Genesis of the Campaign |
Consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you; each one of you is to return to his family property and each to his own clan (Leviticus 25:10)
The concept and
initial organization of Jubilee 2000 can be credited to an absent-minded,
retired politics lecturer at the University
of Keele in England. In 1990, Professor Martin J. Dent (pictured right) had
been asked by students to give a talk on the eradication of poverty. (For a page of reminisces
of Dent as a professor, click here.) He urged
the students to consider the problem of third-world debt. He later wrote,
To be in a position of owing unpayable debt is a kind of slavery… In a fair world, monies should flow from rich to poor to alleviate their sufferings. The debt burden [on poor nations] has been producing a considerable reverse flow, thus nullifying much of the effect of aid. On the other hand, bankers and governments have a genuine case when they insist that the general principle of the honoring of debts must be preserved… An incremental process of debt reduction would create the assumption that there is remission on demand; a country, part of whose debts had been recently forgiven would come back and ask for further forgiveness. (p. 15)
The solution, Dent reasoned, was
…to have a special time by which, or in connection with which, a radical one-off debt remission is to be made for each country. This debt remission is not to be repeated for a long period. It is essential therefore that the remission should be the occasion for a new beginning for the country concerned, in which self-reliance, productive energy and honest financial management will replace the corruptions and extravagances of the past. (p. 16)
Dent began thinking about the Biblical concept of a Jubilee year. In a radio interview, he remembered,
It was in 1990, and it was in a little pub in Oxford, and I thought “Can I use the Jubilee concept? Am I pulling it too far out of its context?” Once into the Jubilee idea, of course, there are great riches that it contains: a special year, a time of rejoicing, a liberation.
Dent believed that Old Testament concepts of a Jubilee fit
well with the idea of debt remission:
The rich tradition of Jubilee into which we have keyed has resonance for people of all religious faiths, or of a secular belief in the unity of the human family and the need to help its poorer members… Jubilee doctrine is part of Sabbath doctrine in the Old Testament, and Sabbath doctrine teaches opposites. There is a command to work and avoid idleness, but there is a command to set aside one special day in seven for the opposite. On that day we are to devote ourselves to rest, recreation and worship, neither performing nor demanding unnecessary servile labor. Similarly, debt was, in general, to be honored and the penalties for failure to repay debt were severe. The debtor had to perform unpaid labor for the creditor, until the year of Jubilee reversed this status and forgave the debt. In this way, the community of Israel avoided the continual build up of inequality and provided for a new beginning, when the redeemed community of Israel would re-establish it solidarity with one another in economic terms, and avoid injustice. (pp. 20-21)
Dent’s students noted the importance of the year 2000, also rich with religious significance. A small group decided to urge western governments and international finance institutions such as the World Bank to declare the year 2000 a Jubilee year. Dent noted that it was important to keep the Jubilee framework:
I persuaded them [the student group] that Jubilee 2000 would be a suitable title for us. We resisted the suggestion that the name should be “Millennium 2000,” since this was too close to the unrealistic expectations of millenarians, who have arisen at various key dates in human history to proclaim the immediate arrival of a totally new order of society. I was acutely aware of the fact that those who set out to change everything usually end up changing nothing. (p. 27)
After meeting with the students and gauging their enthusiasm, Dent began work on Jubilee 2000 in earnest, contacting various political, religious and poverty-reduction groups. He soon met up with Bill Peters, a former High Commissioner in Malawi and subsequently in his retirement, Chairman of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, who had also been working on the debt reduction issue and agreed to become co-chair of the campaign. By 1996, the campaign had drawn so many groups and interest that it was decided to hire more professional management and broaden the appeal. Some in the new group suggested that the campaign be reframed to a more secular “Debt-Free 2000,” but Dent and others were insistent that the Jubilee 2000 name be preserved. Dent noted that this decision resulted in the strong and influential backing of leaders within various faiths:
We have derived enormous momentum from the support of all the churches. They have acted like the leaven in the lump to help produce the present extensive level of support for Jubilee 2000. They have been effective inspirers of action in the secular field and have brought to the campaign a dimension of the call for justice and compassion. (pp. 32-33)
The Pope endorsed the Jubilee debt reduction idea in an apostolic letter (to read the letter, click here). The Anglican Church passed a resolution of commitment to the Jubilee at the General Synod (to read a report of that decision, click here), and various other denominations expressed their enthusiastic support. Dent observed,
The leading role of the churches in this matter was further emphasized by the fact that when James Wolfensohn, the President of the World Bank, came to Britain recently, he made a point of having a long discussion with the religious leaders - Cardinal Hume, Archbishop Carey and the Free Church leaders. In this campaign, the church has a special role of leadership. Therefore we welcome the headline in the leading article in the Church Times “After 2000 years, it is time to think big.”(p. 33)
All quotes by Martin Dent taken from:
Martin Dent and Bill Peters, The Crisis of Poverty and Debt in the Third World, Ashgate Publishing, 1999.