The 2nd summer university of CADTM Europe, the highlight of the year, was held from Friday 1st to Sunday 3rd July at Wépion (Belgium) and was a great success with over 300 participants, including the sun.
This moment was important to look back upon past, and forward to coming, events as well as our responses and analyses, in a relaxed atmosphere.
The diversity of discussed issues (European crisis, environmental debt, neocolonialism, feminist struggles, etc.) and guest speakers met all expectations.
In our first summer university (2009) we had developed a collective analysis about the global crisis of capitalism and the resistances and alternatives which could be opposed. As in 2009, and even more so, the 2nd summer university of CADTM Europe gave us an opportunity to examine the development of the international crisis and build a much needed response against the debt and austerity measures at a European level. Indeed, with the help of the IMF
IMF
International Monetary Fund
Along with the World Bank, the IMF was founded on the day the Bretton Woods Agreements were signed. Its first mission was to support the new system of standard exchange rates.
When the Bretton Wood fixed rates system came to an end in 1971, the main function of the IMF became that of being both policeman and fireman for global capital: it acts as policeman when it enforces its Structural Adjustment Policies and as fireman when it steps in to help out governments in risk of defaulting on debt repayments.
As for the World Bank, a weighted voting system operates: depending on the amount paid as contribution by each member state. 85% of the votes is required to modify the IMF Charter (which means that the USA with 17,68% % of the votes has a de facto veto on any change).
The institution is dominated by five countries: the United States (16,74%), Japan (6,23%), Germany (5,81%), France (4,29%) and the UK (4,29%).
The other 183 member countries are divided into groups led by one country. The most important one (6,57% of the votes) is led by Belgium. The least important group of countries (1,55% of the votes) is led by Gabon and brings together African countries.
http://imf.org
and the European Commission, Capital and the leaders of European countries are determined to have the majority of workers and unemployed pay for their crisis.
More than 300 participants and 25 workshops analyzed the crisis that hits EU countries, the US, Japan, Iceland. Was also addressed the new forms of colonialism 50 years after declarations of independence in African countries, current developments in Asia (China, Thailand,…), alternatives implemented in Venezuela, Ecuador and Bolivia. We considered issues related to the defence of the environment, women’s struggles, human rights, the legal foundations for debt cancellation, current social struggles, and many others. Our summer university was also an opportunity to share Share A unit of ownership interest in a corporation or financial asset, representing one part of the total capital stock. Its owner (a shareholder) is entitled to receive an equal distribution of any profits distributed (a dividend) and to attend shareholder meetings. our pedagogical tools and practices.
You will soon find below, the reports of the workshops in various forms (slide shows, mp3, videos ...) and photos. |
Interviews réalisées par Chris Den Hond au cours de l’université d’été
Friday 1st July
| 9.30-11.00 - Welcome of the participants | |
| 11.00-12.30 -Opening Plenary
With Eric Toussaint (president of CADTM Belgium), Sonia Mitralias (CADTM Greece)
| |
| Lunch | |
| 14.30-16.30 : parallel workshops | |
| Public debt in France and Belgium
With Pascal Franchet (CADTM France), Olivier Bonfond (CADTM Belgium)
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| Ecological debt : global approach
With Eric De Ruest (CADTM Belgium), Jean Gadrey (ATTAC France)
| |
| Why should we still be feminist today?
With Céline Caudron, the group "Féminismes" of CADTM Belgium, Khadija Ounchif (Solidarity association with arab women), Laure Jouteaux (Osez le Féminisme, Belgique), Monika Karbowska (CADTM France) |
FR |
| Island, Ireland : from heaven to hell with the financial markets
With Yvette and Mike Krolikowski (CADTM France), Andy Storey (UCD Dublin), Jerome Duval (Patas Arriba/CADTM Spain)
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| Which financing for which development ?
With CADTM, Gérard Karlhausen (CNCD, National Center for Cooperation to Developpement, Belgium), Virginie de Romanet (CADTM Belgique)
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| Break | |
| 17.00-18.30 : parallel workshops | |
| Let us clip the wings of vulture funds
Vulture funds Vulture fund Investment funds who buy, on the secondary markets and at a significant discount, bonds once emitted by countries that are having repayment difficulties, from investors who prefer to cut their losses and take what price they can get in order to unload the risk from their books. The Vulture Funds then pursue the issuing country for the full amount of the debt they have purchased, not hesitating to seek decisions before, usually, British or US courts where the law is favourable to creditors. ! With Nick Dearden (Jubilee Debt Campaign, UK), Renaud Vivien (CADTM Belgium)
| |
| Alternatives implemented in Venezuela, Ecuador and Bolivia
With Eric Toussaint (CADTM Belgium), Gonzalo Gomez (Aporrea.org, Marea Socialista), Manuel Sutherland (Asociación latinoamericana de Economistas Marxistas-ALEM, CADTM), Paulino Nunez (CADTM Venezuela) |
FR-ESP |
| China, big winner of the crisis ?
With Jean Sanuk and Danielle Sabai
| |
| String game on debt
Pedagogical tool |
FR |
| The United States public debt
With Daniel Munevar (CADTM AYNA) |
FR-ENG-ESP |
| Lunch | |
| 20.00 : Discussion on arabs revolutions | FR-ENG-ESP |
Saturday 2nd July
| 9.30-12.30 : parallel workshops | |
| Debt crisis in Europe
With Pascal Franchet (CADTM France), Darius Zalega (journalist with Monde diplomatique, member of CADTM Poland), Giorgos Mitralias (CADTM Greece), Nick Dearden (Jubilee Debt Campaign, UK)
| |
| Asia (Bangladesh, Thailand, ...) and public debt of Japan
With Jean Sanuk, Danielle Sabai, Daniel Munevar (CADTM AYNA)
| |
| Ill-gotten gains
With Claude Quémar (CADTM France), Thomas Borrel (SURVIE), André Rothenbühler (Action Place financière Suisse)
| |
| World Social Forum ? And after
With Olivier Bonfond (CADTM Belgium), Monica Karbowska, Josie Riffaud (Via Campesina)) |
FR |
| Sudestan
Pedagogical tool on debt |
FR |
| Lunch | |
| 14.30-16.30 : parallel workshops | |
| Alternatives to debt crisis in Europe
With Eric Toussaint (CADTM Belgium), Jean-Marie Harribey (ATTAC France)
| |
| Lumumba and Sankara: revolutions in the past and social movement in the present
With Antoine Souef (SURVIE), Bruno Jaffré (author of a biography of Thomas Sankara), Pauline Imbach (CADTM Belgium/Collectif Mémoires coloniales) |
FR |
| Instrumentalisation and recuperation of the feminine and feminist Movements by the International institutions
With Stéphanie Treillet (Master of conference, IUFM-Paris XII Créteil, NPA), Group Féminismes of CADTM Belgium |
FR |
| Land grabbing and plundering exploitation of natural resources
Emmanuelle Breiner, Josie Riffaud (Via Campesina) |
FR-ESP |
| The need to file a suit against the WB
World Bank WB The World Bank was founded as part of the new international monetary system set up at Bretton Woods in 1944. Its capital is provided by member states’ contributions and loans on the international money markets. It financed public and private projects in Third World and East European countries. It consists of several closely associated institutions, among which : 1. The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD, 189 members in 2017), which provides loans in productive sectors such as farming or energy ; 2. The International Development Association (IDA, 159 members in 1997), which provides less advanced countries with long-term loans (35-40 years) at very low interest (1%) ; 3. The International Finance Corporation (IFC), which provides both loan and equity finance for business ventures in developing countries. As Third World Debt gets worse, the World Bank (along with the IMF) tends to adopt a macro-economic perspective. For instance, it enforces adjustment policies that are intended to balance heavily indebted countries’ payments. The World Bank advises those countries that have to undergo the IMF’s therapy on such matters as how to reduce budget deficits, round up savings, enduce foreign investors to settle within their borders, or free prices and exchange rates. and the IMF! With Renaud Vivien (CADTM Belgique), Jérôme Duval (Patas arriba/CADTM Espagne)
| |
| 17.00-18.30 : Plenary | |
| Mobilizations against the debt and austerity measures in Europe
Jean-Marie Harribey (ATTAC France), Andrej Hunko (député Die Linke, Achen) Allemagne, Darius Zalega (Pologne), Esther Vivas (Gauche anticapitaliste, Catalogne), Giorgos Mitralias (CADTM Grèce), Giorgos Galanix (Coalition of Resistances, UK), Eric Toussaint (CADTM Belgique)
| |
| Lunch | |
| 20.00 : Music! Party time | |
Sunday 3rd July
| 9.30-12.30 : parallel workshops | |
| Impact of austerity measures on women. Feminist alternatives to debt
With Monika Karbowska, Sonia Mitralias (CADTM Greece), Christine Vanden Daelen (CADTM Belgium), Judith Morva (economist, coordinator of Le Monde Diplomatique in Hungary)
| |
| From independence to political sovereignty : ALBA, Bank of the South
With Daniel Munevar (CADTM AYNA), Franck Gaudichaud(France Amérique latine, co-author of Le Volcan latino-américain)
| |
| Freedom of movement for people: a fundamental right, what European policies?
With France Arets (spokeperson of the Collective for Resistance to the Close Centers for Aliens - CRACPE), Olivier Stein (Progress Law), Benoit Vander Meerscheen |
FR |
| Legal arguments to cancel public debts
With Renaud Vivien (CADTM Belgique)
| |
| World Bank and « green funds »
With Jérémie Cravatte (CADTM Belgium), Nicolas Sersiron (CADTM France), Eric De Ruest (CADTM Belgique-GDE)
| |
| Lunch | |
| 14.30-16.30 : Plenary | |
| For a Europe based on solidarity
With Myriam Bourgy (CADTM Belgium), Samir Abi (ATTAC-CADTM Togo, member of the coordination of CADTM Africa network)
| |
Thematic Axis
We propose you various thematic axis according to your wishes, expectations and centres of interest Interest An amount paid in remuneration of an investment or received by a lender. Interest is calculated on the amount of the capital invested or borrowed, the duration of the operation and the rate that has been set. ,..!
Axis « Debt and austerity in the North »
Saturday Sunday |
Public debt in France and BelgiumAxis « Getting out of colonialism! »
Saturday Sunday |
Axis « Ecological debt »
Saturday |
Axis « International law, an instrument in our struggles »
Saturday Sunday |
Axis « Feminist struggles »
Saturday Sunday |
Other articles in English by CADTM (98)
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Madrid Manifesto against Illegitimate Debt and Vulture Funds
26 April, by CADTM
Full version & Execcutive summary
Africa : the debt trap and how to get out of it27 March, by CADTM
Political situation in Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, microcredit, IMF
Success of the 9th CADTM South Asia seminar in Colombo (Sri Lanka)21 December 2022, by CADTM , Maxime Perriot
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Financing the 30x 30 agenda for the Oceans: Debt for Nature swaps should be rejected
16 December 2022, by CADTM , Collective
Declaration / Statement
Why the CADTM disputes the “Swapping public debt for climate action" proposal14 December 2022, by CADTM
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Colombo Declaration
4 December 2022, by CADTM
Sign on statement
Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO): 19 years is enough2 December 2022, by CADTM , Collective , GRAIN , Friends of the Earth
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CADTM South Asia workshop
25 November 2022, by CADTM
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The CADTM participates in the European Summer University 2022, in Mönchengladbach, from 17 to 21 August
17 August 2022, by CADTM
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Mexico: Success for the CADTM international network
28 May 2022, by CADTM
Also in this section
-
3rd CADTM Europe Summer University
30 June 2013 - CADTM -
International Citizen debt Audit Network
21 June 2013 - -
International Debt Observatory
21 May 2013 - -
Assembly of Social Movements
21 May 2013 - -
Come to London. Austerity Protest and Conference 20/21 Oct
20 September 2012 - Coalition of Resistance
-
Real Peace in Ukraine Means Ending Russian Invasion and US-EU Neocolonial Debt
1 July - Blanca Missé -
The Supreme Court Doesn’t Have the Final Say on Student Debt
21 June - Matt Bruenig -
Next Time, Dammit, Just Default
12 June - James K. Galbraith -
The Debt Deal Is a Tragedy
31 May - James K. Galbraith -
Violence against women*: a systemic issue
30 November 2022 - CADTM International
CADTM
COMMITTEE FOR THE ABOLITION OF ILLEGITIMATE DEBT
8 rue Jonfosse
4000 - Liège- Belgique
00324 60 97 96 80
info@cadtm.org
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