International Finance
Jubilee ... USA Network

Stop vulture funds and transform the global financial system ... A/68/L.57

Burgess COMMENTARY

Peter Burgess

Peter, Tomorrow, the United Nations will vote for a process that could stop vulture funds and transform the global financial system. Since Jubilee USA began we've fought for more than debt relief. We've fought to end inequality and establish an international bankruptcy process to protect the world's poorest economies.Today, your voice can make the difference. Please contact United States UN Ambassador Samantha Power today and urge her to vote yes on Resolution A/68/L.57. For 15 years, because of our efforts, the United States has led on debt relief. On Tuesday, it can lead again by voting yes on a resolution that starts an international treaty process to change what the International Monetary Fund calls the root of global inequality: sovereign debt. Last Thursday, Jubilee's executive board officers sent Ambassador Power a letter urging her to vote yes. Over the weekend, hundreds of Jubilee faith communities and national partners faxed letters, made phone calls and prayed for the ambassador as she prepares to vote. From the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate to the AFL-CIO to the Missionary Society of St. Columban, our partners are calling for a yes vote from the US Ambassador. We need you to act now, as another message could make the difference. Contact Ambassador Power today or e-mail her directly at usunpublicaffairs@state.gov and tell her to support A/68/L.57. After you send a message, could you please call her at (212) 415-4062 and leave a message to vote yes? Your support made this moment possible. Because of Jubilee USA's 24/7 media work over the last three years we changed how the vulture funds story was told. A year and a half ago, only the financial press covered this story and from the viewpoint of the predators. By giving the media facts, we worked with almost every reporter covering this story and even in the few stories that don't quote us, we changed the narrative. Over the past few weeks Jubilee USA's views on these issues were proclaimed in the Financial Times 5 times, the Wall Street Journal 4 times, Bloomberg 3 times, the Washington Post 4 times, NPR's Market Place 3 times and small and large papers in the US and around the globe continually. The UN vote is another indication of the consensus we are building. Two weeks ago banks and investors also proposed new ways to limit predatory and disruptive behavior. The proposal by the International Capital Market Association doesn't go as far as the UN resolution but it's a step in the right direction. Please contact Ambassador Power today and urge a yes vote on A/68/L.57. Over the weekend, negotiations continued at the UN. If this resolution passes, we will still have more work to do to outlaw predatory behavior, but we will be building an international process that ends the root causes of global inequality. 'As people with conscience, we are obliged to denounce these predatory practices,' wrote Rev. Aniedi Okure, Director of the Africa Faith and Justice Network, in his own letter to Ambassador Power. 'We are grateful to the US Government for actively opposing these malicious practices.' Please join us and act now as we encourage the US government to lead again. In Hope, Eric LeCompte Executive Director Jubilee USA Network - 212 East Capitol St NE - Washington, DC 20003 - (202) 783-3566 - coord@jubileeusa.org To unsubscribe or manage your listserv subscription, click here.