17 October 2020 > 18 October 2020
Liège, Belgium
CADTM Autumn meeting days: registration is now open!
In these most uncertain times one thing is certain: we won’t give in! We will hold on to all we believe in, and particularly the wish to share with you (in spite of health hazards and with all necessary caution) a new edition of our Autumn Meeting Days!
While public debts soar to new peaks and while we are already told that 2021 will be another year of austerity,
While the world of finance seizes the opportunity to organize its bailout by the States and leave them the billions of euros of debts they have speculated with over the last years,
While 100% of hospitals in Belgium and in other countries will be in the red at the end of the year,
While tenants and debtors are under pressure to pay up but landowners and banks are protected by governments,
While millions of people have to call upon what is left of the social state and social security to survive,
While women (and a fortiori racialized women) are once again the most exposed to the impact of those crises,
While the few who already own most global resources have reaped, within a few months of pandemics, profits that amount to several times the public debt of Greece,
While in spite of all sorts of announcements and a worsening health situation in countries of the South, public and private creditors in the North as well as international financial institutions still won’t query the repayment of odious debts,
More than ever, we need a time and place to meet, discuss, organize, construct – through our struggles – desirable alternatives and to bring down this inhuman, absurd system (and to have a good time together, too)!
In this context the CADTM decided that its traditional summer meeting days will take place in 2020, on 17 and 18 October.
In this context the CADTM decided that its traditional summer meeting days will take place in 2020, on 17 and 18 October.
So we suggest that you fill in and send the registration form below.
| Provisionnal programme - updated on 13 October | |
| Saturday 17 October | |
| 10-11:30 am | Opening plenary |
| 30 years of struggle against debt | |
| with Éric Toussaint (spokesperson for CADTM International), Maria Lucia Fatorelli (Auditoria Cidadã da Divida, Brésil), Yvonne Ngoyi (Union des Femmes pour la Dignité humaine, DRC), Luis José Torres Asencio (Frente Ciudadano por la Auditoría de la Deuda, Porto Rico), Amali Wedagedara (Sri Lanka) - Facilitator: Najla Mulhondi (CADTM Belgium) Interpretation from Spanish, English and Portuguese into French link https://zoom.us/j/97834647901?pwd=U2szSTk0YUUxZ0ZRZ0x2Q01sZHg5dz09 | |
| 11:30 am 1:50 pm | Lecture |
| Colonial debt and reparations | |
| with Véronique Clette-Gakuba (sociologist at the Free University of Brussels) and Jehosheba Bennett (lawyer with the Jus Cogens firm) videoconference link (without interpretation): https://zoom.us/j/97834647901?pwd=U2szSTk0YUUxZ0ZRZ0x2Q01sZHg5dz09 60 years after the official independence of the Congo, crimes perpetrated by the Belgian State have so far not been met with an appropriate political response, whether in terms of acknowledgement or in terms of reparations. While racism is still a structural fact which particularly affects black people in Belgium, what are the recent activist and legal initiatives to force the Belgian State to acknowledge its responsibility? | |
| 11:30 am - 1:50 pm | Workshop |
| Lockdown and austerity: women pay the price... and settle their accounts! | |
| with Camille Bruneau (CADTM Belgium), Natalia Hirtz (GRESEA), La Santé en Lutte, le collectif 8 maars, and others to be confirmed Why and how have women been specifically impacted by lockdown and by the new layer of austerity that is offered as the only possible political response? This workshop develops a feminist reading of the current crises to reach a better understanding of the dynamics and unequal social relationships that affect a large part of humankind, but also provides a meeting ground for activists in several necessary struggles and collectives... Forward to a general strike in 2021! | |
| 2 - 3:30 pm | Lunch break: meal and activities on the spot |
| 3:30 - 5:30 pm | Lecture |
| Crisis of capitalism, aggravated by the pandemics | |
| videoconference link (without interpretation): https://zoom.us/j/91632476797?pwd=R3UrRnJPdDdjcTFicUxxT1YzM1BzQT09 | |
| 3:30 - 5:30 pm | Workshops |
| Writting workshop | |
| Migrations, struggles of undocumented people and debt | |
| with Mamadou Bah (CADTM Belgium), delegations from the École des Solidarités in Liège and the ATEMOS collective (solidarity masks) Migrants generally leave their countries of origin to escape the poverty resulting from policies related to the debt repayment enforced by international financial institutions and industrialized countries of the North. They sometimes attempt to flee from their creditors (loan sharks, abusive microcredits) or try to find ways of repaying abroad. Migrants also seek asylum from repression. On their migratory journeys they sometimes have to contract debts in their countries of origin or with smugglers. Once they have reached their destination, they face administrative and financial hurdles because of increasingly restrictive immigration policies. To help us develop an activist and political approach, speakers will explain their struggles and their demands, notably in the current pandemic context. We then suggest we open a time of reflection and collective intelligence to find concrete ways of acting. | |
| 6 - 7 pm | Meeting of the various thematic groups |
| Sunday 18 October | |
| 9:45 - 11:45 am | Lecture |
| What is at stake in private and public debts and alternatives and struggles in the South | |
| with Maria-Elena Saludas (CADTM Ayna), Omar Aziki (Attac/CADTM Morocco), Broulaye Bagayoko (CADTM Africa) and Sushovan Dhar (CADTM India) videoconference – Interpretation from Spanish, English and Portuguese into French https://zoom.us/j/91348236568?pwd=V3g4OHVUTDRkbStreEpORzFsU2U4dz09 Over 10 years, external public debt in countries of the South has doubled. With the drop in the exchange rate and the international tensions inherent in the crisis of capitalism aggravated by Covid-19, around twenty countries are in repayment default. Private debt likewise is soaring, weakening the financial position of those whose credit rating is already precarious. As for microcredits, they appear to be part of the problem rather than part of the solution. A wide-ranging exposure of debts and the struggles around their repayment, by members of CADTM. | |
| 9:45 - 11:45 am | Workshops |
| Debt, ecological crisis and capitalism of pandemics | |
| Fiction lab | |
| 12 am - 1 pm | Miscellaneous |
| Introducing the book Greece 2015: There was an alternative | |
| with Éric Toussaint (spokesperson for CADTM International) and Eva Betavatzi (CADTM Belgium) | |
| Introducing the book Imbrication - Femmes, race et classe dans les mouvements sociaux | |
| with Jules Falquet videoconference – Interpretation from Spanish, English and Portuguese into French https://zoom.us/j/91348236568?pwd=V3g4OHVUTDRkbStreEpORzFsU2U4dz09 | |
| Visit to an exhibition in Liège | |
| 1 - 3 pm | Lunch break: meal and activities on the spot |
| 3 - 5 pm | Closing Plenary |
| Focus on struggles and concrete alternatives | |
| videoconference – Interpretation from Spanish, English and Portuguese into French https://zoom.us/j/98774106785?pwd=dnFhTVN1RjQrVm1Tb09QQ2w3Q2xzdz09 The closing plenary will be an opportunity to evaluate the results and perspectives of the ongoing social struggles. The year 2019 was the scene of insurrectional struggles that took place all over the world as well as very large feminist mobilisations. In 2020, the issues of the right to health and the right to housing, as well as the anti-racist struggles were, in turn, highlighted by the coronavirus crisis and the state reactions to it. In all those struggles new ways of organising and carrying the solidarity through newly formed collectives have emerged. These changes and the increasingly difficult political context are pushing permanent militant organisations and trade unions to ask themselves a very concrete question with multiple answers on their role within social movements: How can us position ourselves as real allies in order to strengthen these struggles? | |
Practical information
- Dates: Saturday 17 and Sunday 18 October
- Venue: in downtown Liège, at Cité miroir (place Xavier Neujean)
- Meals and accommodation: As regards meals, we will have a number of proposals related to local associations. There is no residential accommodation this year, but we can make sure that those who need solidarity accommodation will find it thanks to an online application.
- Programme: (see above). If you wish to suggest workshops and/or help with organizing them, you are more than welcome!
- Registration fee: no set fee, optional / recommended amount 10€ / Support amount 20€ or more.
- Questions or comments? Contact us via email at info[at]cadtm.org
| CAR SHARING |
|---|
| For people who wish to organize car sharing from Brussels, Paris or other places, use this self-managed Framapad: https://bimestriel.framapad.org/p/covoiturage-9iq8?lang=fr |
| ACCOMODATION |
| No residential accommodation is available this year. People who can provide accommodation should use this self-managed Framapad: https://bimestriel.framapad.org/p/hebergement-9iq8?lang=fr |
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La luta continua!
