Jubilee 2000
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Jubilee 2000 was an international coalition movement in over 40 countries calling for cancellation of unpayable third world debt by the year 2000. This movement coincided with the Great Jubilee, the celebration of the year 2000 in the Catholic Church. After early 2001, Jubilee 2000 would split into the UK's Jubilee Debt Campaign and Jubilee Research at nef new economics foundation, and Jubilee USA and other national organizations.
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[edit] Concept
The concept came from the biblical idea of the year of Jubilee, the 50th year. In the Jubilee Year as quoted in Leviticus, those enslaved because of debts are freed, lands lost because of debt are returned, and community torn by inequality is restored. It aimed to wipe out $90bn of debt owed by the world's poorest nations, reducing the total to about $37bn.
[edit] Activism
Among the supporters of the movement were musician Bono of U2, Muhammad Ali, Bob Geldof, Youssou N'dour, Thom Yorke and others.
The movement seemed to reach a surprising critical mass in the UK with in 1998 G8 Summit when 70,000 people protested peacefully in the centre of Birmingham. At subsequent G8 meetings in Cologne, Okinawa and Genoa debt was very much on the agenda.
[edit] Post-Jubilee 2000
It was always intended that Jubilee 2000 would disband at the end of 2000 and this it did. However, offshoots were formed from the ashes, campaigning for governments to make good on their promises. Some former Jubilee 2000 UK staff founded the short-lived Drop The Debt to work in the run-up to the 2001 G8 Summit in Genoa, maintaining Jubilee 2000's combination of lobbying, celebrity work and mass activism. Jubilee Research at the New Economics Foundation, located in London, took over from Jubilee 2000 in 2001 and now provides in-depth analysis and data on third world debt. Jubilee Debt Campaign is the UK's campaigning successor to Jubilee 2000, comprising much of the UK's original Jubilee 2000 membership. The campaign calls for 100% debt cancellation for unpayable debt owed by the world's poorest countries. The Debt issue was one of the targets of 2005's Make Poverty History Campaign.
Jubilee USA, located in Washington DC, is the USA's campaigning successor to Jubilee 2000.
