We arrived in Cologne, Germany on June 17, a couple of days before leaders of the Group of Eight nations (G-8 ) were scheduled to meet for the World Economic Summit and decide on debt relief for the poorest countries. We were joined by thousands of Jubilee 2000 campaigners from 30 countries who were demanding debt cancellation by the new millennium.

Our hopes were high because the G-8 had placed the issue of debt on the top of its agenda. Also, thanks to pressure from global campaigns like Jubilee 2000 and other networks like 50 Years Is Enough, most of the countries (Germany, Japan, France, England, Canada and the USA ) had rushed during the last few months to come up with their own proposals on Third World debt. (Italy and Russia were the only countries without a proposal.)

In Cologne we were immediately struck by the high degree of security being massed for the Summit. There were literally thousands of German police assigned to the downtown, particularly in and around the Ludwig Museum where the meetings were to be held. We soon found out that we were among 250 internationals who had been cleared by police to participate in special activities, possibly presenting petitions to Chancellor Schroeder.

(Authorities had required us to submit biographical data the previous month, by fax. )

June 18 marked the opening of the G-8 meetings with demonstrators marching through the city with, and paying homage to a "golden cow" decorated with US and German flags. The banks of the Rhine river were covered and draped with huge banners celebrating the Jubilee 2000 call. A large barge arrived, decorated for the occasion. It dropped off petitions and continued to cruise the Rhine. For two days seminars were held at various locations dealing with different aspects of the debt crisis.

On June 19, the protest peaked with 35,000 people forming a human chain which encircled the G-8 leaders’ meeting site, and the presentation of petitions signed by over 17 million people from around the world. Two truckloads of the petitions calling for the debt cancellation for the poorest countries were symbolically presented to Chancellor Schroeder by a small group that included Honduran Archbishop Oscar Rodriquez and the singer Bono of the rock group from Ireland, U2. The human chain was formed simultaneously with the presentation from 2 to 2:15 PM amid deafening noise of all kinds and chanting, "Cancel the Debt". The 250 of us who were cleared by police ended up being placed in front of the Hyatt Hotel where President Clinton was staying and on an adjacent bridge over the Rhine. (Apparently, the German authorities decided that 250 activists were too much of a security risk to be involved in the direct presentations of the petitions.) The day ended with spirited speeches, lots of beer and hot dogs, booths selling Jubilee T-shirts and numerous bands from all over the world. The sun was shinning and there was much jubilation and solidarity among participants.

The disappointing news came the next day. Our hopes were dashed when we learned that the G-8 had adopted the U.S. position which many considered to be the weakest of all, with the possible exception of Japan’s. The Cologne Initiative is based entirely on maintaining the status quo of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund’s Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative of 1996. There were no new fundamental changes. No additional countries qualify for consideration except the 41 countries currently struggling to qualify in three to six years under its Enhanced Structural Adjustment Facility (ESAF). Nothing takes place immediately, but is passed to the World Bank and the IMF to develop concrete plans by the time of their annual general meetings in Washington, September 28-30.

The new initiative is replete with a lot of technical data interspersed with a lot of rhetoric. Joseph Hanlon of Jubilee 2000 UK reports in his detailed analysis, "Even the G-7 finance ministers admit that the ‘final costs of the initiative are subject to many uncertainties’… Frustrated finance ministers privately admit even they cannot check what the IMF and World Bank are saying." Hanlon concludes, "In effect, then, the Köln (Cologne) Debt

Initiative itself will have relatively little impact on actual debt service payments for most countries. Instead, reducing actual payments will depend on private and government donations to the HIPC Trust and Millennium funds." It is noteworthy that the $70-$100 billion of debt relief announced on TV or written about in the newspapers was a misnomer. There was no real debt relief for the poor countries. What could happen now is an official write off (on paper) of $70 to $100 billion of loans which had not been repaid and, for some time now have been accepted as unpayable.