10 years

Posted by Joe on: 05.19.2008 /

10 years ago last weekend, 16 May 1998, was an important date. G8 leaders were at a conference venue in central Birmingham, Britain’s second city. An estimated 70,000 people were there to meet them, to bring the issue of debt relief to the forefront of the discussions. A massive movement had been mobilised, turning a minority campaign issue to the forefront of the agenda of the world’s most powerful countries.

For me, it was one of the defining moments of my life. Personally, it was one of the first events in the relationship with my wife, which eventually led to marriage in 2000. Emotionally, it was a great climax to an outpouring of emotion. We felt on top of the world. We felt that the leaders had met their match - and that was not the usual suspects, but Everyman and His Granny.

Over the years, we’ve tried to keep the momentum going, and it would be a lie to say that we haven’t frequently felt fobbed-off, lied-to and played-with. Many people now feel an element of fatigue, depression and hopelessness.

This weekend, along with a rather more sedate group of about 800 people, we went back to Birmingham. We learnt that of the unpayable, disgusting, unjustifiable debts, only 20% had been written off in the 10 years of promises. That twenty percent represented healthcare and schooling to a lot of poor kids. But obviously it is not what we wanted after 10 years of campaigning.

Kumi Naidoo, the Secretary General and Chief Executive Officer of CIVICUS: World Alliance for Civic Participation and prominent South African activist said a few inspiring things. He said that when we hit dark moments, when we stop believing that what we are working for is making any real difference, when the difficulties are large and the rewards small, we should remember a few things.

1. 20% isn’t what we wanted, but we have achieved something. Think of what it would be like if we had done nothing.

2. Members of the Global Call to Action Against Poverty, which includes a large number of organisations in developing countries, had been spurred on by actions such as 16 May 1998 to speak to those in power in their own countries.

3. The battle against poverty, oppression and inhumanity is a marathon, not a sprint.

4. There is more to be done, including putting pressure onto our leaders at the next G8 meeting in Japan.

I think this is an important message that many of us need to hear. Action man Dave Andrews needed to form himself a survival plan to cope with the depression caused by the cares of the world, which was tearing his life apart and making him impossible to live with. This included a) trying to find achievable things to do which would not destroy him b) finding positive things to spend time thinking about c) celebrating regularly each step forward, however small.

I sometimes also find it useful to recall the example of the Biblical prophets, who got depressed, cheesed off, miserable, sulky and wanted to die. And I think many of us struggle to walk the middle way between ignoring the pain of the world and attempting to take it all on our own shoulders.