Debt Beyond Reason

Bruce Knotts

Thursday, December 8, 5 PM PDT, 6 PM MDT, 7 PM CDT & 8 PM EDT

To register to join our Zoom event, click here, tinyurl.com/2p6v3sb9

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Bruce will speak of his experience in Africa where African nations are enticed to take loans they can never pay, but the servicing of the debt ruins all hope for progress. Bruce will mention a time when he heard the Minister of the economy in The Gambia mention that 60% of the national budget was going to service the debt leaving 40% of the national budget for everything else: education, defense, infrastructure, etc.

Bruce Knotts was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Ethiopia, worked for Raytheon in Saudi Arabia (1976-80) and on a World Bank contract in Somalia (1982-4), before he joined the Department of State as a U.S. diplomat in 1984. Bruce had diplomatic assignments in Greece, Zambia, India, Pakistan, Kenya, Sudan, Cote d’Ivoire and The Gambia, where he served as Deputy Chief of Mission. While in Cote d’Ivoire, Bruce served as the Regional Refugee Coordinator for West Africa. Bruce worked closely with several UN Special Representatives and observed UN peacekeeping operations in Sierra Leone from 2000 to 2003.

Bruce retired from the Foreign Service in 2007 and began directing the Unitarian Universalist United Nations Office (UU-UNO) in 2008. Bruce founded faith-based advocacy for sexual orientation/gender identity human rights at the United Nations and continues to advocate for the rights of women and indigenous peoples and for sustainable development in moral terms of faith and values. Bruce is co-chair of the UN NGO Committee on Human Rights, the chair of the NGO Committee on Disarmament, Peace and Security, a member of steering committee of the NGO UN Security Council Working Group.

Bruce retired from the UUA September 30, 2022. Bruce is currently the Director of International Engagement at Community Church NY. In 2006, Bruce and Isaac Humphrie were wed in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Isaac works internationally as an event environmentalist for Apple, Google, Horatio Alger Awards, and others. He’s a professional photographer, a social media consultant, and he works in Fashion Show production in New York, London, Tokyo, and Kampala.