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I remember first seeing this amazing video by award winning Director Antony Minghella back in 2005, a few weeks before world leaders descended on Gleneagles for the G8. It captured the essence of the injustice that was the debt owed by some of the world's poorest countries to some of the richest.
Up until this point, the whole debt issue - which saw illegitimate debts to rich countries being paid back at a much higher rate than some poor countries were receiving aid - had been a sideline in my mind, and in the minds of many around the world. Although I empathised with the cause, and agreed that poor countries shouldn't have to pay back unfair debts, I couldn't get my head around of how to make sure it didn't just because a cycle of loan-forgive-loan forgive.
But, thanks to the tireless efforts of the Jubilee Debt Campaign, especially in the UK, debt had moved to the forefront of the fight against poverty. They rightly argued that ultimately fighting poverty shouldn't be about charity and aid - it should be about justice and self-sufficiency. But, how could a country ever hope to reduce poverty if they were trapped in a cycle of debt? I chatted recently to Nick Dearden about the campaign, what it is about, and what it's achieved to date. Here's what he said...
We'll publish more of this interview with Nick - including much more analysis of the debt issue in the coming weeks as consider the role of debt and development financing issues looking to the future. |
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