Debt Activists Table at U2 Concert

ROCK WITH A CONSCIENCE - U2 PROMOTING DEBT CANCELLATION

Grammy Award-Winning U2 in San Jose for Concerts; Working with Local Activists To Get Out Message of Canceling Third World Debt

Bono, lead singer of the Irish rock legends U2, and a man who has made a career of speaking out on social issues, is in San Jose this week. He brings a forceful message that he has carried around the globe during the past two years: cancel the debts of the poorest nations, now. Local activists say U2's crusading has proved invaluable for their cause. The SF Bay Area Jubilee Debt Cancellation Coalition, courtesy of Bono, is tabling at both concerts to promote the debt cancellation message to concert goers, April 19 and 20 at the Compaq Center.

Bono took up the debt cause when he found that the Live Aid benefit concert to raise money for Africa raised just a drop in the bucket. As the U2 frontman said last year, "Live Aid raised $200 million for Africa. Anger is the only response on realizing that that sum is spent every week by the poorest countries of Africa - on debt service."

The United Nations estimates that 19,000 children die every day because $60 million is spent daily on debt repayments to creditors rather than healthcare. Sub-Saharan Africa - the poorest region in the world and now reeling from an AIDS epidemic - still pays a staggering $37 million each day to rich nations and banks. Debt is like foreign aid in reverse - for every dollar sent to the poorest countries in aid, $1.30 flows back to lenders in debt service payments.

Bono was a key proponent of last year's Jubilee 2000 campaign, which continues to call for the world's wealthiest nations to drop dept owed to them by Third World countries. He met with, and won the support of, the Pope, then-President Bill Clinton, Sen. Orrin Hatch, Christian conservative leader Pat Robertson, and World Bank head James Wolfenson, among others. The Irish pop star also delivered a petition of 21.2 million signatures to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan at the U.N. Millennium Summit last November. The signatures, collected at religious and other organizations in 155 countries, called on the world's wealthiest countries to forgive the debts of poor nations. Most recently, members of U2 spoke out on the issue of debt while receiving their Grammy.

The worldwide movement has made progress. The US Congress allocated $435 million last year for reduction of debts of poorest countries. Last year, Congress also included a landmark provision in the 2001 foreign aid spending bill to oppose "user fees" imposed by the World Bank and International Monetary Fund for primary health care and education - one of their more harmful policies (and one which President Bush is now seeking to reinstate).

But more debt cancellation is needed. The world's poorest nations currently owe $350 billion. Jubilee USA calls on Congress and President Bush to use our leverage to have the World Bank and IMF use their own resources to cancel debts of poor countries now, without imposing harmful policies. Jubilee is calling for the money to be reinvested in primary health care, education and other basic needs. And we call on U2 concert goers to add their voices to press the July G-7 Summit of the leaders of the wealthiest nation in Genoa, Italy to make debt cancellation real.

Groups meet regularly in Berkeley and San Jose. To get involved, send an email to debt [at] economicjustice.org

For more info, visit:
http://www.j2000usa.org
http://www.dropthedebt.org
http://www.u2.com