Drop the Debt comes to campus

Nobel Peace Prize nominee Wahu Kaara urged students to get active in global debt relief at a… Nobel Peace Prize nominee Wahu Kaara urged students to get active in global debt relief at a national tour stop in David Lawrence Hall Wednesday.

“I provoke you as students because you have the opportunity, collectively and inventively, to come up with solutions,” she said. “Pittsburgh is a center of thought and ideas.”

As part of Drop the Debt 2005, a panel of speakers, anchored by Kaara, travel across the United States to educate Americans about the crisis of debt facing impoverished countries in the world.

Many organizations at Pitt – including Cornerstone 220, the Caribbean and Latin American Student Association, Black Action Society and United Interfaith – played a role in bringing the tour to campus.

“The issue of human suffering is our responsibility and our duty,” Kaara said. “For us [people in Africa] it’s not statistics. It’s reality.”

She reminded students of their power to make changes, especially in the university setting.

“We have come to say this is the moment for people to come up with ideas for the 21st century,” she said.

Solomon Orellana, from Honduras, said that even countries that were given partial debt relief by the G8 Summit face problems, including unbalanced trade agreements.

Kusfiardi St. Majo Endah, a coordinator for the Anti-Debt Coalition in Indonesia, spoke of the effects that debts have on the people in his country.

Endah called debt a “crime against humanity,” explaining that social spending in Indonesia has fallen 40 percent since 1995.

He added that 50 percent of government spending in Indonesia goes toward repayment of the debt, while only 5 percent to 10 percent goes toward education.

Kristen Sundale – the national coordinator for the tour’s main sponsor, Jubilee USA – encouraged students to write to their representatives and urge them to support the Jubilee Act, which would commit the United States to 100 percent debt cancellation for more than 50 impoverished countries.

On the second day of the conference, the speakers from the night before and two speakers from Pitt answered questions from students in the audience.

Questions ranged from “What is the World Bank?” to “What sort of non-governmental organizations should students support in order to make a difference?” to “Why are these countries poor?”

Graduate student and member of the panel Jose Argueta emphasized that the problems of poor countries go beyond the debt.

Argueta said that bad government plays a role in causing poverty and needs to be examined along with debt relief.

The panelists recommended books and Internet research to students looking for more information.

Many students in the audience remarked on the importance of hearing people who have actually experienced global debt talk about the subject.

“It’s a blessing to see them come from across the world to Pitt,” said Delace Coke, the student coordinator of the effort to bring the conference to Pittsburgh.

Pitt students will have the opportunity to discuss debt relief further at meetings on Monday nights at the Bellefield Presbyterian Church from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m.