Call-In Day to Make the World Bank and IMF Drop the Debt Wednesday, April 25th 1.) Please take 5 minutes today to call the White House, Treasury and State Department. 2.) Double your voice! Call a friend and ask them to call-in too. People are much more likely to participate if you ask them personally! Calls are urgent this week. The World Bank and IMF are holding their annual spring meetings this weekend. Send the message on the eve of their meetings that DEBT IS NOT DONE! The Jubilee USA Network will be issuing press releases all week calling on the World Bank and IMF to cancel 100% of the debt using their own internal resources. We will also participate in press conferences to release groundbreaking legislation by Representatives Barbara Lee and Maxine Waters on HIV/AIDS and debt cancellation. Keep an eye on your local papers and let us know if the issue is being covered. The real story, though, is what you are doing in your local communities to flood the White House with calls demanding full debt cancellation on the eve of the Bank and Fund's spring meetings. Keep calling ALL WEEK long. Pick up the phone and help us make history. ************************************************** *************** Drop the Debt: Jubilee USA Network National Call-In Day to Cancel Crushing Debt to the World Bank and IMF ********Help us get 10,000 calls to President Bush ******** Call the White House Wednesday, April 25th - 9-5pm EDT 202-456-1111 Here's what you do: Call the White House comment line and follow the prompts until you reach a live human being: 202-456-1111. If the line is busy and you can't get through please send a fax to: 202-456-2461. Here's what you say: 1) Africa is being devastated by HIV/AIDS and other health crises, yet many countries continue to pay more in debt service than on health care. 2) I am calling to ask President Bush to make the World Bank and IMF cancel 100% of the debt using their own internal resources (not more taxpayer money) so that impoverished countries can use the monies for primary health care and education. 3) I want the President to retain the legislation passed by Congress last year to eliminate user-fees imposed by the World Bank and IMF. Feel free to personalize your statement and always ask to leave your name and city. Please also call with the same message: Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill at 202-622-1100 or fax: 202-622-6415 and Secretary of State Colin Powell at 202-647-6575 or fax: 202-261-8577 Congratulations! Thank you for helping to make history by joining the Jubilee USA Network to definitively cancel the illegitimate debts that continue to enslave millions of our brothers and sisters around the world! Background: The international Jubilee movement has had tremendous success in the last few years in bringing the world's attention to the unbearable burden of debt imposed on the world's poorest countries. Together we have made some gains in achieving actual debt relief that is making a difference in real people's lives. Yet much more is needed. The majority of the debt of the poorest nations has not been cancelled. Many countries still spend more on debt service than on health care and education. In light of the HIV/AIDS and other health crises in Africa, it is not tolerable for countries to continue to spend more on debt than on health care and basic education. It is time for the World Bank and the IMF to use their ample internal resources to cancel the debts owed them by the most impoverished countries. Harmful and failed economic policies, like user-fees for health and education, should not be imposed as conditions for debt cancellation. Rather, we should seek to insure that the priorities of the people in these countries are met--for investments in health care, schooling and clean water. The Jubilee USA Network is calling for President Bush to use U.S. leverage to make the World Bank and IMF cancel the debts of the poorest countries now using their own resources. For more information on the National Call-In Day please contact Mara Vanderslice at the Jubilee USA Network office at: 202-783-3566 or [EMAIL PROTECTED]
