Committee for the Abolition of Illegitimate Debt

In November, France will take over the Presidency of the G8 G8 Group composed of the most powerful countries of the planet: Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and the USA, with Russia a full member since June 2002. Their heads of state meet annually, usually in June or July. and the G20 G20 The Group of Twenty (G20 or G-20) is a group made up of nineteen countries and the European Union whose ministers, central-bank directors and heads of state meet regularly. It was created in 1999 after the series of financial crises in the 1990s. Its aim is to encourage international consultation on the principle of broadening dialogue in keeping with the growing economic importance of a certain number of countries. Its members are Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, Italy, India, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, USA, UK and the European Union (represented by the presidents of the Council and of the European Central Bank). and will be organizing their summits in June and November 2011. But while summits pass, the economic, financial, ecological and social crises remain. The last G8 and G20 meetings (in Pittsburgh 2009 and Toronto 2010) did not bring and real answers to these crises. On the contrary, all the evidence points to them having sought above all to reconfirm the legitimacy of the actors and the mechanisms behind these crises, all while making citizens foot the bill.

We all know that answers to the worldwide crisis based on solidarity and democracy will not come from the governments of the richest nations alone, but from the people themselves, and from a G192 representing all the States on the planet.
We refuse to leave to the powerful the right to impose their solutions to the crises which they have created.
We want to prove that alternative routes exist, for everyone’s access to fundamental human rights, for a fairer sharing of wealth, for means of production and consumption that preserve the planet, and for a democratization of international decision-making. Our movements demonstrate through their practices and proposals that these alternatives are credible.

Although they are being held a few months from the French elections, these summits will have a planetary reach, and the mobilizations in preparation for them will be international. The World Social Forum in Dakar in February 2011, as well as other international mobilizations planned between now and June 2011, can serve as preparatory steps.

We appeal to everyone to converge in their mobilizations when the G8 and G20 summits take place in France, and to all movements, networks and organizations to come together. We will be counting on the diversity of their ways of thinking and acting to express our common concerns and alternative proposals.

First signatories :

AITEC, Les Amis de la Terre France, ATTAC France, CCFD-Terre Solidaire, CEDETIM, CGT, Confédération paysanne, CRID, Emmaüs International, France Amérique Latine, FSU, IPAM, Le Mouvement de la paix, Oxfam France, Peuples Solidaires, Réseau Foi et Justice Afrique Europe, Réseau No Vox, Ritimo, Survie, Transform !, Union syndicale Solidaires, Vamos !, Vision du Monde...

To sign on, please send an e-mail to Claire SOBIENIAK, c.sobieniak at crid.asso.fr