Alternatives

The Debt System - book review

17 December 2019 - by Phil Armstrong

The Debt System argues that international debt is a system of exploitation of poorer countries, which should be regarded as illegitimate, finds Phil Armstrong This book tells a story of exploitation and the use of indebtedness by western powers to enrich themselves at the expense of other (...)
“Historic process continues at the UN: This week states enter substantive negotiations of the text of a binding treaty on transnational corporations and other business enterprises with respect to human rights”

18 October 2019 - by Stop corporate impunity

Historic process continues at the UN: This week states enter substantive negotiations of the text of a binding treaty on transnational corporations and other business enterprises with respect to human rights 14 October 2019, Geneva: The United Nations (UN) Inter-governmental Working Group (...)
South African Special Economic Zones : History of Limited Successes

8 October 2019 - by Eric Toussaint, Patrick Bond, Ishmael Lesufi, Lisa Thompson

Given both short- and longer-term trends in the world and South African economies, there is a danger of government and society placing inordinate hopes in what are variously termed Export Processing Zones, Industrial Development Zones and Special Economic Zones (SEZs), as sources of economic (...)
ReCommonsEurope: Manifesto for a New Popular Internationalism in Europe

26 May 2019 - by Eric Toussaint, Esther Vivas , Catherine Samary, Costas Lapavitsas, Stathis Kouvelakis, Tijana Okic, Nathan Legrand, Alexis Cukier, Jeanne Chevalier, Yayo Herrero

This text is the short version of the “Manifesto for a New Popular Internationalism in Europe”, which was published on 21 March 21 2019 in English, French and Spanish. This Manifesto has been drawn up by a group of activists and researchers from a dozen or so countries in Europe who wish to (...)
Municipalities and citizens movement defeat anti-democratic EU directive

24 April 2019 - by CADTM, Collective, Corporate Europe Observatory, ACiDe

Trade unions and other social movements, city councilors, municipalities, regional councils and even some governments can now claim victory over a proposal tabled by the European Commission in January 2017. The proposed Notification Procedure directive would have given the Commission veto (...)
ReCommonsEurope Manifesto: a left-wing initiative in Europe

8 April 2019 - by Eric Toussaint

While the campaign for the European elections on 26 May 2019 draws very little interest, the initiative launched by ReCommonsEurope with its ‘Manifesto for a new popular internationalism in Europe’ is on to a promising start. The text was drafted over some twelve months by sixteen people from six (...)
Manifesto for a new popular internationalism in Europe

21 March 2019 - by Eric Toussaint, Esther Vivas , Catherine Samary, Costas Lapavitsas, Stathis Kouvelakis, Tijana Okic, Nathan Legrand, Alexis Cukier, Jeanne Chevalier, Yayo Herrero

The ReCommons Europe Manifesto has been drawn up by a group of researchers and activists from a dozen or so countries in Europe who wish to propose a plan to be carried out by the radical left forces that want to create the conditions for social change in the interests of the majority of the (...)
Venezuela: Suspend Debt Repayments and Create an Emergency Humanitarian Fund

11 March 2019 - by Eric Toussaint

There is no doubt that Donald Trump’s policies, those of the Lima group and the European powers who seek to impose the usurper Juan Guaidó as President of Venezuela and do not hesitate to interfere in order to succeed, must be opposed. As usual, Washington and its allies are announcing a (...)
Battling bankers: grassroots insights on financial power

14 February 2019 - by Transnational Institute

Three inspiring activists — from Spain, UK and Kenya — share their experiences of taking on bankers and the lessons and insights from their ongoing struggles. This essay is part of the Transnational Institute’s “State of Power 2019” report. Worldwide, countless activists are engaged in (...)
Gilets jaunes (yellow vests): learning from history and acting now

11 December 2018 - by Eric Toussaint

Some consider that if you are involved in a movement against a tax (supposed, in theory at least, to redistribute wealth) rather than for higher wages, say (in the broad sense, including social security), you are part of a right-wing movement. This is not so: many revolutionary movements (...)
Debt & Democracy in Newham: A Citizen audit of LOBO loans

4 December 2018 - by Research For Action

Executive Summary A dramatic withdrawal of central government funding in the last decade has exposed the crisis in local government. Austerity measures are forcing closures of youth centres and libraries, reducing bin collection and increasing council tax; the cuts are also forcing homeless (...)
Facing the left-wing challenge in the European Union

22 November 2018 - by Eric Toussaint

It is shocking to see that the right-wing government in power in Italy since Summer 2018 refuses to reduce the budgetary deficit while so-called left-wing governments bow to the constraints of austerity. It is now, when the peoples of the Eurozone are ever more disgusted by the policies imposed (...)
Summary of The Debt System A History of Sovereign Debts and their Repudiation

10 October 2018 - by Víctor Manuel Isidro Luna

The book The Debt System. A History of Sovereign Debts and their Repudiation will be published later in 2018 by Haymarket in Chicago https://www.haymarketbooks.org/books/1234-the-debt-system . The original French edition has been published in novembre 2017 in Paris (...)
The Challenges for the Left in Europe and the Eurozone

24 September 2018 - by Eric Toussaint

As from May 2010 the question of the debt became a central concern for Greece and for the rest of the Eurozone . The first programme imposed by the Troika provoked a brutal increase in Greek public debt. This was also the case in various forms in Ireland (2010), Portugal (2011), Spain (2012) (...)
Crisis after crisis: Why financial sector reform is not enough – A Post-Capitalist Alternative

18 September 2018 - by Walden Bello

It is now clear that financial crises are not discrete events but are linked phenomena that have been unleashed on the globe ever since the financial markets were liberalized during the Reagan-Thatcher era in the early 1980’s. To take just the three most prominent crashes, surplus capital that (...)
Once upon a time there was a popular government that wanted to do away with the export-oriented extractivist model

22 August 2018 - by Eric Toussaint, Damien Millet

Large popular mobilizations resulted in the creation of self-organized committees in the neighbourhoods, workplaces, universities and several higher education schools; this has led to the constitution of a people’s government. It has just held its first meeting. In this government, the women and (...)
Solidarity & support Call - Toward international organizations and activists advocating for freedom and people’s rights

20 July 2018 - by ATTAC/CADTM Maroc

“RIF Hirak” prisoners in Morocco are facing undeserved sentences Let’s expand the international solidarity until the drop of adjudications and their release. The Appeal Court of Casablanca stated on Tuesday, 26 June 2018, heavy sentences against the leaders and activists of the popular and (...)
In Uganda, unions are helping to drive transport workers into decent work

10 July 2018 - by Diana Taremwa Karakire

Three years ago, Samuel Mugisha almost quit his job. As the driver of a motorbike taxi (known locally as a boda-boda) in the Ugandan capital of Kampala, rampant police harassment was having a huge, negative impact on his daily earnings. But today, Samuel is thriving as a member of the (...)
Can union organising help save Nigeria’s textile industry?

2 July 2018 - by Ismail Bello, Otas Belinda

Trade Unions in Transformation: A Case Study of the National Union of Textile, Garment and Tailoring Workers of Nigeria Funke Omoniyi Johnson is the founder of Mama Tee Fashion and Saidat Taiwo Oshodi is the proud owner of Sai Tai Enterprises Nigeria Limited. They are both self-employed (...)
Patrice Lumumba in Brussels : a square against forgetting

27 June 2018 - by Jérôme Duval, Robin Delobel

For more than 10 years associations had been demanding that a public square be named after the assassinated former Congo Prime Minister in Belgium’s capital, Brussels. On 23 April Brussels’ City Council decided by a unanimous vote that a public square would be named after Patrick Lumumba, as (...)
[Film] The Audit. An Enquiry into Greek Debt

20 June 2018 - by CADTM, ZinTV

18 June 2015: the Truth Committee on Greek Debt presented a preliminary report while negotiations between the newly elected Greek government and European Institutions made the headlines across the media. The Committee’s findings were that the whole of the Greek public debt was unsustainable and (...)
How to Socialize the Banking Sector

14 June 2018 - by Eric Toussaint, Patrick Saurin

Because capitalists have demonstrated just how far they are willing to go, taking risks (risks whose consequences they refuse to be held accountable for) and committing crimes for the sole purpose of increasing their profits, because their activities regularly result in heavy costs borne by (...)
What measures should a popular government take towards banks?

11 June 2018 - by Eric Toussaint, Patrick Saurin, Jeanne Chevalier

Economic heterodoxy and the programmes of deliquescent social democratic parties lack a structured project for the constitution of an alternative banking system. To remedy this, this contribution attempts to move towards a shared, coherent and operational proposal for an organizational plan for (...)
Save the date! The CADTM’s Summer Days will take place on 7, 8 and 9 September 2018

28 May 2018 - by CADTM

The Committee for the Abolition of Illegitimate Debt will held its 2018 Summer Days at La Marlagne, Namur, on September 7, 8 & 9. The CADTM’s Summer Days will start on the evening of Friday 7 September in La Marlagne and will carry on in festive and militant mood on Saturday 8 and (...)
The Egyptian Network for the Abolition of Debt and the Right to Equitable Development (ENADED)

8 May 2018 - by CADTM, ENADED

Today, as capitalism has an increasing tendency to globalize all aspects of human life, our struggle must be globalized too. It is essential to develop networking strategies with other organizations of the same spheres of struggles. Capitalism has led to more and more significant forms of (...)