DIAZ: Again we have no other solution unless we find several other planets full of resources. If we continue the same way, and for the reasons I explained above, we will go deeper and deeper in the financial crisis that we see today. There are no more resources to exploit. We live in a finite planet from which we took everything. Or as another expert puts it, we can use the tool of famine. If we wipe out a large part of the world population we'll be able to continue with the same growth ratio. But let's be clear the world population isn't the reason for this situation. There is a study that shows that if all arable land were equitable shared between everybody on the planet; each individual would have the equivalent of one football field and a half to grow his own food. That's a lot to feed your family! We have known for many, many years that we have more than enough resources to take care of everybody if such resources are not concentrated in very few hands with the only goal of maximum profit.
ID: While I admire your intentions and the vast goals of a more equitable distribution of wealth it seems the system is entrenched in keeping the rich in power and domination over the poor, how do you see this changing beyond small "do-good" projects, while important large-scale projects are shut out by those whose vested interest is in maintaining their own riches at the expense of the poor.
DIAZ: There is a moment when the rich will have to accept that they are digging their own grave. By creating more and more poor people every year they are simply creating less and less consumers and therefore more and more problems for their own businesses and their won fortunes. The world will never go back to a positive yearly growth until poverty is alleviated for a vast majority of the poor. It's simply mathematical. So unfortunately the rich don't have any more real solutions, only a few tricks to prorogate a dead system a bit longer.
ID: Feel free to address any issues I might have missed or add comments relevant to the pursuit of the goals of this film.
DIAZ: I created Cinema Libre Studio to produce and distribute movies that can make a difference and we see everyday that it is possible. One of the major goal of the film is to educate people and make them realize that what they thought was right because they have been taught so may not be the case.
"The End of Poverty?" will be released in US theatres nationwide in Fall 2009, distributed by Cinema Libre Studio. The film premiered during Critics' Week at Cannes in May 2008 and has subsequently been an official selection at 22 international film festivals including Durban International Film Festival, Montreal World Film Festival and Leeds International Film Festival. Poverty activists from global organizations such as Oxfam, Amnesty International, UN Millennium Campaign and Jubilee Debt have embraced the film for its timely message.
Former ID editor and documentary filmmaker Kathleen Fairweather is based out of Austin, Texas. She may be reached at www.kathleenfairweather.com. Her daughter, Daryl Fairweather is a documentary filmmaker and economics major at MIT.