Figure 14 We Are Living in World War III Already Of the Third World countries' total debt of one trillion dollars in 1986, about one third was lent in order to repay interest on previous loans. There is no hope that these countries will ever be able to pull out of the situation without a major crisis or fundamental policy change. If war means hunger, starvation and death, social and human misery, we are right in the middle of the "Third World War" (Figure 14). It is an undeclared war. It is a war fought with usurious interest rates, manipulated prices and unfair trade conditions. It is a war which forces people into unemployment, sickness and criminal behaviour. Do we have to tolerate this indefinitely? There is no doubt that those who are at present worse off in the monetary system we have created account for more than half of the world's population. The situation in the Third World would change momentarily if their debts were to be written off partially or totally by lender nations and banks. This is often advocated by progressive economists and, in fact, is already happening. However, unless the basic flaw in the money system is abolished, the next crisis is preprogrammed. Therefore, one of the important steps for a more stable economic system on a world-wide scale is to make known among those who would undoubtedly gain most - the poor and the developing countries - that an alternative system could be chosen.
THE CHURCHES AND SPIRITUAL GROUPS Many of the great political and religious leaders such as Moses, Jesus Christ, Mohammed, Luther, Zwingli and Gandhi have tried to reduce social injustice by prohibiting interest payments. They understood the cause of the problem. However, they did not come up with a practical solution, and thus, the basic flaw in the system remained 32