JANUARY 13th – Jubilee USA is calling on the Obama administration to take 3 specific steps as part of its comprehensive response to the Haiti earthquake: (1) Provide massive assistance for relief and reconstruction in the form of grants, not loans; (2) Cancel the rest of Haiti’s debt; and(3) Provide Temporary Protective Status to Haitians living in the US. Use your voice for Haiti today. Please call the White House today at 202-456-1111 and ask President Obama to take these steps.

Here’s a sample script:

“Hi, My name is XXX, and I live in X town, Y state. I am calling to ask that President Obama do everything in his power to help the Haitian people in this time of crisis. As part of its emergency response, President Obama should ensure the US provides massive assistance for relief and reconstruction as grants not loans; advocate for the cancellation of all of Haiti’s remaining debts, and provide Temporary Protective Status for Haitians living in the United States. Thank you.”

*You may also wish to give to organizations that are providing emergency relief and humanitarian assistance in Haiti.

Here’s more information about the three asks:

1. Provide massive assistance for relief and reconstruction in the form of grants, not loans. It is becoming clear that the earthquake has caused unimaginable destruction in Haiti. Already impoverished and struggling, it will be nearly impossible for Haiti to get back on its feet without massive humanitarian and reconstruction assistance. This should come as grants, not loans, so that Haiti does not get again saddled with large debts to no fault of its own. Grant assistance should be provided without harmful economic policy conditionalities like requirements for privatization of services.

2. Cancel the Rest of Haiti’s Debt. While $1.2 billion was cancelled in June 2009 thanks to Jubilee supporters’ efforts, the country still has $891 million in debt on its books. Why? Because the debt relief agreements from the IMF and other creditors only covered debts acquired up until 2004. So, new loans Haiti has received since then have been adding to its debt. Half of this total of $891 million is owed to the InterAmerican Development Bank and the IMF with the other half owed to Venezuela and Taiwan. In 2010, Haiti is projected to pay more than $10 million to the IMF and IDB – and this is money Haiti simply can’t pay now that this tragic earthquake has hit.

The US has strong voting power on the Boards of both the IMF and the IDB and should use its influence to secure immediate cancellation of these debts. If cancellation cannot be agreed immediately, President Obama should call for an immediate moratorium on all debt payments (which means they don’t have to pay for a few years) from Haiti with no accured interest until cancellation can be agreed, just as was agreed for countries hit by the Tsunami in 2004. All of Haiti’s limited resources should be directed at recovery, not repayment. You can learn more about Haiti’s debt in Jubilee USA’s August 2009 policy update on Haiti’s debt situation here.

3. Provide Temporary Protective Status for Haitians Living in the US. Jubilee USA member organizations TransAfrica Forum and the Institute for Justice and Democracy and Haiti, along with other leading Haiti advocates, are calling on the U.S. to end the deportation of Haitian immigrants, release those currently held in detention centers pending deportation, and grant Temporary Protected Status for the 30,000 Haitians currently under threat of deportation.

As the New York Times wrote in an editorial this morning:

On Wednesday, the Obama administration said it was halting the pending deportation of up to 30,000 Haitians who have run afoul of the immigration agency. The government should now take the next step by granting these immigrants temporary protected status – as it has to survivors of Latin American earthquakes and other disasters – so that the Haitian diaspora in the United States will be allowed to work and send vitally needed money home.

Temporary protected status (TPS) is granted by the United States (Homeland Security Department) to eligible nationals of countries that cannot safely return to their homelands because of armed conflict, environmental disaster, or other extraordinary and temporary conditions. Haiti clearly fits this description. For more information see TransAfrica Forum

Our long-anticipated moment has arrived! Late yesterday, the Jubilee Act (HR 4005) was introduced by Representative Maxine Waters (D-CA), along with Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-MA), Ranking Member Spencer Bachus (R-AL), and seven more Republican and Democrat members of Congress. This encouraging bi-partisan effort by powerful leaders in Congress is a tremendous holiday gift for our sisters and brothers in the Global South.

The bill expands life-giving debt cancellation to 22 additional impoverished countries left out of previous debt relief deals and calls for an end to harmful economic conditions and an audit of past odious and illegitimate debts.

Please take thirty seconds to send a message to your Representative asking him/her to sign on as an early cosponsor to the Jubilee Act.

This past year has been tough for many people here at home and around the globe. The economic crisis pushed 100 million more people into extreme poverty this year and dozens of impoverished countries now face a new debt crisis.

This holiday season, the introduction of the Jubilee Act represents a beacon of hope in the midst of these challenges. To learn more about the Jubilee Act, click here.

We passed the Jubilee Act in the House last Congress. Now with powerful leaders from both sides of the aisle as original cosponsors, we are poised for victory once again, but we’ll need your help.

Please ask your Representative to cosponsor the Jubilee Act today.

Tell Congress: Stop Vulture Funds from Hurting Poor Countries!

It’s time to stop Vulture Funds from harming poor countries once and for all. Vulture Funds are predatory hedge funds that siphon off newly freed resources from debt cancellation. They profiteer off debt cancellation resources by buying up poor country debt in default at pennies on the dollar and then abusing US Courts to sue for the full amount of the debt plus exorbitant interest rates and court fees. Instead of US tax dollars going to poverty alleviation projects like building schools and treating HIV/AIDS, they go into the bank accounts of greedy Vultures.

Luckily, you can tell Congress to stop this behavior once and for all! Send a message to your House Representative telling him to co-sponsor the Stop Vulture Funds Act, which will prevent further misuse of our Courts in Vulture Fund cases against poor countries.

“A sort of ‘An Inconvenient Truth’ for global economics … a powerful description of how Western policies since colonialism have subjugated Third World countries.” – Charles Masters, The Hollywood Reporter

THE ECONOMIC CRISES PUSHES AN ADDITIONAL 53 MILLION PEOPLE INTO POVERTY

WILL WE EVER SEE ‘THE END OF POVERTY?’

A NEW DOCUMENTARY OPENING IN THEATERS NATIONWIDE STARTING NOVEMBER 13 PROVIDES THE ANSWER

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LOS ANGELES, CA (October 2009) – In February, the World Bank issued this stunning report: the spreading global economic crisis is set to trap up to 53 million more people in poverty in developing countries; this is on top of the 130 – 155 million driven into poverty in 2008 by soaring food and fuel prices, bringing the total of those living on less than $2 a day to over 1.5 billion. This dynamic, where the rich are bailed out – or carried by – the poor is the focal point of a new documentary film directed by Philippe Diaz, which has been impressing critics and economic justice activists worldwide and will be released in US theaters nationwide.

Award-winning actor and activist, Martin Sheen, provides the narration for THE END OF POVERTY? that connects the dots from colonialism to modern times in an indictment of the creation of the free market system – the system now blamed for the worst global recession in decades.

After premiering at Critics’ Week during the Cannes Film Festival and subsequently invited to over twenty-five international film festivals, the film will open in New York City on November 13, 2009, and in Los Angeles on November 25, 2009 with a platform release to include runs in Seattle (WA), Portland (OR), Austin (TX) with additional markets to follow including Boston, San Francisco, Washington DC, Philadelphia, and Atlanta. The film was produced in association with the New York based non-profit, Robert Schalkenbach Foundation, and will be distributed by Cinema Libre Studio.

“There has been a lot of dialogue in the last few years about ‘the end of poverty’ with technology or micro-financing positioned as the new ’solution,’” says filmmaker Diaz. “For example, economists such as Jeffrey Sachs cheerfully suggest that poverty can be ended with increased transfers of capital and technology (such as improved mosquito nets), the film shows why that kind of thinking is simplistic at best, harmful at worst. More foreign aid does nothing to rectify the cumulative problems from centuries of exploitation.”

Filmed in the slums of Africa to the barrios of Latin America, THE END OF POVERTY? explores how the true causes of poverty stem from actions taken during and since colonial times to perpetuate exploitation: first by forcing people from their land and their access to natural resources, then through unfair trade, debt repayment and unjust taxes on labor and consumption. This system was carefully built and maintained by free market policies, resource monopolies and structural adjustment programs by the World Bank, the IMF and other international financial institutions.

The documentary features: Nobel prize winners in economics Amartya Sen and Joseph Stiglitz; expert authors Susan George (”Another World Is Possible If”), Eric Toussaint (”The World Bank: A Never Ending Coup d’Etat”), John Perkins (”Confessions of an Economic Hit Man”), Chalmers Johnson (”Nemesis: The Last Days of the America Republic”), Brookings Institute fellow and author, William Easterly (”White Man’s Burden”); government ministers such as Bolivia’s Vice President Alvaro Garcia Linera, and leaders of social movements in Bolivia, Brazil, Venezuela, Kenya and Tanzania.

The film has since been embraced by activists and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) worldwide for its ‘direct talk’ about the role of debt, free trade, and neo-liberal policies and poverty. Groups including: Action Aid Greece, Amnesty UK, ATTAC (Association for the Taxation of Financial Transactions to Aid Citizens), CADTM (Committee for the Abolition of the Third World Debt), Global Call to Action against Poverty (GCAP), InterAction, Jubilee Debt Campaign, Jubilee USA, Jubilee Australia, Make Poverty History, Share the World’s Resources (STWR), Tax Justice Network, Transnational Institute, and the UN Millennium Campaign have screened the films as part of their anti-poverty campaigns in the past year.

Synopsis: Narrated by Martin Sheen, The End of Poverty? is a daring, thought-provoking and very timely documentary by award-winning filmmaker, Philippe Diaz, revealing that poverty is not an accident. It began with military conquest, slavery and colonization that resulted in the seizure of land, minerals and forced labor. Today, global poverty has reached new levels because of unfair debt, trade and tax policies — in other words, wealthy countries exploiting the weaknesses of poor, developing countries such that today 20% of the planet’s population uses 80% of its resources and consumes 30% more than the planet can regenerate.

Produced by Cinema Libre Studio with the Robert Schalkenbach Foundation, 104mins, 2008, USA, documentary in English, Spanish, and French with English Subtitles. Learn more at www.theendofpoverty.com

More information as well as clips and images for download are available at www.TheEndofPoverty.com with additional information to be found on Twitter and Facebook.

Theatrical roll-out includes the following theaters/cities:

NEW YORK – Starts November 13

City Cinemas Village East Cinema (181-189 Second Ave. (@ 12th St.)

LOS ANGELES – Starts (Wednesday) November 25

Laemmle’s Sunset 5 (8000 Sunset Blvd, West Hollywood, 90046)

Culver Plaza Theaters (9919 Washington Blvd., Culver City, 90232)

PORTLAND, OR – Starts December 4

Living Room Theaters (341 SW Tenth Avenue, Portland, OR 97205)

SEATTLE, WA – Starts December 4

Regal Meridian 16 (1501 7th Ave, Seattle, WA 98101)

AUSTIN, TX – Starts December 18

Regal Arbor Cinema @ Great Hills (9828 Great Hills Trail Suite 800, Austin, TX 78759)

About Cinema Libre Studio:

Cinema Libre Studio has been a leader in the distribution social issue films that tackle timely issues. The company is a haven for independent filmmakers offering one-stop shopping for production and distribution. Headquartered in Los Angeles, the company is best known for distributing social-issue documentaries that include: Outfoxed, Uncovered, WMD: Weapon’s of Mass Deception, Darfur Diaries, The Future of Food, A River of Waste, Desert Bayou and The Beautiful Truth. The company has recently released the films of French auteur Jean-Jacques Beineix and has partnered with Iranian director Masoud Jafari Jozani to bring the first film crew to shoot in US since the Iranian revolution. For more information, please visit www.cinemalibrestudio.com.

Media Contacts:

Screeners are available upon request – please include complete shipping address in reply!

There will be a press screening in New York:

Wednesday, October 28 at 6pm at Magno Review 1 (729 7th Avenue, 2nd floor, NYC)

>> Please RSVP to Sasha Berman at SashaBerman@mac.com<<

New York and LA Media:

Sasha Berman
Shotwell Media
2721 2nd St. # 205
Santa Monica, CA 90405

tel. 310-450-5571
fax 310-450-5577
email: SashaBerman@mac.com

Other requests: Publicity: Cinema Libre Studio 8328 De Soto Avenue, Canoga Park, CA 91304 Ph: (818) 349-8822, press@cinemalibrestudio.com

Now imagine 117 million people all around the world, on every continent, standing up at the same time. This weekend, that’s what’s going to happen.

More than one hundred million people are taking a stand this weekend against global poverty as part of the Stand Up and Take Action Days. While many of us work on poverty issues everyday, talk about it at home and in our communities, once a year we have the opportunity to literally stand in solidarity with people across the world at the same time – all people who care about ending poverty once and for all.

Almost 10 years ago, world leaders committed to a bold roadmap to end global poverty and its root causes – beginning with achieving the Millennium Development Goals which include eradicating extreme poverty and hunger, improving maternal health and ensuring environmental sustainability by 2015. This weekend we are all coming together because we know that despite the gains we’ve made, the global economic crisis is threatening our progress.

At Jubilee USA Network, our almost 100 Stand Up events across the country are focusing on one part of the poverty puzzle: debt cancellation and responsible lending. Without debt cancellation, we will not reach the Millennium Development Goals in time. Right now the world’s poorest countries pay rich creditors more than $100 million in debt payments everyday. Can you imagine if this money went toward shelter, education and health care?

We know that it is possible. Debt cancellation has already brought increased education, healthcare and vital social services for many countries in Africa and Latin America. But too many needy countries have been left out.

This weekend, churches, synagogues and community groups will by taking the Stand Up Pledge to reach the Millennium Development Goals by 2015. They’ll also urging Congress to support the Jubilee Act, a bill which calls for expanded debt cancellation to help all the poor countries that need it to reach the MDGs.

This weekend, all over the world we are going to pledge our commitments to fighting global poverty. Let’s continue to work to break the chains of international debt.

To learn more about Stand Up and to find out how YOU can stand up, visit www.jubileeusa.org.

Jubilee USA can celebrate some real victories over the past few months:

o Following a 3 year campaign by Jubilee USA, the Obama Administration announced in April that it would provide $20 million to cover Haiti’s debt service payments to the World Bank. This means that Haiti will not make any more debt service payments for at least the next year, freeing up millions for desperately needed investments in health, education, and basic services in Haiti; and
o Just last week, working with a coalition of member organizations, we secured the re-introduction of the Stop VULTURES Act in the US House of Representatives. The bill enjoys bi-partisan support and would prohibit profiteering by vulture funds on countries that have benefited from debt cancellation.

We are making progress.

But at the same time the international financial crisis is devastating poor countries, threatening to undo some of the victories won by the global Jubilee movement over the past 12 years. Together we must prevent this from happening, redouble our efforts, and ensure even bigger and more meaningful victories for global economic justice in the future. Your continued support is essential!

That’s why we’re getting ready to launch a new campaign – called “Change, Not Chains” — to win both expanded debt cancellation and structural change for a more just global economy.

To launch this campaign, we’ve set an ambitious fundraising goal – we need to raise $4,000 over the next two weeks. Will you give $35, $50, $100, or $250 today to sustain the important work of Jubilee in this critical time and help us launch our new campaign?

As the Congressional Quarterly pointed out on May 18th:

The forgiveness of foreign debt in the developing world has long been a celebrity cause, with figures such as U2 front man Bono leading the charge. But more recently it has evolved into a mainstream economic and foreign assistance strategy by the world’s wealthy countries, including the United States. And with credit difficulties assailing economies across the globe, the plight of debt-ridden developing nations has taken on renewed urgency.

Renewed urgency is right. The economic crisis has slammed into the poorest countries with all the force and impact of the most devastating storm imaginable. Hurricane Katrina left 10,000 homeless in New Orleans. Oxfam predicts 100 million people will be forced into extreme poverty by the crisis – that’s 100 million additional people without adequate food, shelter, healthcare or education. Imagine 10,000 Katrinas striking simultaneously all around the world. Poverty goals – such as the vital Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) — will be set back for years if we don’t act now.

In a few weeks, Jubilee USA will launch an exciting new campaign to win both expanded debt cancellation and structural change in the global economy. We’re calling it Change, Not Chains. To goal of the Change, Not Chains campaign is to pass the soon to be re-introduced Jubilee Act in both houses of Congress and have it signed into law by the President.

But we need your help to get the campaign off the ground. We need to print postcards, design fliers, set up a website, and get the word out!

In short, we need to raise $4,000 in the next two weeks. Will you give $35, $50, $100, or $250 to help launch our Change not Chains campaign?

Please consider a gift today.