Actor Alex Macqueen met MPs at the Houses of Parliament on Wednesday as part of a Catholic-backed campaign to highlight the global debt crisis affecting low-income countries.
Macqueen, who's starred in The Thick of It and Inbetweeners, has now featured in a spoof payday-loan advert released by Richard Curtis’ Project Everyone in partnership with Catholic aid agency CAFODa pre. He portrays a predatory lender offering “incredible interest rates” that trap nations in a “never ending spiral of debt”.
The 90-second film, Meet the World’s Loan Sharks, has been launched this week to coincide with the G20 summit in Johannesburg where debt is high on the agenda.
The video has used satire to show how vulnerable countries are pushed into taking loans that wealthier nations would never face, ending with a warning that lenders are “barely regulated” and can sue if repayments are missed.
As a CAFOD ambassador, Macqueen said the film captures the “shockingly unethical and exploitative nature of the debt crisis”, adding that “clearly something has gone very wrong”.
He added: “if you do have a faith, it's very easy to realise how unjust it is for countries to have their backs broken by insidious debt. But you don't need to have a faith to realise that it is genuine common sense and it's your fellow human being that's at stake here.”
Louise Norton/CAFOD)
At the Westminster screening, Macenje Mazoka, high commissioner for Zambia, spoke about her country’s struggle with unsustainable debt.
She described a relief process that dragged on for years while Zambia faced drought, a cholera outbreak and pressure to keep up payments. She urged the UK to act, noting that most private lending to poorer nations is governed by English law.
CAFOD has called for debt repayments to be paused when countries apply for relief and for a new debt justice law forcing private lenders to take part in cancellation.
Campaigners said the G20 offers a rare chance to reform a system that leaves millions without essential services.