Public webinar to present interfaith perspectives on just finances

The third public webinar hosted through the GEM School will focus on debt cancellation and reparations as tools for promoting justice, sustainability and life-affirming economies. The webinar will take place on Friday, 2 October, 14:00-15:30 (CET).

The COVID-19 pandemic is aggravating the debt crisis, deepening socio-economic inequality. At the same time, the world continues to grapple with intertwined challenges of climate change and deep-seated-racism.

This webinar seeks to address the following questions: What do our faith perspectives have to say on the issue of debt and how it is affecting the lives of millions of people around the world? How can finance and financial structures be made to align with our faith-rooted values? Can debt cancellation and reparations serve as important tools for promoting justice, sustainability and life-affirming economies?

Speakers:

• Yusuf Jha is author of the book, The Way of Return: Responding to Economic and Environmental Injustice Through the Wisdom Teachings of Islam. Yusuf is a trainee Mufti and translator at the General Authority of Islamic Affairs and Endowments (AWQAF, Abu Dhabi). He worked for over a decade in the Islamic finance industry.
• David Krantz is a co-founder, president and chairperson of Aytzim: Ecological Judaism. David serves on the board of directors of Interfaith Moral Action on Climate and on the founding team of the Interfaith Oceans.
• Jahlani Niaah coordinates the Rastafari Studies Unit and is a lecturer in Cultural and Rastafari Studies at the Institute for Caribbean Studies in the University of the West Indies, Mona, Jamaica. Jahlani co-authored the book, Let Us Start with Africa: Foundations of Rastafari Scholarship.
• Lapapan (Anne) Supamanta works with the Assembly of the Poor, a Thai movement of rural and urban grassroot groups organizing to collectively defend and promote the rights of the socio-economically marginalized. Previously, she served as executive director of the International Network of Engaged Buddhists.
• Karen Georgia Thompson is the Associate General Minister and Co-Executive for Global Ministries at the United Church of Christ (UCC) in the United States and leads the joint UCC and United Church of Canada committee working on the United Nations International Decade for People of African Descent (2015-2024).

Register for the Zoom webinar.