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"Making History" requires ending economic & political domination of global south. Voices from "Indebted Countries" warn current plans insufficient. As protesters, advocates, and government officials begin to make their way to Scotland for the G8 Summit in Gleneagles, prominent debt activists from across the Global South said that despite the June 11th announcement that the wealthy countries would support debt cancellation for 18 countries, the G8 risks squandering a key opportunity to transform global structures that perpetuate poverty.

"Nothing less than the unconditional cancellation of all debts claimed from all South countries will liberate the peoples of the South from debt domination," said Lidy Nacpil, the Manila-based coordinator of Jubilee South, an alliance of economic justice campaigns in Africa, Asia-Pacific, Latin America, and the Caribbean.

Demba Moussa Dembele, coordinator of the Forum for African Alternatives, a Jubilee South member organization in Senegal, said, "My country is one of the 18 that has been promised debt cancellation. We have heard so many promises over the years, only to learn later of the fine print, the devastating conditions, attached to the offers. If the G8 wants to prove it is serious about 'making poverty history' it can this week renounce its perpetuation of economic and political structures that benefit investors and corporations from their countries while preventing South countries from determining their own policies. They have created this poverty that violates our peoplesâ•˙ basic rights; they can end it by releasing their grip on our countries."

Dembele's concerns were corroborated in Nicaragua, where Alejandro Bendaña, of the Center for International Studies and Jubilee South International Coordinating Committee reported that "Any illusions held by Nicaraguan officials as to the practical effect of the G8 plan were dispelled when a high-level IMF delegation in Managua said any cancellation was conditioned on improved compliance with IMF measures."

Beverly Keene, coordinator of Dialogo 2000 in Argentina and of Jubilee South/Americas, pointed out "The June 11th offer from G8 Finance Ministers was made only to governments that have endured a minimum of six, and often fifteen or more, years of devastating policies of trade and investment deregulation, curtailment of labor rights, forced privatization, skyrocketing prices and interest rates, and erosion of health care and education facilities."

Nacpil said, "We recognize that the June 11th announcement, if it is implemented, represents some progress from previous schemes and proposals. It is also notable that debts claimed by the IMF are included, an official recognition that IMF debts can be cancelled after years of rejecting this notion. The fact that the G8 governments have been forced to address the sham and inadequacy of their various debt relief schemes would not have been possible if it were not for the unceasing and tireless efforts of debt campaigns and social movements across the world."

She added that, "The G8 plan covers at most just 38 out of more than 160 South countries burdened by debts claimed by international financiers. By being silent on the rest of the South, the G8 continues to perpetuate their self-serving myth that debt is a problem only for 'the most impoverished' countries."

Nacpil & Dembele, plus Arjun Karki, will be in Scotland July 3 - 7 and available for interviews.

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