Committee for the Abolition of Illegitimate Debt

The Autumn Meetings of CADTM Europe will occur on October 4, 5 and 6 October 2024. As of 2023, the venue will be the Simenon Youth Hostelin Liège, Belgium.

The 2024 edition will use different formats: debates, workshops, interactive activities, and book presentations. It will focus on several issues: the rise of the Far Right, the debt crisis in the South, China and 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. as creditors. It will also consider the ecological debt and food sovereignty.

Food sovereignty, which is the issue focused on in the next issue of the CADTM’s publication in French, Les Autres Voix de la Planète (The Other Voices of the Planet), will be central during those autumn meetings. We will present this recent publication and invite activists involved in struggles and the development of alternatives in this field.

Another important publication of CADTM International will come out in 2025 and provide updated information on the scale of debts in 2024, but this edition will look more like a book with a substantial narrative about the state of the world and of inequalities. It will be announced during those meetings.

The CADTM team is working hard for the 2024 edition to succeed.

In 2023, many of you turned out for an event that motivated us for what’s to come.

Detailed programme:

Friday 4 October

6 pm – Welcome
7 pm: Screening of the documentary “Les âmes fêlées” by Thérèse Di Campo
Synopsis: In the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo, the North Kivu region has been ravaged for over 30 years by war and the widespread plundering of its mineral resources. This extremely complex war, with some 120 armed groups operating in the region, is estimated to have claimed nearly 6 million lives. In Goma, the capital of North Kivu, a single neuropsychiatric centre survives without state support, providing psychological care to survivors of the violence.

Saturday 5 October

9–10:30 am: Fighting the far-right in Argentina
Since Javier Milei came to power with his chainsaw and Omnibus bill, the country has been undergoing profound and unprecedented austerity, while the economic and social rights of the working classes, and specifically of women, are under attack as never before. Public health and education are being dismantled. What kind of mobilisations are taking place in Argentina in response? What hope is there for the future in the face of extreme austerity?
With : Alicia Aguirre Camargo & Federico Sibaja

9–10:30 am: China, BRICS, and the African Development Bank: alternatives to 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 Western powers?
The Western powers and their institutions, such as the IMF and the World Bank 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.

, are being challenged by the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa), including China with its New Silk Road. Are the BRICS an alternative to Western imperialism? What about the African Development Bank? What is it really like? And what is the track record of the New Development Bank and the BRICS Monetary Fund?
With : Eric Toussaint, Sushovan Dhar, Broulaye Bagayoko & Solange Koné

11 a.m.–12:30 p.m.: Debt from a feminist perspective
(Programme to be announced)

11 a.m.–12:30 p.m.: Neo-colonialism under the guise of ecology
Capitalism and imperialism are very comfortable with the ecological emergency. Land grabbing on the African continent under the guise of “CO2 storage," the commodification of these same lands to enable big business to continue polluting, and the eviction of communities—capitalism uses all the problems it creates to make a profit Profit The positive gain yielded from a company’s activity. Net profit is profit after tax. Distributable profit is the part of the net profit which can be distributed to the shareholders. , and uses ecological arguments to the detriment of the well-being of populations and living organisms.
With Lora Verheecke, Régis Essono, David Kothoko & Rebecca Rogli

2 – 3:30 pm: History, illegitimate debt: understanding the situation in Haiti
During the Autumn Meetings, we’ll be delighted to welcome Camille Chalmers, a Haitian member of PAPDA, a CADTM member organisation. He will talk about the ransom for Haitian independence, the archetypal illegitimate debt, the current situation and the reasons for hope for the population. For the economist, the issue of reparations for the crimes committed against the Haitian people is a matter of justice. It constitutes an essential lever for overcoming the culture of impunity.
With Camille Chalmers

2 – 3:30 pm: Spotlight on struggles by the youth in Belgium
We want to benefit from this autumn meeting to shed light on the struggles waged by young people in Belgium, particularly from anti-racist and decolonial positions. The idea of this round-table workshop is to give the floor to various collectives active in Liège and Brussels so that they can 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. their analyses of the militant world, their experiences of struggle, and the challenges they face. This pooling of experiences and activist practices will also be an opportunity to engage in a critical collective reflection on the major issues running through the activist field, including the use of social networks as a new medium of struggle, the question of intersectionality, and the invisibilization of voices from the margins.

Discussions will then continue in the booths open to the public throughout Saturday afternoon, where invited collectives will be represented.

The first collective confirmed is the Comité Ujamaa (a pan-African collective promoting a radical decolonial vision at the Université Libre de Bruxelles, which recently led a campaign against the debt system).

4-6 pm: Fighting far-right radicalization: for a genuine anti-racist and anti-fascist left
The rise of far-right parties and the extreme right-wing radicalization of traditional right-wing discourse, the complicity - active or passive—of Western actors with the colonial occupation of Palestine by the Zionist state and the repression of the pro-Palestinian movement, the reinforcement of security and anti-migration policies and the control of racialized people, the resurgence of anti-gender discourse ranging from anti-feminism to transphobia... The events of recent years have highlighted the extent of conservative identity-based nationalism and state racism underlying the Western model of liberal democracy.

In the face of these observations, critical voices are pointing to the shortcomings of the partisan left, which is struggling to put forward a genuinely anti-racist and anti-fascist project capable of countering the ideas of the far right, and calling on it to think through its blind spots. What kind of self-criticism can we make of the Left’s project(s)? How can we revise it, particularly in light of the contributions of decolonial, antifascist, feminist and queer struggles? How do our reading grids condition our struggle strategies and their potential? How can we organise ourselves and build bridges between spaces of struggle?

This discussion will provide an opportunity for sincere collective reflection on these questions from partisan, trade-union and militant points of view, to strengthen common strategies.
Already confirmed speakers: Philippe Poutou & Eric Toussaint

8 pm: Soirée in solidarity with Palestinians
The soirée will be an opportunity to express our support and solidarity with the Palestinian people in the face of the genocide being waged by the Israeli government. Collectives active in the struggle for self-determination here will be invited. Proceeds from the evening will be donated to Palestinian collectives in Belgium.

Sunday, 6 October

9:30 - 11 am New international debt crisis
(Programme to be announced)
With Jean Marc Bikoko, Amitabha Sarkar and Agnès Metougou

9.30 - 11 am Presentation of the latest AVP, CADTM’s magazine: Debt and food sovereignty

The latest issue of CADTM’s magazine “Les autres voix de la planète”, due to be published in September, will be presented at the Autumn Meetings. It features contributions from around the world on the issue of debt, food sovereignty and related struggles. Necolonialism and the food crisis, the impasse of export crops, European peasant movements with a focus on Belgium: this new magazine focuses on issues that are more essential than ever in the current context of climate disruption.

11:30 am - 1 pm Plenary session on Food sovereignty and international solidarity
Keeping with our new magazine, the closing plenary of the Autumn Meetings will be devoted to the vital issue of food sovereignty. With guests from the South, we’ll discuss peasant social movements in India, the food situation in Morocco and land grabbing in Madagascar. The CADTM believes that it is urgent to work together on an alternative food sovereignty project that makes a radical break with the neoliberal policies that are destroying agriculture and ecosystems in the South while sacrificing the food security of millions of people.

With Omar Aziki, Sushovan Dhar, Francesca Moontervedi, Mamy Rokotondrainbe, Solangé Koné

Practical information, accommodation and food options

Where to stay?

Youth Hostel, Auberge de jeunesse de Liège, Rue Georges Simenon 2, 4020 Liège.

WHEN?
October 4, 5 and 6, 2024.

OPTION A
2 nights in a shared room with 2 breakfasts (Saturday and Sunday), 1 lunch (Saturday ) and 2 dinners (Friday and Saturday)

REGISTRATION: 50€ / 25€ for students or low-wage earners

OPTION B
1 night in a shared room with 1 breakfast (Sunday), 1 lunch (Saturday) and 1 dinner (Saturday)

REGISTRATION : 25€ / 15€ student price or low-wage earners

OPTION C
Only take part in workshops for free.

OPTION D
Catering on site:
Lunch €5
Evening meal €10

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