Wheres the Jubilee?
Seeing President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair touting their good deeds on behalf of the world’s poor is enough to make any opponent of empire and corporate globalization cringe. Perhaps because of this objectionable sight, progressives have been divided in their response to the announcement of a major deal on debt cancellation. In advance of next week’s summit in Scotland, the leaders of the G8 industrialized countries, led by Bush and Blair, agreed to cancel 100 percent of debt owed by 18 of the world’s poorest countries to the IMF, the World Bank and the African Development Bank. While some on the left have applauded the deal, many others have focused on asking, “What’s the catch?” Some have gone so far as to charge that the agreement actually does more harm than good by attaching harmful strings to debt relief. Certainly, there is reason to be skeptical: You don’t have to be a hardened cynic to wonder about the true scope of Bush and Blair’s compassion. Yet u
