Committee for the Abolition of Illegitimate Debt

 1. Introduction

Since 2013, ATTAC CADTM Morocco and CADTM Belgium 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. the Joint International Secretariat (JIS) of the CADTM International network. During the World Assembly (WA) of the CADTM network that was held between 27 and 30 April 2016 in Tunis, Françoise Mulfinger, independent expert commissioned to evaluate the feasibility of creating a shared International administration presented (in French) a largly positive analysis. As a result, the mandate delivred to ATTAC CADTM Morocco and CADTM Belgium by the WA was renewed for the period 2016-2021. At the WA held in Dakar in November 2021 a comprehensive report on the tasks and activities of the JIS was presented and the ongoing structure of the JIS was confirmed for the next five years to 2026. We hereby present the work of CADTM Belgium in the JIS framework and the International Network. This report pairs with the complementary report by ATTAC CADTM Morocco that is consultable here: https://www.cadtm.org/Assessments-of-the-tasks-performed-by-ATTAC-CADTM-Morocco-for-the-network-s

Table showing shared tasks

 2. Missions, strategy and modus operandis of CADTM Belgium

Our Main missions are to promote the emancipation of peoples through the struggle for the abolition of the “debt system” and to work for the establishment of ecologically sustainable alternatives that liberate humanity from all forms of oppression: social, patriarchal, neo-colonial, racial.

The CADTM Belgium approaches development issues in order to propose alternative strategies for the emancipation of peoples, through the analysis of debt. This emancipation requires the total and unconditional cancellation of illegitimate, odious, illegal and unsustainable public debts. Aware that other measures need also to be taken, the CADTM Belgium, together with its network partners and collaborators, promotes alternatives that respect human rights and nature’s rights.

We approach debt as a political and economic mechanism that has direct impact on populations. We focus on the links between debt in the North and debt in the South and analyse the ’debt system’ as a whole. We highlight the mechanisms of domination and exploitation that govern public debts as well as illegitimate individual debts, enslaving people as collective subjects and individuals (indebted peasants, families evicted from their homes by banks, women forced into the micro-credit system in the South, over-indebted students...). The CADTM Belgium promotes a new spirit of international solidarity between peoples, to challenge the traditional North/South patterns and thus to promote popular mobilisation for the cancellation of illegitimate debt in both the South and the North. CADTM Belgium considers popular mobilisation to be the preferred way to fulfil its mission. To mobilise citizens and challenge the political authorities, the CADTM Belgium relies on its expertise linked to the work done by its network in the South, its working groups and its various collaborations.

The strategy to achieve our objective of global popular emancipation rests on seven pillars:

1. research, analysis and development;
2. stregnthening the CADTM network, civil society and the alter-globalist movement;
3. training and raising awareness in the populations, the NGOs and social movements;
4. mobilizing the populations, the NGOs and social movements;
5. informing the media;
6. direct appeals to political structures and representatives;
7. taking position – result of the success of the previously mentioned actions.

The virtuous circle supporting the CADTM’s global strategy describes the interrelationships and logics between the different fields of intervention of the organisation.

 3. International classes

2016, CADTM Belgium organised international preparation classes in 2016 in Amsterdam from 14 to 16 November with about 30 participants. The Main issue was the doctrine of odious debt Odious Debt According to the doctrine, for a debt to be odious it must meet two conditions:
1) It must have been contracted against the interests of the Nation, or against the interests of the People, or against the interests of the State.
2) Creditors cannot prove they they were unaware of how the borrowed money would be used.

We must underline that according to the doctrine of odious debt, the nature of the borrowing regime or government does not signify, since what matters is what the debt is used for. If a democratic government gets into debt against the interests of its population, the contracted debt can be called odious if it also meets the second condition. Consequently, contrary to a misleading version of the doctrine, odious debt is not only about dictatorial regimes.

(See Éric Toussaint, The Doctrine of Odious Debt : from Alexander Sack to the CADTM).

The father of the odious debt doctrine, Alexander Nahum Sack, clearly says that odious debts can be contracted by any regular government. Sack considers that a debt that is regularly incurred by a regular government can be branded as odious if the two above-mentioned conditions are met.
He adds, “once these two points are established, the burden of proof that the funds were used for the general or special needs of the State and were not of an odious character, would be upon the creditors.”

Sack defines a regular government as follows: “By a regular government is to be understood the supreme power that effectively exists within the limits of a given territory. Whether that government be monarchical (absolute or limited) or republican; whether it functions by “the grace of God” or “the will of the people”; whether it express “the will of the people” or not, of all the people or only of some; whether it be legally established or not, etc., none of that is relevant to the problem we are concerned with.”

So clearly for Sack, all regular governments, whether despotic or democratic, in one guise or another, can incur odious debts. . The situation in Africa, the Arab region, Europe and two Latin American countries, Venezuela and Argentina, were also discussed.

2017, International classes took place in Bamako in November as a complement to a single-gender seminar on microcredit. There were about thirty participants. (See: The Bamako Seminar, The CADTM network reinforces the struggle against illegitimate debt!)

Between 2018 and 2021, international classes gave way to a priority given to regional workshops such as in West Africa, Central Africa, South Asia and Latin America and the Caribbean.

Depending on the evolution of the pandemic, it will have to be seen whether intercontinental CADTM classes will be possible in 2022 or 2023.

 4. Participation in regional workshops

2016:

• Africa: CADTM Belgium participated in the 2^nd CADTM Africa University in Niamey (Niger) in October 2016 by participating in various workshops (See the full account here (in French); Unissons-nous contre les dettes illégitimes !).
• Europe: the CADTM Belgium also took part in commemorating fifteen years since the mobilisations against 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. meeting which took place in Genoa in 2001 (see: Genoa: the fifteenth anniversary of the great demonstrations against the G8 and Berlusconi’s bloody repression). Then in October 2016 CADTM Italy was created.

2017: CADTM Belgium took part in several regional activities in Latin America and the Caribbean, South Asia and Africa.

• Asia: a delegation of three CADTM Belgium members participated in March 2017 in Dakka, capital of Bangladesh, in a CADTM South Asia regional workshop with delegates from Nepal, India, Bangladesh and Japan (See article here: https://www.cadtm.org/Concerted-efforts-in-South-Asia).
• Latin America and the Caribbean: a month and a half later three members of CADTM Belgium took part in an annuel meeting with CADTM Latin America and the Caribbean between 24 April and 1 May 2017 in Bogota (see: CADTM Amérique latine et Caraïbes : Réussite de la sixième rencontre annuelle continentale (in French or Spanish).
• Africa: ATTAC CADTM Morocco was the sole representative du JIS at the Kenya meeting.

2018:

• Asia: In April 2018, CADTM Belgium participated in two activities organised successively in Sri Lanka and India. The first focused on the political and economic situation in South Asian countries and the different micro-credit mechanisms (see: We struggle against illegitimate public and private debt which are at the core of the capitalist system; Colombo Declaration on Illegitimate Debts 7^th CADTM South Asia Workshop and South Asia: New creditors and new forms of debt peonage). The second focused on banking activities and their effects on populations (see: Report on CADTM activities in Sri Lanka and India, 6 - 19 April 2018).
• Europe: CADTM participated in the first Summer University of Social Movements and Solidarities held in Grenoble France in August 2018 (see: Le CADTM milite à l’Université d’été solidaire et rebelle des mouvements sociaux à l’initiative d’Attac et du CRID (in French). Latin
• America and the Caribbean: a primary reunion was held in September with a view to creating a CADTM structure in Mexico (see: https://www.cadtm.org/Mexico-creation-of-a-CADTM-launching-committee). Finally, from 2 to 8 December 2018, numerous activities took place in Puerto Rico as part of a programme developed by a Citizen’s Front for the Audit of the Puerto Rican Debt, together with the CADTM (see: Puerto Rico: Successful Campaign against Illegitimate Debt). The membership of this Citizen’s Front to the international network of the CADTM was validated during the AMR of 2021 in Dakar (Senegal).

2019:

• Africa: from 31 March to 12 April 2019, Eric Toussaint of CADTM Belgium travelled to South Africa with Sushovan Dhar of CADTM India to participate in an alternative meeting as a counterpoint to the BRICS BRICS The term BRICS (an acronym for Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) was first used in 2001 by Jim O’Neill, then an economist at Goldman Sachs. The strong economic growth of these countries, combined with their important geopolitical position (these 5 countries bring together almost half the world’s population on 4 continents and almost a quarter of the world’s GDP) make the BRICS major players in international economic and financial activities. summit (see: From the BRICS countries to the townships: racial and social segregation continues and South Africa: Resistance and Research for Alternatives to Illegitimate Debt and for Ecosocialism).
• Europe: In opposition to the G7 summit which took place in Biarritz (France) from 24 to 26 August 2019, CADTM Belgium and CADTM France participated with social movements, trade unions and political organisations in a counter-summit held in Hendaye (France) and Irún (Spanish state) (See: Contre-Sommet du G7 : le CADTM poursuit sa lutte pour l’abolition des dettes illégitimes ! (in French) and https://www.cadtm.org/Video-Contre-G7-Eric-Toussaint-Les-luttes-contre-les-dettes-illegitimes-doivent(in French). In September 2019, a two-person delegation from CADTM Belgium travelled to Moscow to participate in a series of University and literary internationalist anti-capitalist conferences opposed to the Putin regime.
• Latin America and the Caribbean: in the framework of the 8^th annual continental meeting of the CADTM Latin American and Caribbean network, CADTM Belgium participated in a Symposium entitled “External Debt: Alternatives for a Sovereign Solution” held at the Parliament in Buenos Aires on 27 November 2019 (see: Argentine : L’audit peut constituer un acte politique d’un pays souverain face à l’opinion publique internationale pour délégitimer la politique du FMI (in French or Spanish).

2020:

• Asia: on 18 and 19 February 2020, the CADTM Belgium participated in the 8^th CADTM South Asia regional workshop organised in Colombo (Sri Lanka). These two days of activities focused on the political and economic situation of the countries in the region, on the new creditors, the debt of large companies and the thorny issue of micro-credits (see: Unitedly we fight against debt and all other oppressions! And In Sri Lanka, Resistance to Private Indebtedness is a Strategic Issue).

2021:

• Europe: the CADTM Belgium co-organised and participated in several activities during the second edition of the Summer University of Social Movements and Solidarities held in Nantes (see: Le CADTM participe à l’Université d’été des mouvements sociaux et des solidarités, à Nantes (in French)).
• Africa: Due to the restrictions linked to the health situation, the CADTM Belgium intervened remotely during the 3^rd University of the CADTM Africa organised in Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo (see: L’audit citoyen des dettes pour identifier et annuler les dettes illégitimes, the programme and the press release (all in French)). CADTM Belgium assisted in the organisation of the seminar “Femmes, dette et microcrédit” (see: Séminaire International - Femmes, dette et microcrédits : enjeux et perspectives dans le contexte du Covid-19 « Les femmes du CADTM veulent porter le taux à 0 % » and « Microcrédit et endettement public : deux Maillons d’un même système qui renforce les inégalités de genre » (both in French or Spanish).

 5. The emission of international appeals and demands at the initiative of the CADTM

Between 2016 and 2019, the CADTM Belgium led a campaign against 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. both in Belgium and internationally. An international appeal was launched in 2017. The CADTM Belgium has multiplied the initiatives around this issue and has obtained important successes: the “Law against the activities of vulture funds” and in 2018 the Belgian Supreme Court announced a decision giving total victory against vulture fund NML Capital. Thus enhancing the credibility of the CADTM International network.

In 2016, the CADTM Belgium also initiated a collective appeal on the theme ‘What is to be Done with the Banks?’

In September-October 2016, CADTM Belgium was directly involved in the drafting of the Oviedo Manifesto, which was supported by 700 elected politicians, including councilors, MPs and MEPs. The Oviedo Manifesto was presented on 19 October 2016 at the Parliament in Madrid. Subsequently, a municipalist front against illegitimate debt was formed at a meeting held in Oviedo 25 to 27 November 2016. CADTM Belgium took an active part in collecting international personality’s signatures (in French, Spanish or Portuguese).

In 2019-2020, CADTM Belgium together with the Basque trade union ELA Emergency Liquidity Assistance
ELA Emergency funds loaned to the private banks by the Eurozone central banks. and the European network EReNSEP launched with other movements the initiative ReCommonsEurope which published an international Manifesto in French, Spanish, English, Portuguese, Catalan, Basque, Serbo-Croat (see: ReCommonsEurope: Manifesto for a New Popular Internationalism in Europe),... Also on the initiative of the CADTM, ReCommonsEurope has published a second manifesto (see: Impact of European policies on the Global South and possible alternatives https://www.cadtm.org/Impact-of-European-policies-on-the-Global-South-and-possible-alternatives ). To draft this second manifesto, CADTM Belgium worked actively with ATTAC CADTM-Morocco, with members of CADTM Africa, with Papda in Haiti, with TNI,...

Participation in the climat justice movement: the CADTM supported the appeal from the popular, social and ecology movements (see in French: pour une mobilisation générale pour le climat et la justice sociale, les 20 et 21 September 2019. See https://fridaysforfuture.org/

In March 2020, the CADTM Belgium, together with the other CADTMs in Europe, also initiated the publication of a Package of common demands on debt and the need for citizens’ control on finance at European level. This document, published in three languages, was developed during 2019 and published on the occasion of the beginning of the 2019-2024 legislature of the European Parliament. It aimed to present the shared findings and common demands of 39 collectives and organisations across Europe on the issue of public and private debts and on the need for real citizen control, both over the means of financing states and the management of public funds, and over banks and other credit institutions.

In 2021, in the face of the international crisis and the pandemic, CADTM Belgium, together with SIP, initiated an important Manifesto “End the system of private patents!” that received large international acclaim: List of the first 360 signatures of people who support the End the Private Patent System Manifesto! #FREECOVIDPATENTS; over 250 organisations from many countries also signed, List of signatory organisations: End the private patent system! For a pharmaceutical industry under popular control and a free, universal and public vaccination system.

Finally, in December 2021, the CADTM Belgium, in the framework of its mission as a member of the SIP, launched an appeal explaining "Why Eurozone countries’ debt to the ECB must be cancelled” This appeal received strong support in different European countries.

 6. Summer Schools and Workshops

The CADTM Europe Summer Schools, like the CADTM Belgium Summer Workshops, are activities that aim to raise awareness and train Belgian citizens and others in alternatives for socially just and environmentally sustainable human development. They pursue the general objective of informing and sensitising civil society, understood in a very broad sense, to the cancellation of the debt, the abandonment of structural adjustment Structural Adjustment Economic policies imposed by the IMF in exchange of new loans or the rescheduling of old loans.

Structural Adjustments policies were enforced in the early 1980 to qualify countries for new loans or for debt rescheduling by the IMF and the World Bank. The requested kind of adjustment aims at ensuring that the country can again service its external debt. Structural adjustment usually combines the following elements : devaluation of the national currency (in order to bring down the prices of exported goods and attract strong currencies), rise in interest rates (in order to attract international capital), reduction of public expenditure (’streamlining’ of public services staff, reduction of budgets devoted to education and the health sector, etc.), massive privatisations, reduction of public subsidies to some companies or products, freezing of salaries (to avoid inflation as a consequence of deflation). These SAPs have not only substantially contributed to higher and higher levels of indebtedness in the affected countries ; they have simultaneously led to higher prices (because of a high VAT rate and of the free market prices) and to a dramatic fall in the income of local populations (as a consequence of rising unemployment and of the dismantling of public services, among other factors).

IMF : http://www.worldbank.org/ policies and the implementation of alternative development policies centered on the universal satisfaction of fundamental rights. Through continuing and popular education, they are also intended to turn participants towards mobilisation. The Main difference between these two events is primarily dimensional.

 7. Meetings of the CADTM International Council and enlarged JIS

The International Council (IC - established at the World Assembly in May 2013) is a coordinating body between the continental structures in which the Joint International Secretariat participates. The International Council has a mandate of 3 years and meets at least once a year. The tasks of the IC include:

• monitoring the work of the network’s continental structures in relation to the evolution of the political context at regional and international levels;
• the strengthening of collaboration between the continental structures of the network on the basis of the actions they have already planned;
• launching the Main lines of action of the CADTM network in the face of the changing political context at regional and international levels;
• overview of the work of the JIS;
• preparing the Worldwide Network Assemblies;
• following up the decisions taken by the Worldwide Network Assemblies.

The International Council (IC) met just after the WA in Tunis in 2016, in November 2017 in Bamako, in the margins of the CADTM Summer Universities and Meetings in Liege (Belgium) on 11-12 September 2018 and 2019, during two days of online meetings on 8-9 December 2020 and on 14 September 2021. With the restrictions linked to the Covid-19 pandemic, the online format was Maintained.

Less restrictive in many respects, this format allowed for more JIS meetings and a wider range of participants, including IC members representing all the continents where the CADTM is present as well as a representative of the Women’s Commission. These meetings took place on 8 April, 1 June, 20 July and 6 December 2021.

 8. The participation of the CADTM Belgium in the coordination of feminist struggles of the international CADTM network

Since 2017, a coordination of feminist struggles of the CADTM network has been established. CADTM Belgium has actively participated in this structure which brings together women active in CADTM in Africa and Europe. An assessment of the coordination of feminist struggles is published separately.

The CADTM Belgium has been strongly involved in feminist mobilisations in recent years, whether during feminist strikes or other important initiatives. Several online conferences have also been organised, the latest of which is : Your debt or your life: a feminist approach to the multidimensional crisis.

 9. The international dimension of the Lundis contre la dette and the Comptoirs de la dette organised by the CADTM Belgium

The CADTM Belgium also organises regular events such as Lundis contre la dette (LCD) in Liege and the Comptoirs de la dette (CDD) in Brussels. More than just conferences, these activities are part of a real work of popular education, created with the activists of the CADTM Belgium and the CADTM international network. Intended as pedagogical, friendly and very open activities, they propose a diversity of formats according to the topic, the objectives to be reached and the speakers. They take the form of political cafés for the presentation of publications or the presence of activists from the international network, assemblies for discussions specifically concerning social movements, animated sessions to raise greater awareness and interaction, video screenings followed by debates or more traditional conferences. The CADTM’s priority and adjacent themes are discussed in relation to current events. Above all, it is a time for meeting, training, informing and sharing, catering for both a new and a regular audience. For the CADTM Belgium, it is also an opportunity to forge links with active persons and organisations. Among others, mention the LCD « A bas le patriarcat et les violences faites aux femmes ! (in French)» on 12 March 2018 as a participation in the International Women’s Day on the 8^th March; the LCD : « Dette & Migrations » (in French) organised, on 8 Janruary 2018, with l’Occupation des Sans-papiers Liege, Emmanuelle Vinois from l’asbl Point d’Appui and Collectif liégeois pour la justice migratoire and « Groupe CADTM Migrations », LCD is implicated in the european movement in defense of migrants’ rights; the LCD 11 March 2019 « En lutte pour un changement en RDC » (in French) in the presence of a La Lucha member; the LCD « Crise du Coronavirus au Nord et au Sud » (in French) on 14 March 2020 with two members of CADTM Belgium and d’Attac CADTM Morocco; not forgetting on 14 June 2021 with LCD « Résistances africaines à la domination néocoloniale » (in French).

 10. Internal international Newsletter

The internal newsletter of the international network reports on the various activities of the CADTM and provides follow-up. It also promotes the strengthening of a “global vision” of the network among its members and regional coordinations.

There was an internal network newsletter in July 2017 and another in January 2018, both produced by CADTM Belgium with the help of ATTAC CADTM Morocco (produced in 3 languages by CADTM Belgium). In 2019, the liaison bulletin was sent at the end of December in French and at the beginning of January 2020 in English and Spanish. There was no international network newsletter in 2020 - 2021. A bulletin will be produced in February 2022 with all the WA documents.

 11. The CADTM website

The CADTM website (https://www.cadtm.org/ ) is Mainly available in four languages (French, English, Spanish and Portuguese). In collaboration with CADTM France, CADTM Belgium assures the technical maintenance on the site and ensures the publication of articles. ATTAC CADTM Morocco is in charge of the CADTM site in Arabic. Finally, a number of CADTM articles are available in Italian, German and Greek.

All visits to the CADTM website (total French, English, Spanish and Portugese sections))

Since 2016, several improvements have been made to the CADTM website:

• conversion of the site to responsive design (adaptation of the site to the size of the display screen) and https (increased security)
• Updates and add-ons:
   ABC de la dette : https://www.cadtm.org/ABC-de-la-dette
   Highlighting the analyses and études produced by the CADTM Belgium

 12. The electronic newsletter

The CADTM electronic bulletin is available in three languages (French, English and Spanish). Accompanied by an editorial, it references the latest articles written by members of the CADTM network as well as a series of external articles published on the CADTM website. The “Events” section also highlights the CADTM’s latest works and the network’s upcoming activities. The latest newsletter is also available on the website.

 13. Regular updates, since October 2017, on Africa

Given the difficulty of accessing documents and information on the African continent, CADTM Belgium is collaborating with ATTAC CADTM Morocco in order to carry out a watch on social-economic document issues, mainly in French. The aim is to regularly send to the members of the network in Africa and to people who want to follow what is happening on the continent a whole series of information and documents at first hand. The letters sent include 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 team press releases, IFI and development bank reports, as well as articles from the African and international press and websites on the issues covered by the network: debt, economies, monetary policies, agriculture and food, microfinance, social situations, health, etc. The objective is to encourage debate and collective analysis.

Because of the success the number of documents sent has continually risen:

• 2017 : 6
• 2018 : 18
• 2019 : 25
• 2020 : 32 (passage to ten day regularity in April)
• 2021 : 33

 14. The CADTM and the social media networks

Although the CADTM network takes a critical view of social networks and, more broadly, of the GAFAM, these tools are nonetheless essential to ensure a large dissemination of our publications and to reach an ever-wider audience, outside of the traditional activist framework. In this respect, the CADTM Belgium administers various pages and groups on Facebook and Twitter.

 15. Educational videos

Since 2012, the CADTM has produced 13 educational videos. They can be found at this address: https://www.cadtm.org/Videos-pedagogiques.

 16. Press releases

All CADTM press releases may be seen here: https://www.cadtm.org/Press-releases

 17. The magazine AVP - Les autres voix de la planète

The CADTM publishes a magazine entitled AVP - Les autres voix de la planète. It examines all debt related themes through articles, analyses, examples... It is published in French only and is available on our website and at CADTM activities in Belgium and France.

AVPs are consultable and telechargable here: https://www.cadtm.org/Revue-Les-autres-voix-de-la-planete, by subscription or purchase.

As from 2022, AVP will be annual.

 18. Books