[PEN-L:11651] Re: Jubilee 2000 critique

[Peter Dorman <dormanp@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Chris, you might check the pen-l archives.  We had a brief flurry on the
Jubilee 2000 campaign.  Gist: they took a big step backward by focusing solely
on the poorest countries.  The global debt overhang is a serious problem both
for the countries directly involved and for the world economy (debt pressure
leading to increased export pressure leading to competitiveness mania).  Jub
2000 has adjusted its goals downward to be "realistic" in the face of
neoliberal hegemony and the lack of effective institutions for managing
international trade and capital flows.  Too bad.

Peter

Chris Burford wrote:

> We need a serious critique of the Jubilee 2000 campaign. By that I mean one
> that sees its positive aspects but also its limitations. (Thanks Patrick
> for the AIDC tip - web address I think you meant: www.aidc.org.za)
>
> The Pope has just made an alliance with Bono and Bob Geldorf to promote
> this. The call is for the abolition of the debt of the 52 poorest nations
> to mark the millenium. Bob Geldorf has emphasised that these nations will
> never be able to pay and that new institutions are needed to help them.
>
> The Pope's involvement is significant. He is possibly conscious of the
> charge from the non-Christian world that the 2000th anniversary of the
> birth of Jesus might emphasise the imperialist domination of the caucasian
> imperial powers. The Pope appears to have turned to the christian
> democratic tradition to give extra legitimacy to the Catholic Church's
> leadership position. The christian democratic tradition, emphasising ideas
> of solidarity between workers and capitalists under a framework of social
> justice, was a reaction to the rising tide of social democratic ideas in
> Europe at the end of the 19th century. It is in character largely social
> democratic itself.
>
> It is not as progressive as liberation theology, which this Pope has always
> opposed, but it is more progressive than the sort of catholicism that
> supported the dictatorships of Salazar and Franco.
>
> The Jubilee 2000 call means that the global festivities on December 31st
> will have a political component to them. The Pope will specifically make
> the call in his speech. Bob Geldorf is presumably already planning ways to
> repeat his success as a very minor British pop singer, to get lots of
> better pop singers to sing "Feed the World" with him. Television
> sponsorship will be considerable, as the companies scramble for the biggest
> audience.
>
> All this blather will not be of any concern of course to seriously macho
> Marxists who can see through the capitalist, reformist, petty bourgeois
> nature of the whole enterprise at a glance  and roll off a withering
> polemical expose half an hour later, if they do not think an inspired
> contemptuous joke about Geldorf's musical abilities is sufficient.
>
> What is needed however is a more dialectical analysis of this movement. The
> emotional message will be there and transmitted to billions on 31st
> December. Capitalism will seek to assimilate it in numerous ways. BUT that
> will also create a political space for more serious criticism of the
> limitations of the whole effort. There will be air time and screen space
> for effective critiques. Serious political campaigning organisations like
> Oxfam and World Development Movement will have their spokespersons briefed.
> The organisers of June 18th will also be looking for what they see as a
> more incisive celebration of the millenium.
>
> Marxists (genuine, dialectical marxists) can influence this agenda if the
> work is begun now. It does not matter from what immediate initial stance
> they  approach the Jubilee 2000 project so long as the emerging critique is
> a marxist one: dialectical, analysing positive and negative features,
> relating the campaign to an international balance of class forces, and
> coming up with a higher synthesis which can help what is democratic in the
> movement unfolding before our eyes.
>
> Chris Burford
>
> London