Actor, producer, director and activist Danny Glover recently took the time to talk to The New York Amsterdam News about his newest movie, "Bamako," which takes place in Mali (and also happens to be the country's capital city). The film deals with the way in which the debt burden carried by that country — and indeed all too many others — affects regular people on a day-to-day basis. "Bamako," directed by Abderrahmane Sissako, will be playing from February 14 to 27 at Film Forum, 290 W. Houston Street. Danny Glover will attend the 7:20 p.m. screenings on 2/14 and 2/15. For more info, call Film Forum at (212) 727 8110 or visit www.filmforum.org/films/bamako.html.

AmNews: You've been busy promoting this film, "Bamako," which deals with the way that debt burden affects Africans on a day-to-day basis. It opens in New York on the 14th, right?

Glover: Yeah. We started out doing the film festivals. It went to the Cannes Film Festival, the Toronto Film Festival, and the New York Film Festival, and it just received a great deal of attention from all those festivals.

AN: How did "Bamako" come about?

Glover: My partner Jocelyn Barnes and I knew about Abderrahmane [Sissako, the director] from his previous films. His film "Waiting for Happiness" is remarkable. He and I were on the jury at Cannes outside of Paris. He began to outline the project. We were challenged by the idea and the audacity of the idea of putting the World Bank and the IMF [International Monetary Fund] on trial. We wanted to be involved by being executive producers and putting some resources in it as well.

AN: I heard the structure of the film is a bit different. It sounds almost like a stage play. Can you tell me more about it?

Glover: Well, it takes place primarily in one place, but it's easy to really get a sense of something much larger than the space it is confined in. It takes place in a courtroom, and the courtroom is a place where people work and go through their lives. This place is a microcosm of what is happening to people not only in Africa, but all over the world whose lives have been altered by the structural changes — the structural violence that comes with debt service. We see that. We have them give testimony to it, whether it's schoolteachers or farmers or railway workers.

AN: Why should the debt be reduced? They incurred it — why shouldn't they pay?

Glover: Well the debt is illegal anyway.

AN: Can you explain that?

Glover: If you don't pay your debt, you file bankruptcy. Why can't countries file bankruptcy? I'm not being facetious, but I am saying that the debt itself and the way that the debt is serviced, the impact that it has on people's lives and destroying people's lives, the impact that it has on shifting wealth, within the country and outside, those are the reasons why the debt should be cancelled. And often the debt that occurred, occurred under circumstances which these people had no control over. The victims had no control over where the money went, who spent the money, who borrowed the money, etc.

AN: So you're saying that…it is not fair for them to be responsible for repaying the loan?

Glover: I'm asking, when were the loans taken out and who took the loans out? A lot of that money is siphoned off to those who are supposed to represent the people, but who in fact often are facilitators of the wrong itself. We're talking about the IMF and structural adjustments here. When you de-fund education…

AN: Healthcare…

Glover: Yes, healthcare. When you de-fund the civil service, the capacity for a country to operate on behalf of its citizens, what are you doing? What is happening there? I think that what's critical is that [there's] also the intent is to make these economies available for cheap labor. It is a way of increasing profits.

AN: What can people do to change things?

Glover: Well, action would be simply writing to your Congressman. In Harlem, you are represented by Charles Rangel. I know Charles Rangel is very concerned about what is happening in Africa [and] has been, historically.

AN: Where can we learn more about this?

Glover: There is substantial involvement by organizations like Fifty Years Is Enough, like Transafrica Forum that are involved in structural issues surrounding the debt. I am the chairman of Transafrica Forum, and that's what we have an interest in — the development of Africa and U.S. policy toward Africa.

To write to your senator, please visit: http://www.senate.gov/general/contact%5finformation/senators%5fcfm.c cfm.

To write to your congressperson, please visit: http://www.house.gov/writerep.

You can find out more about this issue at: http://www.transafricaforum.org/ or http://www.50years.org/.

PHOTO (COLOR): Scene from the film "Bamako"

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By Nadine Matthews, Special to the AmNews