Press Release

Egypt: transitional government obtains loans four times as much as those of Mubarak’s time

by Amr Adly

2 February

The IMF loan issue is looming again in the horizon, a few months after the rejection of a similar loan. It was claimed that the first loan was rejected because its conditions were unacceptable, however, such conditions were never revealed to the public. Dr. Fayza Abu El-Naga, Minister of International Co-operation and Planning, who has previously rejected the first loan, started to refer to conducting positive consultations with IMF and confirming that this time, the loan is (...)

The unfulfilled promises of microcredit: some new evidence

by Stéphanie Jacquemont

31 January

Muhammad Yunus, 2006 Nobel Peace Prize laureate and founder of the Grameen Bank, made the promise of a world without poverty thanks to the magic of microfinance and social business . Since the main problem of poor people was, he said, that they are denied access to capital and markets, the way to release them from the grip of poverty was to lend them small amounts of money. The micro-borrowers would then become competitive micro-entrepreneurs in ultimately rewarding markets. Furthermore, (...)

Declaration of Social Movements Assembly Porto Alegre (RS), Brazil

31 January

We, people of all continents, gathered in the Assembly of the Social Movements during the Thematic Social Forum Capitalist Crisis and Social and Environmental Justice, fight against the causes of a systemic crisis expressed as the economic, financial, political, food, and environmental crisis, that puts at risk the survival of humankind. Decolonizing oppressed peoples and confronting imperialism is the main challenge of the social movements of all over the world.

The Togolese migrants - largest donors in Togo

by Samir Abi

30 January

This article reviews the findings of a study we conducted in the last half of 2011 on remittances of Togolese migrants especially those living in Germany. On the last ten years the migration is the social subject that has gained importance over the world. It has altogether economical, political and social and humanitarian implications and important consequences on the lives of millions of people on the planet. In 2006, in his inaugural address at the first High Level Dialogue on (...)

For Greece default is the only option

by Costas Lapavitsas

27 January

Negotiations to reduce Greek debt have been suspended after no agreement could be reached last week. At some point in the near future Greece seems certain to default on its obligations. But the drama surrounding the talks in Athens, Berlin and Paris shows that there will be nothing co-operative about Greek default. It is a ruthless contest dominated by the so-called troika: the European Union, the European Central Bank, and the International Monetary Fund. At every turn the interests and (...)

Zombie banks are dragging Ireland into the ground

by Nick Dearden

25 January

Just like many African nations, Ireland’s debts must be cancelled or a ’financial bomb’ will go off in its most deprived communities Activists more accustomed to campaigning against the debts of countries like Zimbabwe, Egypt, Ecuador and Indonesia were instead outside the Irish embassy this morning. Dressed as zombies, we hoped to shed some light on the so-called "zombie banks" whose debts continue to drain resources from an Irish public sector that is being slashed to the bone. Ireland’s (...)

Morocco : 32 years in prison for Agadil and his comrades

by Attac/Cadtm Maroc

23 January

January 19, 2012, the Court of appeal of Safi gave unfair judgments against several protest activists of the movement of Safi (called 1 August prisoners). Among them, our comrade Abdeljalil Agadil, Member of ATTACCADTM Morocco and the movement of February 20 (M20), the sentences are as follows: 1. Hicham Tani, a. Agadil, Ali Taâban and El Mehdi Ghiwam: 4 years imprisonment 2. Amine Abou Al Iddam, Omar Martab, Yassin Al Mahili, Abdelkarim Koundi, Abdelkader Al fidadi, Adil Zaid and (...)

Reflections on the current social forums process

by Gustave Massiah

23 January

Presentation by Gustave Massiah International Council, Dhaka, 23rd November 2011 This paper does not intend to provide an exhaustive analysis of the relationship between the processes of the WSF and the changing global situation, rather it will put forward some reflections on the subject. In order to do this I will begin with the events associated with the social forums process that we became aware of at the WSF in Dakar in February 2011, and those that are planned for 2012, in advance of (...)

The International Context of Global Outrage (5/5)

Indignadas and Indignados of the World, Unite !

by Eric Toussaint

22 January

The future of the Arab spring and the Indignados and Occupy Wall Street movements is very difficult to foresee. The Tunisian and Egyptian uprisings are likely to lead to a transition similar to those that ensued in Latin America, the Philippines and Korea with the end of dictatorships in the 1980s, or in South Africa in the 1990s and in several sub-Saharan African States: with the stabilization of a neo-liberal bourgeois regime. Today is a different era, the Muslim world presents very (...)

The urgency of an independant women’s movement against debt and austerity measures

by Sonia Mitralias

22 January

Why have an independent women’s movement against the debt and austerity measures in Greece? Because the debt crisis and the subsequent austerity measures affect us women first, in every aspect of our lives. So if we women don’t organise ourselves to resist, no one else will do it for us … But why do the debt crisis and the austerity measures affect women more especially? Because neo-liberal austerity during the debt crisis is aimed particularly at what is left of the welfare (...)