Committee for the Abolition of Illegitimate Debt

With so much wealth in the world, how is it possible that there should be so much poverty ? The end of poverty ? takes us back to the beginning of the modern age, which is also the beginning of the colonial period, to understand not just when but also how it all began. International experts as well as victims contribute to our understanding when they point at colonialism, market economy, the Third World Debt, the appropriation of land and natural resources as factors that maintain and indeed develop poverty in Third World countries, condemning those who attempt to survive to a daily struggle against an increasingly hostile environment. Isn’t it time for us to wonder why 25% of the world population use up over 85% of the planet’s resources ?

Experts that will be present in Cannes from May 18 to 20:

Clifford Cobb: Historian specialized in issues related to inequalities – Former president and current projects director at the Robert Shalkenbach Foundation based in New York (and co-producer)

Susan George : Author specializing in North South issues – Associate director and Cofounder of the Transnational Institute in Amsterdam – President of the Observatory on Globalization in Paris, Cofounder of ATTAC

Joseph Stiglitz : Author and Professor of Economics specialized in the effects of Globalization – Nobel Prize for Economics in 2001 – World Bank World Bank
WB The World Bank was founded as part of the new international monetary system set up at Bretton Woods in 1944. Its capital is provided by member states’ contributions and loans on the international money markets. It financed public and private projects in Third World and East European countries.

It consists of several closely associated institutions, among which :

1. The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD, 189 members in 2017), which provides loans in productive sectors such as farming or energy ;

2. The International Development Association (IDA, 159 members in 1997), which provides less advanced countries with long-term loans (35-40 years) at very low interest (1%) ;

3. The International Finance Corporation (IFC), which provides both loan and equity finance for business ventures in developing countries.

As Third World Debt gets worse, the World Bank (along with the IMF) tends to adopt a macro-economic perspective. For instance, it enforces adjustment policies that are intended to balance heavily indebted countries’ payments. The World Bank advises those countries that have to undergo the IMF’s therapy on such matters as how to reduce budget deficits, round up savings, enduce foreign investors to settle within their borders, or free prices and exchange rates.

Former Chief economist and vice president

Eric Toussaint : Committee for cancellation of Third World Debt’ President and founder, member of the international council of World social forum. Author specialized in Third World Debt.

Born in Paris, Philippe Diaz studied Philosophy at the Sorbonne and began his cinema career in 1980. He has produced lots of films, among which Havre by Juliet Berto, Rue du Départ by Tony Gatlif, Mauvais sang (or The Night is Young) by Léos Carax, Pierre et Djemila by Gérard Blain and La nuit Bengali by Nicolas Klotz. He then began an international career producing directors such as Robert Frank for Candy Mountain and Bobby Roth The Man Inside. In 1991 he moved to Los Angeles where he continued to produce author movies and also created a mini studio: Cine Libre Studio specialized in fictions and documentaries with social or political focus. His first movie as director New World Order - Somewhere in Africa was presented at the international critics’ week in 2000.