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people around the world take action to demand debt cancellation, trade justice and more and better aid. Campaigners in the UK, the host of the 2005 G8 summit, responded amazingly to their opportunity to act. Hundreds of thousands of you walked, talked, cycled, marched and wrapped white bands wherever you could to raise awareness of the demands of MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY. A quarter of a million people marched through Edinburgh ahead of the G8 summit. Eight million people wore white bands. Debt
campaigners built on years~ of determined effort to urge the G8 to go further than ever before. Politicians in the UK - who acknowledged the importance of public pressure - took a lead in ensuring there were steps forward.
Why keep going?
There is still much more to do. Poor countries still pay $100 million every day to the rich world, often for debts that were built up through reckless lending to past dictators, through unfair interest and fines or through unjust terms of trade. Many countries spend more on debt than on health and education. Conditions on debt relief force countries to adopt harmful economic policies - like privatisation, spending cuts and forced trade liberalisation — and undermine democracy. Some countries with huge unjust or unpayable debts are still denied debt relief.
But your campaigning is making a huge difference - and paving the way for even greater changes. The extra debt cancellation agreed in 2005 will be
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