Dropping the debt? British anti-debt mobilizations and international development policy

In July 2005, an astounding 225,000 people, mostly clad in white, took to the streets of Edinburgh to form the largest demonstration Scotland has ever known. The demonstration demanded that the leaders of the G8 countries ‘Make Poverty History’ (MPH) by ‘dropping the debt’, ‘providing more and better aid’ and ensuring ‘trade justice’. The MPH demonstration and accompanying Live 8 concerts were so signifi cant that the Roman Catholic Primate, Archbishop Cormac Murphy O’Connor, called it ‘the greatest moral upheaval since the campaign against the slave trade’ (Rootes and Saunders 2007: 128)