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Jubilee Scotland cyclist Ken Morrison shares his personal reflections on debt campaigning.
In many ways the debt campaign first started to impact at the G7 summit in Birmingham in 1998. There, according to people who attended the summit like Claire Short, Jubilee supporters made a real impact on the events happening within the summit. Five years on, that impact is still being felt. The G8 leaders cannot meet now without considering their responsibilities to the rest of the world. They are judged, and often found wanting, by what they promise at these summits. Having had the good fortune to cycle to the last 3 summits, I would like to reflect on what has been achieved and consider options for the future of the campaign. After Genoa, our presence has been largely symbolic, but of course symbols can in themselves be powerful.

This years trip was a mere 700 mile jaunt, starting in Edinburgh, cycling to Rosyth then getting the ferry to Zeebrugge and cycling through Brugges, Lille, Reims, Dijon, Geneva, and one or two other places arriving in time to partake in the Summit Pour un Autre Monde conference next to the official summit and march on 1/6. This year, we were 7 or 8 Scots and a similar number of fellow cyclists from south of the border, mainly Leeds and Lancashire. The JS campaign is face up to World debt and our banners reflected this in English & French. Very professional they were too, even if my school boy French longed for the simplicity of Drop the Debt. Two years ago we cycled a parallel route across France to Genoa. Then no one in France seemed to know of the Debt campaign. This year, the issue had a much higher profile, and many people we spoke to along the way knew about the issue. Although it was still central to demands made at the summit, with France being France I should point out that there were and are lots of other issues being agitated for, with demonstrations in bigger cities about pension rights, teachers pay, the environment etc,

We had 2 receptions in Lille, one of them official in the town hall, and a welcome one in Reims after a day in the rain. We performed our potted pantomime Merchant of Venice in French, (Portia had a See You Jimmy Hat on) which went down well and showed the iniquities of debt in a simple clear entertaining way. The alternative summit, for all its virtues, did not exhibit those qualities. We attended a workshop on Debt: An instrument of domination over southern countries? at which Barry Coates Director of WDM and a member of JDC spoke, and a day long seminar “Tribunal on Debt and Reparations”

Opinions on the value of the discussions was varied: many of us had heard the case examples of crippling debt before, although it was felt good to get a refresher. Some of the solutions seemed rather naïve (change our governments, arrest Bush etc.) and most of the comments were negative about the effects of debt rather than positive about what debt cancellation has and could achieve. The anger from speakers from the south was tangible, and if representative of opinion there, no wonder all some people there can think of is fleeing their countries which are without hope and seeking asylum in the North. I felt ill equipped to be the sole portal of this anger and think we need to find new imaginative ways to link the experiences of the South with our actions in the North.

The march on 1/6 was a magic affair with lovely weather, good music, Debt campaigners at the head of the procession and even a few choruses of “What do we want? Drop the Debt! When do we want it? NOW” So overall, cycle campaigning rocks! You get to share in an experience with like minded people, you get to talk to ordinary people en route, you get noticed and because you enjoy it, you keep going!

I would like to leave you with some questions about the debt campaign:

• How can we recapture the engagement with ordinary people and politicians which made the early Jubilee campaign such a success?
• We’ve got debt top of the agenda for protesters, how can we get it back to the top for politicians?
• Bono has shown how even a country like USA can be swayed by a campaign, even if his focus was not solely on the debt issue (Debt Aids Trade Africa). How can we work with other organisations in the UK whilst keeping a focus on debt?
• Should we not look forward whilst respecting our roots, and do the millennium goals for 2015 represent a viable focus? Governments are very conscious of targets; what can we do to hold them to the stated goals, and assist them in achieving these? OK its 11 years away, but the planning for the Jubilee campaign started well before Birmingham.
• Can we use the manifestations of globalisation and debt in our country in a positive way without pandering to the fear of asylum seekers and little Englanders?
  
  Would we dilute our campaign if we fight for:
• Force the creditor to prove he didn’t lend to an odious dictatorship otherwise forgo his debt?
• The law to be changed to allow countries to go bankrupt?
• Reform the IMF and World Bank (and World Trade Organisation while we’re at it)?
• Introduce the Tobin Tax and use the money for sustainable development?

Next year G8 should be in the USA but in 2005 it should be back in Britain, which gives us an achievable target to aim for. Its never too early to start!

Finally I’ll leave you with a figure: £400,000,000. Know what that is? Its what the French spent on hosting the summit. Its what Scotland is moaning about spending on its Parliament building, and its what the poor countries give to the rich ones every week in Debt Repayments.

The campaign must go on!
Ken Morrison June 2003