Representatives of 18 Reformed churches in Canada, the United States, and the Caribbean called on financial institutions and creditor nations to "cancel the debt" which has been incurred by heavily indebted countries in the Caribbean and throughout the developing world. The 25 delegates also called on their churches to join the Jubilee 2000 movement for international debt cancellation in the year 2000.

The action came as the culmination of the annual meeting of the Caribbean and North American area council of the Alliance (Canaac), which took place in October 1999 in the Madge Saunders conference centre in St Mary, Jamaica, located three kilometres east of Ocho Ríos.

The council's business session was preceded by a consultation on the debt crisis. Thirty additional participants joined the Canaac delegates in this discussion and together toured economically disadvantaged communities in Kingston and Montego Bay.

Among the speakers at the consultation were

Claremont Kirton, a professor of economics at the University of the West Indies;
Winston Dookeran, governor of the Central Bank of Trinidad and Tobago, representing the IMF;
Errol Ennis, MP, the secretary of state for the Jamaican ministry of finance;
Jill Schaeffer, secretary of the Alliance's department of partnership of women and men;
Leander Warren of the Guyana Congregational Union; and
Art Van Seters, moderator of the general assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Canada.

Presiding was Canaac moderator, Ellen Diaz of the United Church of Christ in the USA.

Kirton's economic analysis traced the origins of today's debt crisis to "loans extended for the best of reasons in the late 1960s and 1970s. Lending institutions assumed that infusions of money would stimulate economic growth and export earnings in developing countries. Likewise, the basis for borrowing in the 1970s was rational." Unforeseen circumstances, such as the global oil crisis and a precipitous drop in commodities prices, drove up the costs of debt servicing and led to "an adverse psychological shift" in debtor nations. Government waste, inefficiency, and corruption as well as corporate greed contributed to a situation in which indebted countries found themselves borrowing more money just to pay interest on previous loans. Attempts to freeze wages in hopes of controlling prices have encouraged black market trading and hoarding of resources in an "unofficial economy" which, according to Kirton, is "unregulated, unrecorded, and untaxed". Today, 34% of the Jamaican population falls below the poverty line, as do 35% of the people in Belize, 39% in Surinam, and 43% in Guyana.

Dookeran stressed that Caribbean nations are often at the mercy of global economic conditions. Jamaica, Barbados, and Trinidad and Tobago were planning to enter the international currency market in 1998, but the crises in Russia and Asia caused them to postpone those plans. "The primary question for us," Dookeran told the consultation, "is how we in the Caribbean can gain control over our own economy. And there is no likely solution now on the table." World financial institutions agree that something must be done to offer debt relief to the "heavily indebted poor countries", but it is unclear who will bear the financial burden of this relief. Dookeran stressed that part of any relief package must involve changes to economic systems aimed at preventing a repetition of the same problems once this cycle of debt is alleviated.

Jamaican finance minister Ennis acknowledged that the efforts of governments often seem frustrated by international economic trends, but he added that "globalization is the only game in town, and we have to find a way to play". He warned that trade policies based on financial statistics rather than human development figures lead to economic injustices and suffering. Ennis advanced the possibility of declaring a ten-year moratorium on repayment of current debts, with a suspension of interest, or perhaps a ten-year moratorium on repayment of one-half of a nation's debt.

Schaeffer called on Canaac and its churches to "speak its message clearly, so that the world can understand it". In many ecumenical circles, she said, "the rhetoric is so abstract that no one knows what we're talking about. Unless our language becomes clearer, we will fail to communicate with anyone."

Warren traced the roots of economic injustice in the Caribbean to the institutions of slavery and colonialism, vestiges of which are alive and well. "We find it so difficult to work together as a region largely because of the colonial doctrine of divide and rule," he said, "and our churches suffer from fossilization, the leftover mores of missionary foundations laid in colonial times. Too many churches, even new church movements, are not interested in issues like debt-servicing. A new era of ecumenical relations could make all the difference."

Van Seters noted that he had been elected moderator of the Presbyterian Church in Canada on the promise that he would promote the Jubilee 2000 approach to debt forgiveness. Even so, he observed, Canadian Presbyterians are still in need of educational opportunities to give them a broader and deeper understanding of the issues. "Some things are clear," he continued. "Our theology calls for an alternative order to one that is controlled by the richest nations and their constructs such as the IMF, the World Bank, and the G7 or G8 conferences." Van Seters asked Canaac to ponder the ideal of jubilee in Leviticus 25, the year when debts are forgiven, in the light of Christians' belief that "in Jesus Christ, God signalled a clear intention to recreate the world".

Canaac heard formal theological presentations from two members of its theology commission, Prof Ellen Babinsky of the Presbyterian Church (USA) and Prof Dorcas Gordon of the Presbyterian Church in Canada.

In its concluding session, Canaac elected Harold Alston of the United Church of Canada as its moderator for 1999-2001, and Collin Cowan of the United Church in Jamaica and the Cayman Islands as vice-moderator. Brian Ellison of the Presbyterian Church (USA) continues as recording clerk. Year-round staffing is provided by area secretary, Stanley Wood of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church in America.

Theodore A Gill, Presbyterian Church (USA)