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Forgive Us Our Debts

Hosted by John Dalla Costa, renowned author, global ethicist and theologian, FORGIVE US OUR DEBTS explores the steadily expanding division between the 'haves' and the 'have nots', an urgent international reality in which the poorest nations of the Southern Hemisphere owe more than $485 billion to their lenders in the North. Dalla Costa says 'Globalization is not simply an economic issue but one that requires our ethical imagination.'

FORGIVE US OUR DEBTS visits one of the world's most impoverished nations - Nicaragua - to gauge the impact of that country's indebtedness on the poorest members of their society.

Both inspiring and informative, the documentary relates the powerful story of the grassroots movement to end Third World debt, a movement that has confronted the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and the G8 lenders, in each case demanding that they cancel the debts of the world's poor.

The Jubilee 2000 debt cancellation campaign was inspired by the ancient Biblical observance of 'jubilee' described in Leviticus 25, as a tradition that was honored every 50th year when the sounding of a loud trumpet proclaimed liberty throughout the country. Calling for complete debt forgiveness, which at the time included the reinstatement of property ownership and the freeing of indentured slaves, the practice of jubilee granted personal freedom and provided hope to future generations.

Amongst those featured are Bono, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Sir Bob Geldof, Ann Pettifor of Jubilee 2000, and Dr. Juliet Schor, the Harvard economist.