ABSTRACT
The idea of forgiving the debt of the world’s poor nations began gaining momentum several years ago. Beginning in the early 1990s, “Drop the Debt,” a British NGO advocated the complete cancellation of all debt owed by poor countries. In 1995, “Drop the Debt” merged with a new organization called “Jubilee 2000.” Made up of a broad coalition of religious groups, ordinary citizens, and high-profile celebrities, Jubilee 2000 mounted unprecedented worldwide campaigns for the complete elimination of Third World debt (Pettifor 2006). One of the more memorable campaigns took place in the final weeks of 1999 when tens of thousands of people in over 150 countries would regularly and symbolically form human chains to pray, sign petitions and peacefully protest for an end to global inequality, injustice and poverty. With charismatic pop stars Bob Geldof and the indefatigable Bono of the group U2 as spokespeople, Jubilee 2000 made the cancellation of all debt held by the world’s poorest countries the centerpiece of their demands (Pettifor 2006; Roodman 2006).
