times over, instead of basic services for their people.

Campaigners can draw some hope from the progress made on debt relief internationally and here in Australia. Nicaragua is now free of its $A7 million debt to Australia. The ALP has now adopted as part of its platform an in-principle commitment to making further moves in this direction.

Internationally, 23 countries are now benefiting from the $53 billion which has come through from the Heavily Indebted Poor Country Initiative (HIPC) and the promises of bilateral cancellation. In Uganda primary school enrolments have doubled. In Mozambique an extra half a million children have been vaccinated against tetanus, whooping cough and diphtheria, and electricity is being provided for rural schools and hospitals. In South American Guyana, a cut of $60 million from their debt bill each year will improve health care for the poor, immunization, HIV education, teacher training, irrigation and rural wells.

The Finance Ministers of the G7 are talking up the progress made as though the glass is half full, not half empty. German sources from last weekend's Finance Ministers' meeting are reported as describing debt forgiveness so far as "an enormous reduction" and Hans Eichel stated "the forgiveness initiative is in motion."

From Jubilee's perspective, he is making out the glass as half full when there is only a thimble of water in the glass. We have been lobbying for cancellation of $380 billion owed by the 52 poorest countries. This is actually not a large amount of money for the world's largest economies, yet it is sucking scarce resources from the poorest economies out of their health and education budgets. It means shortages of basic necessities like clean water and sanitation for millions.

Yet the G7 Finance Ministers have variously pointed out that cost is an issue, that they don't really have the money to finance more debt relief (!) Jubilee's claim that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank could cancel 100% of debts owed to them "would increase the cost of the HIPC program substantially" (US Treasury), and the UK Treasury is stating that it is not clear that the International Institutions "could release the substantial additional resources required."

Instead, they say it is over to poor countries to show "good governance" "for their own good". This is code for: poor countries having to follow structural adjustment policies - cutbacks in services, trade liberalisation and privatisation policies - which in fact hurt the poor, but suit the interests of the major shareholders of the IMF and World Bank. At the same time it is over to poor country governments to tackle poverty.

Nonetheless the outcomes of the summit are not a foregone conclusion. The host country, Italy, has one of the most progressive stances on debt cancellation, having passed legislation favouring 66 of the poorest countries and moving well beyond the constraints of HIPC. It is a hopeful sign that the first meeting of the weekend will be with six government leaders from the world's poorest countries. We watch with interest.

In the meantime it is our own Australian Government which has been among the most sluggish of creditors to offer any kind of debt cancellation. Jubilee is calling for the debts of Nepal, Bangladesh, the Philippines, Vietnam and Ethiopia to be written off, a total of $A500 million. For us, to stop collecting form these countries would have a negligible effect on us. It's a whole lot less than what Australians spend on chocolate and sweets in a year and it would be spread over a number of years.

Of course, we would need to be satisfied that the money released would be used for the poor. Where there is reason to believe that it would not, Jubilee suggests the setting up of trust funds for poverty reduction in the debtor countries concerned.

In any case, whatever the events on the international stage, let's get moving!


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*    Visit Jubilee Australia

*   View entire issue - print all of the articles!

*   Issue 103 contents

In this issue
Features
*  Interview: Political Witch Hunt
CFMEU national secretary John Sutton on the mooted Royal Commission and what is really needed to clean up the building industry
*
*  E-Change: 1.3 The Nation State in Crisis
In the latest instalment in their study on the new politics, Peter Lewis and Michael Gadiel looks at the rise and fall of the institutional State.
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*  Unions: Industrial Violence
Rowan Cahill agrees with Tony Abbott that thuggery and violence are part of Australian industrial relations landscape - but it's the bosses who do most of the bashing.
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*  History: Total Recoil
Neal Towart looks at how Royal Commissions designed to kick unions have typically come back to haunt their architects.
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*  International: Behind the Eight Ball
Jubilee Australia's Thea Ormond looks at the international activity being generated around this week's Group of Eight Summit in Genoa
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*  Politics: Now We The People
A new group believes there is an alternative to corporate gobalism and economic rationalism
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*  Satire: Marsden Now to Sue Himself
Sydney solicitor John Marsden is suing himself for defamation, claiming the recent libel case he brought did irreparable damage to his reputation.
*
*  Review: In The House
Resident Four-Eyes Mark Morey attempts the impossible with this attempt at a serious analysis of Big Brother.
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News
»  Survey Shows Majority Support for Unions
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»  Howard's Union Stooge in Hot Water
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»  Unions Cash in on Big Brother
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»  Big Boys Bully Over Della Compo Changes
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»  Where's WorkCover? Safety Prosecutions Drop Off
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»  Telstra's Ultimatum: Stay Away From Kim
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»  Workers Win Stake in New Bank
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»  Hours Test Case Gets Green Light
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»  St John of God Workers Pray for Justice
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»  Five-Star Action From Security Guards
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»  Howard Plans to Stop the Vote
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»  Rio Outrage Heads for Court
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»  Nurses To Fight For Pay
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»  One Hundred Reasons to Save Aussie Post
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»  Rail Track Sell-Off Part of Privatisation Push
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»  Coles Myer Abandons Regional Jobs
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»  Qld Wage Rise Still Not Enough
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»  Activists Notebook
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Columns
»  The Soapbox
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»  The Locker Room
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»  Trades Hall
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»  Tool Shed
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Letters to the editor
»  Problems with Hunter Decision
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»  A Lost Cause
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»  High Farce
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