BANKING ON LIFE AND DEBT
Critics have called the policies of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) "a war on the poor." More than 90 percent of the Earth's population live in countries trapped in multibillion dollar loan repayment schemes, with terms dictated by the World Bank and IMF.
Maryknoll World Productions has produced a new video that explores how the policies of the World Bank and IMF have affected countries around the world. A documentary narrated by Martin Sheen, Banking on Life and Debt,
takes you to three continents. In Ghana, touted as a World Bank model of success, poor villagers cannot afford medicines. In Brazil, people eat from garbage dumps while crops are sold to pay off the world's largest foreign debt. A woman in the Philippines heads a grassroots coalition in the fight against paying the debts.
This 30-minute documentary presents the millions of children who are sacrificed for the sake of financial stability. To order this video ($14.95 each), contact: Maryknoll World Productions, P.O. Box 308, Maryknoll, NY 10545-0308; 1-800-227-8523.
TRUTH THAT SETS FREE
U.S.citizens and people of faith have been challenged to face the truth about the United States' role in the human rights tragedy in Central America during the past two decades. Revelations this year about the involvement of the CIA in human rights abuses in Guatemala and Honduras, and the extensive efforts to cover up this involvement, have become a focus of heated debate in Washington and in the media.