GET ACTIVE

This is a chance for you to tell us what economic justice means to you in any form.

Nathan Fishman, Jubilee USA’s Grassroots fellow, started us off with "Why We Fast," a poem he wrote in Jubilee USA’s summer Drop the Debt newsletter and now it’s your turn to write!

1. You must be registered to fast for one day or more.
2. Poem should be demonstrate your understanding of the commitment to global economic justice.
3. Language appropriate for all ages.
4. Indicate that we have your permission to post your work.
5. Include your: Name and email address (required); mailing address and phone number (optional). Feel free to include a bio or link to your website or blog. 6. The poem can be of any length, any form, any style.

Submit your poem or any questions you have to Nathan Fishman at nathan(at)jubileeusa.org.

Why We Fast
By Nathan Fishman

Why do you fast
I asked
An Ethiopian spiritual warrior.
For him it was an easy question.
He said: “I discipline my body and bring it into subjection.”
He said it’s not the hunger that makes fasting hard,
But the immediate envy of the devil
And subsequent bombard-
ment.
The ceaseless temptations, and internal and
external corruption.
A personal relationship with God
equals a fight against the desires of
the physical dimension.

Why do I fast,
he asked me
and I was like, I fast for Jubilee.
I fast to conquer poverty
starting with illegitimate debt and harmful
conditionalities.
I fast to express my outrage and to
publicly withdraw consent
for the “HIPC”ritical
policies of our government,
such as those that privatize poor countries’
water and freeze the salaries of their
civil servants.

I’m reading Bhakti-Tirtha Swami Krishnapada,
Transforming Lust into Love, he’s got
A very similar mantra.
He says treat others better than
ourselves and learn the divinity of karma.
He fasted cause we’re not hungry, but we’re starving for love.
He fasted to withdraw focus from the body.
He worked to uplift the general consciousness of society.

I said to Deacon Temena
Why don’t we fast together?
for a day or more during a 40-day span
beginning the 6th of September.
And don’t forget the most important part
is meeting with our Congress Member.
The two of us are a force to fear,
We could chase up to ten thousand.
With your love and my activism,
we will march right through the wind.
And I predict a giant party
and the Millennium Development Goals back on track,
when we condemn the international financial institutions
by moving the Jubilee Act!

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