Debt in History
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Resisting the Debt System
10 August 2023 - by Eric Toussaint, Ashley Smith
The combination of the pandemic, sharp global recession, inflation and interest rate hikes by central banks has triggered a new debt crisis throughout the Global South. The United Nations recently released a new report that found a total of (...) -
When President Joe Biden says that the US never denounced any debt obligation it’s a lie to convince people that there is no alternative to a bad bi-partisan agreement
Debt ceiling: Radio Silence Concerning United States President Franklin Roosevelt’s Repudiation of Debts
28 May 2023 - by Eric Toussaint
During your education, did you learn that during the 1930s the government of the USA unceremoniously repudiated a central provision of debt contracts that represented phenomenal sums? Do any history books analyze that act? Historical narratives (...) -
Debt : Eric Toussaint at Université Paris Cité on January 31, 2023
20 May 2023 - by Eric Toussaint
Eric Toussaint, spokesperson for CADTM International, spoke on the debt crisis and the global capitalist system at the Economic Policies for Global Transition (EPOG) seminars. The seminar was held at the Université Paris Cité on January 31, (...) -
The urgent need to repudiate debt
6 April 2023 - by Eric Toussaint, Anaïs Carton
According to the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, at the end of 2022, approximately 60% of low-income developing countries were already in debt distress or were at high risk of being so. Debt payment suspensions have multiplied in (...) -
The Paris Commune of 1871, banks and debt
20 March 2023 - by Eric Toussaint
On the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the extraordinary experience of the Paris Commune, it is fundamental to draw a number of lessons from it. The measures a government takes regarding its Central Bank, the debts of working class people, (...) -
ABC of Debt System
6 March 2023 - by Eric Toussaint
Abstract: This article argues that the indebted weaker countries are not the cause of sovereign debt crises and the outcomes of debt crises are directed by big banks and the governments that support them. It begins with a historical overview of (...) -
The 1953 London Debt Agreement on Germany’s debt
26 February 2023 - by Eric Toussaint
Germany benefited from the cancellation of most of its debt as of February 27, 1953. This cancellation was instrumental in helping the country regain its position as the leading economic power on the European continent. Since then, no other (...) -
When States Start with a “Clean Slate” and Repudiate Debts: Whose Turn Now?
12 December 2022 - by Eric Toussaint, Anaïs Carton
In this article, Anaïs Carton and Éric Toussaint demonstrate, using a number of examples, that there is no automatic continuity of obligations related to debt when one State or government succeeds another. In April 2023, the Vienna Convention (...) -
Another look at the debt of Tunisia and Egypt in the 19th century and the colonization of those countries by France and Britain
29 September 2022 - by Eric Toussaint
The book Sovereign Debt Diplomacies: Rethinking Sovereign Debt from Colonial Empires to Hegemony merits reading. The work was published by Oxford University Press in 2021. Pierre Pénet and Juan Flores Zendejas, the co-editors, have accomplished a (...) -
The Floods Devastating Pakistan Are More Than a Natural Disaster
10 September 2022 - by Ammar Ali Jan
Monsoon rains and melting glaciers have driven tens of millions of Pakistanis from their homes. The disaster shows that the poor Global South populations who do least to cause climate change are the people who pay most for its consequences. A (...) -
Why the Elites in the Global South Favour Indebtedness, How Creditors Have Eroded National Sovereignty, and How States are Beginning to Fight Back
22 August 2022 - by Eric Toussaint
The book Sovereign Debt Diplomacies: Rethinking Sovereign Debt from Colonial Empires to Hegemony merits reading. The work was published by Oxford University Press in 2021. Pierre Pénet and Juan Flores Zendejas, who served as editors, have (...) -
The task of solidarity implies a struggle for the complete cancellation of the Third World debt
22 July 2022 - by Ernest Mandel
We publish an interview with Ernest Mandel (1923-1995), a Marxist activist, known particularly for his economic and political analyses. Ernest Mandel supported the formation of CADTM from the beginning and spoke in the first large international (...) -
Russia: Origin and consequences of the debt repudiation of February 10, 1918
8 February 2022 - by Eric Toussaint
In February 1918, the repudiation of the debt by the Soviet government shocked international finance and sparked off unanimous condemnation by the governments of the great powers. This decision of repudiation was intrinsic to this first big (...) -
A century of debt crises in Latin America : from independence to the Great Depression, 1820-1930
24 January 2022 - by Carlos Marichal
CADTM is very happy to make accessible on this site one of the most important books dedicated to the history of the Latin American debt crises from 1820 to 1930. We thank Carlos Marichal, the author, for allowing us to publish a number of his (...) -
Rosa Luxemburg and debt as an imperialist instrument
16 January 2022 - by Eric Toussaint
[103 years back, Rosa Luxemburg was shot dead and her body flung into Berlin’s Landwehr Canal. However, she could not be wiped out from history as her life and works are extremely relevant in our quest to find a better world. We reprint this (...) -
Two centuries of sovereign debt conflicts
13 January 2022 - by Eric Toussaint
Sovereign Debt Diplomacies: Rethinking Sovereign Debt from Colonial Empires to Hegemony, published by Oxford University Press in 2021, honorably takes its place among the numerous publications on the question that have come out over the last two (...) -
When Debts Become Unpayable, They Should Be Forgiven
5 January 2022 - by Michael Hudson, Branko Marcetic
For centuries, debt and indebtedness have had profoundly destabilizing effects on human societies. In the ancient world, rulers and their subjects had a solution: known as a debt jubilee, it involved a periodic, unconditional wiping out of debt. (...) -
Globalization from Christopher Columbus, Vasco da Gama and Ferdinand Magellan until today
21 December 2021 - by Eric Toussaint
In this study, Éric Toussaint covers the period from the 15th to the 21st century, focusing on the dramatic effects of capitalist globalisation. The beginning of Globalization goes back to the outcomes of the first voyage of Christopher (...) -
To Address Increasing Inequality and Global Poverty, We Must Cancel Debt
16 June 2021 - by Eric Toussaint, C.J. Polychroniou
Massive debt levels are a feature of contemporary capitalism that cannot be eradicated without radical change, says political scientist Éric Toussaint “The indebtedness of the working classes is directly connected to the widening poverty gap and (...) -
The economic response to the crisis benefits large companies
26 May 2021 - by Eric Toussaint, Roberto González Amador
Éric Toussaint is interviewed by Roberto González Amador from the Mexican daily La Jornada. The spokesperson for the international network Committee for the Abolition of Illegitimate Debts (CADTM) argues for an end to patents [1]. The seeds of a (...) -
The Earldom of Larios Uses Debt Blackmail to Build a Golf-Course on Agricultural Land
29 April 2021 - by Eric Toussaint
Here we have a concrete example, in 2021, that plunges us into the debt system and history as it has been created through the class struggle. As I am short of time, I shall tell the story succinctly. It takes place in Nerja, a small town of (...) -
The Sankara Affair : Press release of the Network Justice for Sankara
19 March 2021 - by Réseau Justice pour Sankara
The French authorities must immediately make all documents concerning the assassination of Thomas Sankara available to Burkina Faso courts Press Release On 28 November 2017, on official visit to Burkina Faso, Emmanuel Macron, the French (...) -
Paris Commune 150: the economics
18 March 2021 - by Michael Roberts
Today is the 150th anniversary of the beginning of the Paris Commune. The Commune (Council) was formed as result of what should be considered the first uprising and revolution led by the working class in history. This new class was the product (...) -
In memory of Patrice Lumumba, assassinated on 17 January 1961
17 January 2021 - by Eric Toussaint
On 17 January 2021, we commemorate the 60th anniversary of the assassination of Patrice Lumumba (1925-1961). After a resounding victory in the first real elections in which the Congolese participated, Patrice Lumumba became Prime Minister of (...) -
Regrets, Apologies and Repair for Belgium’s Colonial Harms
3 December 2020 - by Valerie Arnould
Former colonial countries appear increasingly willing to engage in processes akin to transitional justice in order to confront the legacies of their colonial past. In this blog post, Valerie Arnould discusses recent initiatives in Belgium meant (...)
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