| | The international financial system of today resembles the dark ages of the medieval era, when creditors had the power to imprison and destroy the lives of debtors. These days we don't have debtors' prisons for people; we have them for countries instead. The IMF, which effectively acts as an agent for all international creditors, holds the keys to these debtors' prisons, public and private. Instead of imprisoning debtors in irons, creditors today dictate economic policy to the poorest countries, impose economic austerity programmes, undermine fledgling democracies and withhold aid. Joseph Hanlon's article in this issue on cashew and Mozambique shows the extent to which the international financial institutions are prepared to use debt bondage to impose mindlessly ideological prescriptions on poor countries. |
