Campaigners eat nothing but rice to protest creditors' failure on debt

Campaigners in the South West of England, have announced a ricefast to start on 6th December 2000 to protest at the failure of the creditor nations to resolve the debt crisis in the millennium 'jubilee' year.

The organisers will eat nothing but rice and drink nothing but water for nineteen days, breaking the "fast" on Christmas Day. The period of nineteen days symbolises the lives of 19,000 children lost daily as resources are diverted by the poorest countries to service debt payments to the West.

"This "fast" has been born of frustration," said the organisers Richard Wilson and Guy Donegan-Cross. "Despite the right noises coming from some governments and some substantial reductions in debt being promised, the year 2000 has not heralded a new era of Jubilee for the poor people of the world."

"The largest petition ever has been raised, world leaders, politicians from all quarters and celebrities have raised their voices, ordinary people have taken to the streets. What more do we have to do to stop our leaders behaving as if we have a "moral right" to this money?"

"We are ricefasting to express our solidarity with the poor, and in the hope that this action will have some "shock value" and will galvanise further action. We will be writing to world leaders and finance ministers, asking if they will endorse our aims."

"Ricefasting is also about making ourselves more aware of the situation – it's too easy to get used to world poverty and our own role in sustaining it."

They have said the would welcome support from other campaigners in both the UK and worldwide for the fast. Ricefasting has minimal health risks for the average person, but is also a flexible concept – some may want to eat one meal of rice a day for nineteen days, for example. They have set up a website with more information at www.ricefast.freeserve.co.uk , or you can ring Richard Wilson on 0117 9517976 or Guy Donegan-Cross on 01793 521296.