[ ON FAITH ]

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Isle church
leaders urge ADB
to give poor
a break

The group also bashes the
emphasis placed on
tourism in Hawaii

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By Mary Adamski
Star-Bulletin

SEVERAL LOCAL religious leaders have called for the governments and corporations involved in the Asian Development Bank to forgive debts that burden Third World countries.

"Support indigenous projects and sustainable economic development from the ground up," urged the "Hawaii inter-religious statement on globalization" signed by about 40 ministers and lay people.

The statement was released this week in timing with the ADBwatch demonstration against the international institution.

Signers called for the 59 member nations of ADB to "ensure accountability, democracy, environmental justice, humane labor practices and genuine community involvement in all international development projects."

Signing the position paper were the Rev. Irene Matsumoto and other members of the Hawaii Association of International Buddhists; the Rev. Barbara Ripple, head of the United Methodist Church district office and other Methodist ministers; the Rev. Kaleo Patterson and other members of the Hawaii Ecumenical Coalition; Kyle Kajihiro of American Friends Service Committee; Nancy Aleck of the Hawaii Interfaith Committee for Worker Justice; and several other individuals.

In Hawaii, the statement said, "the priority given to tourism as an economic-development strategy has wreaked havoc on local families and our delicate, unique ecosystem. In Hawaii we see the criminalization of the poor, the eviction of homeless families from their places of refuge and the dismantling of the social safety net."

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Asian Development Bank

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RELIGION
View from the Pew
by Mary Adamski

On Faith