We have distinguished speakers from the Dharmic Faiths – Buddhist, Hindu, Sikh, Jain and Zoroastrian.who will share their faith perspective on global poverty and debt.
Chaired by Rev Prof Michael Taylor and including words from Bhai Sahib Mohinder Singh

The event will enable those from all faiths and none to appreciate the role Debt plays in global poverty We hope within this conference you will get the opportunity to share some core beliefs and thoughts on social justice issues as they relate to debt.

JDC is very keen to collect diverse new resources for educational use that reflect the theology of many different faith groups and how they might link with the issue of international debt. It is our intention to make these new resources freely available via the web site www.jdcmultifaith.org you can collect hard copies at the conference when some leaflets will be launched for the first time.

The purpose of the day is also to raise awareness of Dharmic faiths with other faiths communities and also to raise awareness of JDC multi-faith project during the Interfaith Harmony week 2012.

This exceptional event will take place on:

Thursday 2nd Feb 2012
at
The Nishkam Centre
6 Soho Road, Birmingham,
B219BH

Please ensure you book your place by contacting
Audrey Miller
E: Jubileedebt@blueyonder.co.uk
T: 0121 471 4175

Could you script a short play to be used by youth groups, schools and street performers wanting to stimulate thinking and discussion of the issues surrounding global wealth imbalance and poverty?

For more information and guidelines contact
Audrey Miller 0121 471 4175 or email jubileedebt@blueyonder.co.uk

On 3rd November this year, St Francis Hall, the University of Birmingham Chaplaincy, is due to host the first JDC Multifaith Project youth and students’ event. Entitled “Justice not Charity”, it is hoped that the event will attract young people not only from the West Midlands but from other parts of the UK as well.

An excellent panel of speakers has provisionally been booked.
Jehangir Malik, UK Director of Islamic Relief,
Ravinder Kaur Nijjar, Co-Chair Religions for Peace European Women of Faith Network  and Steve Miller, JDC Co-chair and Chair of Tzedek, are all due to speak, and the evening will be compèred by comedian and founder of Just Fair Laughs, Tony Vino. JDC’s own Tim Jones will also be taking part in the evening, and a number of students of different faiths will be invited to speak for “just a minute” on the subject of their faith’s teachings on “Justice not Charity”. We are very grateful to the Birmingham University Chaplains for providing the excellent venue.

Following the success of the Multifaith Project women’s event in March, this is a wonderful opportunity to broaden awareness of JDC, and to draw on the insights and energy of many of the younger members of our faith communities

]]> http://jdcbirmingham.wordpress.com/2011/09/25/justice-not-charity-youth-and-student-night/feed/ 0 audreymiller http://jdcbirmingham.wordpress.com/2011/08/16/letter-from-john-nightingale/ http://jdcbirmingham.wordpress.com/2011/08/16/letter-from-john-nightingale/#comments Tue, 16 Aug 2011 17:22:46 +0000 duncanmiller http://jdcbirmingham.wordpress.com/?p=615 ]]> Dear Friends,
Some good news. You may have read in the papers that South Sudan has started its life as an independent country debt free. This letter is to give you some immediate news and trailer one or two things in the pipeline for the autumn.
Jubilee Debt Campaign are excited to be allocated a place on this year’s Big Give Challenge programme. This means that every donation made to JDC between the 5th and 9th December will be doubled by The Big Give. The Big Give is the philanthropic arm of the Reed Foundation which matches your donation (i.e. doubles it) for a few days around Christmas time. But even before then…

Public Meeting about the Horn of Africa. Monday October 10th eve at Central Mosque as a part of Debt Week, October 8th – 15th October. We want to look not just at the emergency but at the underlying causes and what can be done to prevent them.Jehagir Malik from Islamic Relief, some one from DFID and maybe some one from one of our universities.
Third World Debt and World Debt Crisis. Thursday November 17th evening. Tim Jones from JDC to speak. Invitations to go to students and staff at University of Birmingham, especially to economics and development sections. Probably venue at or near University.
Further details in our September Newsletter. Best wishes for the holidays.
Yours,
John Nightingale
P.S. Volunteers are wanted to help with our emailing and conference planning. We can provide work experience with expenses.

Here is the latest article  from the summer edition of Islamic Relief magazine.

” END VULTUR£ FUNDS
Islamic Relief is a member of the Jubilee Debt Campaign, a coalition of organisations that work towards the 100% cancellation of unpayable and unjust developing country debts.

In March, following extensive pressure from Jubilee Debt Campaign coalition, it was announced that the UK government would make permanent a landmark law to protect the poorest countries in the world from profiteering by so-called vulture funds. Vulture funds buy poor countries’ debt cheaply and sue the countries for repayment of the full value; in other words, they seek a high return on a relatively small investment, at the expense of the world’s poorest.

The law has already saved Liberia $40million and successfully kept vulture funds out of UK courts.

International support for the act has been expressed by Archbishop Desmond Tutu, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia and President Bharrat Jagdeo of Guyana.

“We see this law as an important first step in putting the fight against poverty and inequality ahead of the excessive profits of a few greedy investors.”
Nick Dearden Director of Jubilee Debt Campaign.”

The JDC Multifaith Project has been commended by Karen Armstrong the noted author and columnist on world religions. She is the author of 12 books on comparative religion including: A History of God:  the 4,000 year quest of Judaism, Christianity and Islam; Muhammad, a biography of the prophet; Buddha; and The Case for God. In 2008 she was award the TED prize of $100,000 and devoted it to the in auguration of a Charter for Compassion; signatories include the Dalai Lama, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Queen Noor of Jordan. The Charter is based on the spirit of the Golden Rule (to treat others as one would like to be treated oneself) which is at the heart of the great religious traditions and intended to foster global understanding and a peaceful world.

In the 1950s bankers seemed respectable but dull, like clergy or policemen. As a student in the 1960s I opened a current and then a savings account confident that my money would be secure. When I worked for the churches in Nigeria in the 1970s, I presumed that the largely British-based banks would help with much-needed development. Poverty, political independence and corruption were issues, but hardly banking or international debt.

In the 1980s I joined the Christian Ethical Investment Group, concerned above all that my church should not be supporting apartheid in South Africa. Investment areas off-limits included tobacco, alcohol and armaments, but bank shares were usually regarded as respectable.

International debt

I was also dimly becoming aware of the international debt problem of poor countries. In the 1970s loans were made too readily from oil money suddenly available; they became hard to repay when interest rates rose dramatically during the credit squeeze of the 1980s. Banks had been heavily involved in the lending, but by the 1990s most of their debts to poor countries had been taken over by national governments or international agencies such as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

Debts were rescheduled in one-sided agreements which often forced poor countries to privatise their public utilities or cut social and health programmes. It was clear that the poorest would never be able to repay their creditors, but billions of dollars were being spent each year in a vain attempt to do so.

Hence a campaign began for the cancellation of all poor countries’ debts at the second millennium, based on Jesus’ own promulgation of the year of Jubilee in his sermon at Nazareth as described in the fourth chapter of St Luke’s Gospel. With many others I took part in ‘human chains’ in Birmingham (1998) and Cologne (1999). But I would have been hard put to it to understand how the high street banks have been involved – until now.

Deregulation

The present financial crisis has led to the heart-searching ECCR report The Banks and Society: Rebuilding Trust.¹ It has become clear that the deregulation of the 1980s has resulted in virtually unrestricted credit. UK banks no longer have to maintain a safe proportion of liquid assets (cash and central bank deposits) to loans; this was around 20% in 1968 but, according to the Wikipedia entry on ‘Reserve Requirement’, had declined to just over 3% by 1998.

Such a vast expansion of credit or ‘leverage’ was almost bound to lead to unwise loans and asset bubbles. However, few people, whether bankers, politicians or members of the public, complained at the time.

For the banks to have a monopoly in the creation of credit, as a public service, is immensely profitable; they gain interest on it. At the very least they ought to retain some public obligations – such as providing a nationwide banking network even in areas which are not particularly profitable. Some would go further and argue that the state should take over credit creation. But, in any case, the extent of leverage in the last decade has been irresponsible.

Tax havens and dodgy deals

The process has been aided by another aspect of British banking – its connection to an international system of tax havens which, according to Nicholas Shaxson on page 26 of his new book Treasure Islands, account for a quarter of global wealth^.2 Tax havens like the Cayman Islands are attractive to investors both for their low taxes and for the secrecy they ensure through ‘blind trusts’, through which named solicitors buy shares within the City of London on behalf of their clients; because the relationship between lawyers and clients is confidential, the clients remain unnamed.

Many banks are involved. Shaxson says Barclays had 315 such subsidiaries two years ago. Many multinationals are able to manage their activities, for example by lending between subsidiaries, so that they pay where the rates are lowest rather than where their commercial activities actually take place. To change this practice is the purpose of the Tax Justice Campaign.³

Finally, banks have been financially involved in the activities of the UK’s Export Credit Guarantee Department (ECGD), or ‘Department for Dodgy Deals’ as described by the Jubilee Debt Campaign; further details can be found on the JDC website.⁴ The ECGD was originally set up to help small British companies operate in poor countries by underwriting their financial activities. However, in recent years it has been largely involved in export of arms and fossil-fuel technology, often with little regard for human rights, the environment or the risks of corruption.

Effect on the poorest

The classical spaces of Birmingham’s old banks have been turned into pubs and restaurants. Their replacements have the appearance of impersonal units primarily designed for the housing of terminals. Banking has become so specialised that bankers have little sense of the people involved in their borrowing and lending.

It is as if police operations were conducted by computers or drones without thought of international consequences. By contrast, policing today puts much more stress on the officer on the beat and shows much more awareness of the global context. Maybe the banks can follow that lead. I find myself applying to them, as to all of us, Gandhi’s test: Think what effect what you are doing will have on the poorest person on earth.

Canon John Nightingale (johnnightingale@btinternet.com) is a member of ECCR’s West Midlands Group and Chair of Jubilee Debt Campaign Birmingham.

Notes

1.      www.eccr.org.uk/banksandsociety

2.      Nicholas Shaxson, Treasure Islands: Uncovering the Damage of Offshore Banking and Tax Havens, Bodley Head, 2011.

3.      www.taxjustice.net

4.      www.jubileedebtcampaign.org.uk