Millet Damien - Who Owes Who: 50 Questions about World Debt

The authors

Damien Millet teaches mathematics to post-A-level classes preparing entrance exams to top Higher Education establishments. He lives in Orlans, and is the General Secretary of CADTM France (Committee for the Abolition of Third World Debt).

Eric Toussaint is a historian and political scientist, President of the CADTM, member of the International Council of the World Social Forum and of the Scientific Advisory Board of ATTAC France. He is the author of Your Money or Your Life! The Tyranny of Global Finance (1999), co-author of Le bateau ivre de la mondialisation. Escales au sein du village plantaire (2000), Afrique: abolir la , Cuba: le pas suspendu de la rvolution (2001) and Sortir de limpasse. Dette et ajustement (2002).

Reading committee

Sylvie Bourinet is a former journalist and an active member of CADTM France.

Denise Comanne is an art historian and prime mover of the CADTM; co-author of Femmes, enfants, face la violence: rsistance du Nord au Sud (1999).

Stphane Desgain works for the Centre National de Coopration au Dveloppement (National Centre for Co-operation and Development), Belgium, and is a member of the organizing committee of ATTAC Belgium.

Damien Elisei is a physics student and a member of CADTM France.

Jean-Marie Harribey is Professor of Economics at the University of Bordeaux, author of La dmence snile du capital (2002) and a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of ATTAC France.

Alain Saumon is a geographer and President of CADTM France.

Patrick Silberstein is a publisher.

Arnaud Zacharie is a researcher for the CADTM, spokesman for and co-ordinator of the scientific network of ATTAC Belgium and the author of several books.

DAMIEN MILLET | ERIC TOUSSAINT

Who owes who?

50 questions about world debt

Translated by Vicki Briault Manus with the collaboration of Gabrielle Roche

University Press Ltd

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Who owes who? 50 questions about world debt was first published in 2004 by

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in association with le Comit pour lAnnulation de la Dette du Tiers Monde (CADTM), 345 rue de lObservatoire, 4000 Lige, Belgium

Copyright CADTM, 2004

Translation copyright Vicki Briault Manus, 2004

The rights of Damien Millet and Eric Toussaint to be identified as the authors of this work have been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988.

Cover designed by Andrew Corbett
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A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
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Caladian CIP data are available from the National Library of Canada

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ISBN 978 1 84813 802 5

Abbreviations

Introduction

For the last twenty years, despite their innumerable natural and human resources, the Third World countries have been milked dry. The repayment of a debt which has swollen to colossal proportions prevents the populations from satisfying their most basic needs. The debt has become a subtle mechanism of domination and a new method of colonization, hindering any sustainable human development in the South. The policies applied by the indebted governments are more often decided by the creditors than by the parliaments of the countries concerned. The limits of the so-called debt-reduction initiative, launched with great pomp by the G7, the IMF and the World Bank, were shown up by the largest petition ever known (24 million signatures collected between 1998 and 2000, co-ordinated by the Jubilee 2000 campaigns). A radically different approach needs to be adopted: purely and simply, cancelling the debt, which is immoral and often odious.

The authors provide answers to various objections. Once freed of their external debt, is there not a risk that the countries might fall back into the trap of unsustainable indebtedness? Would debt cancellation not give a second chance to corrupt and dictatorial regimes? Will it not be the tax-payers of the North who end up paying for the cancellation? The authors argue that debt cancellation is necessary but not sufficient, and must be accompanied by other measures such as the recovery of ill-gotten gains and their restitution to the despoiled populations. They suggest alternative sources of finance, both local and international. They also ask: who owes what to whom? They support the demands for reparation put forward by social movements in the South.