Jubilee

Then shalt thou cause the trumpet of the jubilee to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month, in the day of atonement shall ye make the trumpet sound throughout all your land.

And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubile unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family.

A jubilee shall that fiftieth year be unto you: ye shall not sow, neither reap that which groweth of itself in it, nor gather the grapes in it of thy vine undressed.

For it is the jubilee; it shall be holy unto you: ye shall eat the increase thereof out of the field.

In the year of this jubilee ye shall return every man unto his possession. (Leviticus 25:9-13)

Every fiftieth year in the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah, the ancient Israelites observed a celebratory year in which indentured servants were freed, the land was allowed to lie fallow, and all debts were forgiven. During the years leading up to the 21st century, a loose coalition of groups from over forty countries formed to work toward the cancellation of third world debt. Called Jubilee 2000, this organization was supported by many famous people whom you have heard of and possibly respect, such as Bono, Quincy Jones, and Muhammad Ali.

After the year 2000, Jubilee 2000 split into various regional and national organizations devoted to third world debt relief; Jubilee USA is the branch in the United States. According to their website, the group is composed of "more than 80 religious denominations and faith communities, human rights, environmental, labor, and community groups working for the definitive cancellation of crushing debts to fight poverty and injustice in Asia, Africa, and Latin America." Sounds alright to me! There are comparable NGOs all over the world, including the Drop The Debt campaign in America's overseas doppelganger, the United Kingdom, and Jubilee South, composed of coalitions from many African, Asian, and Latin American nations.

Side Note: A friend of mine was married to a woman from Australia who once said, after seeing U2 perform, that Australians have a wonderful slang term for people like Bono: "tossbag." I don't know exactly what it means, but I have several unpleasant guesses. Anyway, say what you want about Bono, The Edge, and whoever those other two guys in U2 are, and I'll often agree with you. But he's passionate about social and economic justice around the world, and that's important and honorable. However, in this photograph he looks as if he's auditioning for a supporting role in a low budget vampire movie.