Mennonite Weekly Review

The year 2007 was declared as the Jubilee Year by Jubilee USA Network, a coalition of faith-based organizations that work toward debt cancellation for developing nations.

Theo Sitther is a legislative associate for international affairs at the Mennonite Central Committee Washington
Office.

Jubilee USA states, “Seven years after the beginning of the new millennium, we live in a world that is seriously out of balance. Every day, 13 percent of the world’s population goes hungry. Every day, 30,000 children die of easily preventable diseases due to malnutrition and lack of adequate medical care.

“The Jubilee vision that we find in Scripture calls us to challenge this horrible reality.”

The biblical mandates on Sabbath and Jubilee Year are clear. God repeatedly directed the Israelites to remember the Sabbath and to keep it holy.

God spoke through the law, the prophets and Jesus himself when he declared that God’s Spirit had anointed him to “bring good news to the poor … to proclaim the year of Jubilee” (Luke 4:18-19).

In the Jubilee Year, land was returned to its original owner, farmlands were left fallow, slaves were freed and debts were canceled. Life and shalom were restored.

In this Jubilee Year, Jubilee USA is also organizing a 40-day fast to cancel debt and to pass the Jubilee Act (HR 2634), legislation that mandates the cancellation of debt for 67 impoverished countries, without harmful conditions and with transparency.

Jubilee Act was introduced by Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., along with six other representatives including Rep. Spencer Bachus, R-Ala.

At the bill’s introduction, Bachus stated, “Debt relief is not a total solution to poverty, hunger and disease, but it is a necessary first step. It is where the journey should begin to free these countries of the burden of debt, the chains of poverty and the shackles of despair to enable them to minister to the economic and social needs of their people and children.”

Debt cancellation has an excellent track record. When Zambia received debt relief, it immediately designated the funds for training teachers and medical personnel, as well as HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment programs.