Interview with Dennis Brutus, Jubilee, SA

INDYM: Jubilee is going to be the beneficiary of 50% of the proceeds of the sale of this

1. What does Jubilee do?

BRUTUS: Well, our main focus is on the cancellation of the debt. We use the idea in the Bible, where it talks about the celebration, the jubilee, by forgiving your enemies and canceling their debt. That’s our main focus – trying to get the debt that the government is paying to big banks and international banks cancelled.

INDYM: What is the importance of this CD and of the proceeds of the CD for Jubilee?

BRUTUS: I think it will do a very important job both in informing people and also in entertaining them. So you really have two elements working together. Of course the proceeds of the CD are being donated to Jubilee, and that will help us a great deal in our work of educating people and informing them.

As you know, we are also working on the issue of reparations. Jubilee has a lawsuit in the courts trying to get more reparations.

INDYM: So will the proceeds of this cd go to debt relief, to training people, or awareness projects?

BRUTUS: I think it will go in several ways, and one will be the educational process. But we also run workshops where we train young people to conduct workshops themselves, in the townships. So we have both an educational function and a structural function. But at the same time, we want to entertain people. We want them to be amused and to participate in action -satirical and comic action – which they enjoy while they are learning something.

INDYM: How far along is debt relief and how serious is South Africa’s Debt?

BRUTUS: Well, the figure varies pending on how you define it. The latest that I have seen is that the total for Africa is US$206 billion. That’s an enormous amount of money and instead of paying that money as repayment of debt, we think that if you cancel the debt, that money

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Would be used for schools, hospitals, and clinics.

And in fact, you can get back the money that had already been paid. That would be reparations, which could be used for housing, schools, universities and so many social services. That cannot be done at the present time, but it could be done in future.

INDYM: And is there any chance of this happening? What is the UN doing?

BRUTUS: Well we’re very optimistic. The UN is part of the global picture of course, and like Koffi Annan, is calling together with us for the cancellation. He is arguing that people in South Africa and even on the whole continent cannot afford the burden of debt. Inside South Africa, unfortunately, there are different opinions, and right now we are planning a major conference on reparations and debt. And we will use that also to inform people about the CD and to distribute the CD. So it’s again a combination of information and instruction.

INDYM: Thank you so much for speaking to us.