Committee for the Abolition of Illegitimate Debt

Before the assembly, on 29 October, Eric Toussaint gave a conference at Port-au-Prince University on the subject of the global crisis of capitalism, which was attended by 200 people mostly in the 20 - 25 age range.
Eric Toussaint examined the crisis that began in 2007 – 2008, demonstrating the interrelationship of the financial, economic, food, climate, and institutional crises.

Eric Toussaint et Camille Chalmers

He continued with an overview of the events of the last hundred years, from the First World War up to today to explain the most important lessons learned, before concluding on the actions carried out by the CADTM.
His talk was followed by a very interesting exchange with the audience thanks to a wide range of Questions: Is capitalism approaching its final phase? What do you think about grass roots globalisation? What revolutionary strategies should we adopt? What do you think about the Chinese presence in Africa, restitution claims by Caribbean countries, and the impact of consumerism on the food crisis? Does ignoring one’s cultural heritage weaken a country? Are the events in Libya part of the Arab spring? How does capitalism seek to make profits from climate change? Does capitalism not impose its own form of democracy? What does “Third World” mean today? What can be made of European socialists like François Hollande and his Mali intervention? What about Chavez-Morales-Correa?

As you can imagine, this enabled us to dig deep into these and other issues.

Public étudiant

On 30 October, CADTM delegates from Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Chile, Haiti, Belgium, and France (delegates from Venezuela and Colombia could not be present due to circumstances beyond their control) joined different social movements struggling in the fields of Human rights, feminism, food self-sufficiency, debt, and popular education.

On the morning of the 31^st the PAPDA (Haitian organisation member of CADTM) held a press conference to present CADTM actions. A dozen local radio stations and a dozen local television stations showed up.

At midday, a meeting between the CADTM and 6 progressive Haitian political parties was held.

Finally at 4 o’clock, there was a conference at the university, open to the public, to debate the euro crisis.

Translation : Mike Krolikowski and Charles La Via