Committee for the Abolition of Illegitimate Debt

 1. Electoral outcomes and popular movements between July and November 2020

• USA: defeat of Donald Trump on November 3, 2020.
• Bolivia: defeat of the putschist right and victory of the left on 18 October 2020.
• Chile: victory for the popular vote to end the Pinochet constitution on 25 October 2020.
• Brazil: defeat of the Bolsonaro supporters in local elections on 15 November.
• Poland: extraordinary movement, since October 2020, mainly of women, against stricter anti-abortion laws.
• Puerto Rico: Electoral success of a new citizen’s political movement in which the main leader of the CADTM in Puerto Rico participates.

These varied and very recent movements are to be seen in a much larger context:

• Lebanon: general mobilisation since 2019, even in the midst of the pandemic, against government policies.
• Iraq: beginning of October 2019: the movement is non-denominational, but rather an inter-city youth movement outside of party and militia affiliations. Its main demands are political (denunciation of corruption in the ruling class) and social reforms (for social justice and against poverty) and against the presence of foreign forces (Iran and USA).

Africa

• Angola: youth demonstrations against unemployment, corruption and social injustices.
• Mali: popular mobilization that was ended by a military putsch that overthrew the incumbent president.
• Maurice: popular mobilization against pollution and to protect biodiversity
• Namibia: popular mobilization against sexual violence (#SHUTITALLDOWN).
• Nigeria: popular mobilization in October against the murderous violence of army and the police.
• Tanzania, Guinea and Côte d’Ivoire: popular mobilization against election rigging.
• Before these movements and before the pandemic Algeria was already in the throes of popular mobilizations.

In Europe:

• Bulgaria: anti-government mobilisation against corruption.
• Slovenia: demonstrations against the neoliberal, nationalist, racist government led by PM Jansa.
• Hungary: student mobilisation against the privatisation of higher education.
• Belarus: vast mobilisation against the re-election of authoritarian President Loukachenko.
• Greece: anti-fascist demonstration on 7 October 2020 resulting in the condemning of neo-nazi party “Golden Dawn” as a criminal organisation.
• France: strong demonstrations against reforms to the retirement pension system and much more recently, mobilization to refuse legislation to prevent the filming of police officers whilst committing abusive acts of repression.

Asia:

• Thailand: vast student-led demonstrations against the monarchy.
• India: mobilization against the neoliberal and racist policies of PM Modi, especially around the citizenship amendment act. There was a general strike on November 26 and currently a huge mobilization of farmers is rocking North India and Delhi, the national capital.

Latin America:

• Peru: vast youth mobilizations against the current political system and demanding changes in the neoliberal based constitution.
• Guatemala: vast mobilizations , primarily to reject the proposed 2021 budget and calling for the President’s resignation.

And of course, not forgetting the powerful “Black Lives Matter” movement in spring and early summer of 2020 that denounced racism, police repression and the colonial past; it gripped the USA and spread to several European and Latin American countries.

 2. In the working classes

The desire for change is greater, deeper, more profound, and more massive and promising than in the years from 1980 to 2000 (one could even say the period from 1990 to the great world crisis of 2008) but it is not embodied in organized forms allowing the accumulation of experience. It is for this reason that the very numerous popular mobilizations of the last twenty years, or more particularly the last ten years, have not led to successful political experiences.

Nor do these numerous experiences of struggle lead to processes of building organs of (counter) popular power. There are many massive initiatives of self-convened, self-organized mobilisations, but they do not evolve towards processes of construction of representative and sustainable organs of the sectors in struggle (no evolution towards ’soviets’, councils,... popular constituencies,...) even if there are signs of positive developments in this direction (in part of the yellow vests movement, in a phase of the movement in Chile in 2019,...), but also in several countries of the North African and Middle East/Arab region where, during the “Hiraks”, grassroots coordination was set up.

 3. <New debt crisis:

• Public debt crisis that touches primarily the weak links in the chain of debt.

See the series of articles by Milan Rivié and Eric Toussaint :

1. Evolution of the external debt of Developing Countries between 2000 and 2018
2. Menaces sur la dette extérieure des Pays en développement
3. Developing Countries caught in the vice-like grip of indebtedness

The crisis has so far not taken on catastrophic proportions because the central banks of the major economies (the Fed FED
Federal Reserve Officially, Federal Reserve System, is the United States’ central bank created in 1913 by the ’Federal Reserve Act’, also called the ’Owen-Glass Act’, after a series of banking crises, particularly the ’Bank Panic’ of 1907.

FED – decentralized central bank : http://www.federalreserve.gov/ in the United States, the ECB ECB
European Central Bank The European Central Bank is a European institution based in Frankfurt, founded in 1998, to which the countries of the Eurozone have transferred their monetary powers. Its official role is to ensure price stability by combating inflation within that Zone. Its three decision-making organs (the Executive Board, the Governing Council and the General Council) are composed of governors of the central banks of the member states and/or recognized specialists. According to its statutes, it is politically ‘independent’ but it is directly influenced by the world of finance.

https://www.ecb.europa.eu/ecb/html/index.en.html in the Eurozone, the Bank of England in the UK, the Bank of Japan, the Bank of China, etc.) are injecting thousands of billions of dollars, euros, etc. into the financial system.

• Private debt crisis affecting hundreds of millions of people from the working classes (microcredits, consumer credits, student debts, mortgages...).

 4. CADTM activities

Appeals or Press Releases on responses to the coronavirus crisis between March and July 2020

• Drafting of a Press release by CADTM Europe in April 2020: We Won’t Pay for Their Crises Anymore!
• Supporting two very wide ranging appeals from Latin America: 18328; 18481 (in Spanish).
• Drafting of an appeal for the Arab region: Call of peoples, organizations, movements and networks in North Africa and the Middle East/The Arab region. Plus 2 video-conferences on debt in the MENA region (25 July and 17 October 2020) including speakers from Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt and Lebanon.
• Drafting of a Press release by CADTM Africa: http://www.cadtm.org/Annulation-de-la-dette-publique-des-pays-africains-pour-leur-permettre-de-faire (in French or Spanish)
• Drafting of a Press release for South Asia: Immediate cancellation of South Asian debts!
• Campaign in support of Omar Radi : 18723 in French only)
• Lebanon: The CADTM supports the struggle of the Lebanese people to break away from social injustice and shake off the burden of illegitimate debt;The International Aid the Lebanese People Urgently Need Must Not Be Used to Enforce Neoliberal Measures
• Ecuador (Eric Toussaint + Maria Lucia Fatorelli): Will Ecuador once again set an example of courage in the face of creditors? We denounce the renegotiation of the debt by Lenín Moreno’s government.
• Argentina: numerous activities of ATTAC-CADTM Argentina for the movement for debt abolition 19127(in Spanish only)
• Meetings ReCommonsEurope on 22 and 23 September: “Let us act now- European meet”
• Mexico: launching of a large front of organizations for the suspension of debt repayments: 19179(in Spanish only).
• India: development of important joint efforts with women who are victims of microcredit schemes.
• Bangladesh – Webinar on debt organized by Bangladesh Working Group on External Debt (BWGED) on April 27 and a follow up seminar on May 10. BWGED also launched a campaign for the cancellation of Bangladesh debt.
• Pakistan – CADTM Pakistan organized a webinar on South Asian debt and carried out other activities around the Global Week of Action for Debt Cancellation, October 10 – 17
• Participation in attempts to revive the World Social Forum
• Global week of action, during the first half of October, for the abolition of debts: 19039
• https://www.debtgwa.net/open-letter
• Autumn meeting days in Liege on 17 and 18 October: http://www.cadtm.org/CADTM-Autumn-meeting-days-registration
• The making of a video (6min 25sec) to commemorate 30 years of CADTM http://www.cadtm.org/CADTM-30-years-of-struggle-against-debt

 Coming soon

• Annual meeting of CADTM AYNA in December 2020
• Next meeting of the CADTM International Council (more details soon): two afternoon sessions (14h-17h) with FR – SP translation.

 Annexe 1

Progress report relating to the Coordination of feminist struggles - presented at the biannual meetings of the CADTM Belgium on 17 November 2020

By Christine Vandendaelen

The Coordination of Feminist Struggles of CADTM continues its activities through a mailing list and fairly regular online-meetings that connect between 5 and 10 women (mostly from CADTM Africa). Latest achievement: the pan-African campaign ’Debt, buzz off, Microcredit, get lost!’ for the October 2019 International Action Week against debt and the IFIs. It is in this context that CADTM Senegal organized a day of awareness raising on the harmful effects of microcredit among women from working class backgrounds with interventions by video-conference of members of the Coordination (Emilie from CADD Benin, Samira from ATTAC CADTM Morocco). In Mali, the women members of CAD Mali organized a press conference on the practices and excesses of microfinance institutions. An article and a video retracing the themes of this mobilization were published.

While the Coordination members were already involved in the organization of the Dakar Seminar (Bambi/CADTM Senegal had already set up a coordination committee of fifteen, which promised a strong dynamic and an interesting impact led by women involved in the struggle against microcredit), the health crisis led to the decision to postpone the seminar until 2021. Exact date as yet undecided.

Perspectives for the Coordination:

Prepare the participation in the Global Network Assembly (GNA) to be held in 2021.
If possible face-to-face, where the participants may:

• describe their actions concerning the situation of women facing microcredit issues in their countries;
• fix a programme of real and eventually united actions;
• bring to fruition reflections on how to be feminist within our network. Possibility of adopting a ’protocol’ to be able to sanction the sexist and/or homophobic behaviour of any person who is a member of an association in the network. The current Charter foresees a sanction (exclusion) but only of member organizations not individuals.

If the GNA is held by teleconference, preparatory work will be achieved by online-meetings on the same themes, taking into consideration all the difficulties arising from the often limited availability and not always stable internet connections of the women members of the coordination.

Faced with the reiterated observation that there were not enough public interventions by the women of the network, whether staff members in Belgium or in the wider sense during international events that we were able to attend (summer schools, webinars, and outside the CADTM), that it is not always the first/most concerned who speak and write, we wanted these online-meetings to be the place for a collective reinforcement of the women of the CADTM. How? By making these meetings become a space and time to pool our knowledge, keep each other informed about what each of us is doing, organize moments / spaces for training and exchange of information (important bases on developments in our countries or themes with the possibility to create closer contacts for example)

Proposition: organization of a broad discussion which would bring together a maximum of feminists known to be linked to the CADTM in Belgium and Africa (or elsewhere but speaking French). In preparation: setting up a list with the names and themes that each of us works on and completing it following the meeting.

See how to participate in the progress of work in the different countries around the resistance against microcredit (sharing of information, initiatives, research...).

 Annexe 2 Press releases between 15/11/2019 and 15/11/2020

• 15 November 2019 - by CADTM Italy, Sortir du piège de la dette pour garantirla justice climatique et sociale – (in French with link to Italian original)
• 16 December 2019 - by CADTM Senegal, La dette ne développe pas : « Le Consensus de Dakar » n’est pas une rupture vers le Développement (Both releases in French only)
• 5 January 2020 - by ATTAC/CADTM Morocco, Morocco Immediate freedom for Omar Radi Activist and Journalist
• 28 February 2020 - by CADTM Belgium - Appel à rejoindre la grève féministe du8 et 9 mars (French only)
• 6 March 2020 - by CADTM, Crisis on the Greece-Turkish Border: let’s have done with Fortress Europe
• 9 March 2020 - by CADTM, The CADTM supports the struggle of the Lebanese people to break away from social injustice and shake off the burden of illegitimate debt
• 24 March 2020 - by CADTM International, Will Ecuador once again set an example of courage in the face of creditors?
• 28 March 2020 - by Housing Action Day Belgium, CADTM, Quand la crise sanitaire fait exploser la crise du logement (French only)
• 30 March 2020 - by ATTAC/CADTM Morocco, Morocco: For the suspension of the payment of micro-finance loans for a period of 6 months, renewable with exemption of all interest
• 12 April 2020 - by CADTM Africa, Annulation de la dette publique des pays africains pour leur permettre de faire face à la pandémie Covid-19 (French or Spanish)
• 12 April 2020 - by ATTAC/CADTM Morocco, Non à l’utilisation de la pandémie de Coronavirus, pour plus de dette et d’austérité (French only)
• 15 April 2020 - by CADTM Africa, CADTM France, « L’annulation massive de la dette africaine » annoncée par E. Macron accouche d’une souris (French only)
• 24 April 2020 - by ACiDe, CADTM Belgique, Covid-19 et dette publique : Comment éviter que le scenario de 2008 ne se reproduise ? (French only)
• 9 June 2020 - by Camille Chalmers, PAPDA, La PAPDA : Solidarité aux mouvements de protestation et de résistance qui ont lieu à travers les États-Unis (French or Spanish)
• 6 July 2020 - by ATTAC/CADTM Morocco, ATTAC CADTM Maroc soutient le journaliste et militant Omar Radi et condamne la campagne de harcèlement à son encontre (French only)
• 15 July 2020 - by CADTM Africa, CADTM International, Solidarité avec la mobilisation du peuple malien (French or Spanish)
• 11 August 2020 - by CADTM International, The International Aid the Lebanese People Urgently Need Must Not Be Used to Enforce Neoliberal Measures
• 28 September 2020 - by Collectif, CADTM Belgium, Communiqué de presse : “L’extrême droite est criminelle”/Persbericht : “Extreemrechts is crimineel !” (French or Dutch)
• 7 October 2020 - by CADTM International, CADTM rejoices the united anti-fascist mobilization in Athens on 7 October 2020 and the judgement against the neo-nazi Golden Dawn party
• 16 October 2020 - by CADTM International, The CADTM denounces the G20’s measures on debt
• 4 November 2020 - by CADTM International, For a united front against the payment of public and private illegitimate debts
• 13 November 2020 - by CADTM France, Sommet mondial des banques publiques de développement : Pour les droits des peuples et la planète, contre le développement des intérêts privés – (French only)

Recapitulation:

Twenty-three press releases compared to 10 over the same period of the previous year (15/11/18 to 14/11/19)

• Attac/CADTM Morocco: 4 ;
• CADTM: 3;
• CADTM Africa: 3;
• CADTM Belgium: 3;
• CADTM Europe: 1;
• CADTM France: 2;
• CADTM International: 6;
• CADTM Italy: 1;
• CADTM Senegal: 1;
• CADTM AYNA : 1;
• PAPDA (Haiti): 1.

 Annexe 3: Website activity

Monthly visits:

Remarks:

• except for the period between July 2017 and July 2018, the number of visits have constantly risen since 2015
• in 2020: site transformed into https
• two periods of sustained strong progress: 2015/2016 (site renewed) and from July 2018 (site transformed into responsive design)
• the periods of high activity (February to June / September to November) and of low activity (July to August / December/January) are annually recurring
• two historic peeks: summer 2015: intervention by CADTM in Greek debt audit project, 250.000 visits; and March to May 2020 (Covid-19)
• historic peek in April 2020, 310.000 visits
• average monthly visits in 2019 (full year), 210 329
• average monthly visits in 2020 (over ten months), 222 667

Annual visits:

Daily visits:

Remarks:

• most active days: Tuesday to Thursday
• least active days: Saturday to Monday
• average daily visits: 7875

Number of visits by language since the beginning:

Since the biginning

Currently

Translation by Mike Krolikowski and Christine Pagnoulle