Postcard power forced German government to change direction

International pressure on Germany to cancel debts in 1998 from Jubilee 2000 made the government extremely nervous, revealed Juergen Kaiser, co-ordinator of the debt campaign Erlassjahr 2000. The revelations were made in a meeting between Erlassjahr 2000 and the German finance ministry in May and were relayed by letter to Ann Pettifor, Director of Jubilee 2000 Coalition in the UK.

Over 58,000 cards were sent, mainly by British supporters to the German Government before and especially after the G8 Summit in Birmingham in May 1998. Germany and Japan, were both widely identified as leading opponents to debt relief at the Summit in Birmingham.

"There was a strict order, not to reveal that figure, nor to respond to any letter, and to give the impression that they did absolutely not care, although everybody became more and more nervous every day," said Juergen Kaiser

In autumn 1998, a new German administration under Chancellor Shroeder was elected, which responded more positively to pressure for debt cancellation. With growing public awareness of the debt crisis, Chancellor Schroeder was the first G7 leader in 1999 to call for “radical debt reduction in many of the poorest countries”. His statement put debt firmly at the top of the agenda of the meeting of world leaders, the G8 Summit, which he hosted in Cologne in June.

In his letter, Juergen Kaiser thanked those who had helped change the German government position on debt. "These guys (from the finance ministry) are quite different today. Please thank those who were the leading activists at that time," he said.

The revelations will provide considerable encouragement to Jubilee 2000 activists as they target the Japanese government with letters in the run-up to the summit in Okinawa. Tens of thousands of letters and postcards have been sent to the Japanese government and demonstrations have been held at Japanese embassies around the world.