Committee for the Abolition of Illegitimate Debt

Her name was Nora Irma Morales. She lived with her family in Castelar, outside Buenos Aires, in a house full of affection, full of neighbours, full of plants. Life was getting increasingly difficult as civil, military, ecclesiastical, and corporate dictatorships relentlessly extended their claws. Until that fateful day in 1977, when Gustavo, her adult son, was imprisoned. Without hesitation, she began looking for him, and she and her husband visited the existing human rights organisations.

In May 1977 she took up that place that she would never again give up. There, on the Plaza de Mayo in the centre of Buenos Aires, they went to meet “las locas,” the “crazy women,” as the dictatorship called them, with their white headscarves (which at first were babies’ nappies), marching, weeping, sharing information and supporting each other… courageous women whose acts were initially hidden from the public and who never succumbed to fear, even when they began to disappear.

There, Norita began to be a mother to many… not only to her son Gustavo but also to that entire generation that had dreamed of a better world… And she was not afraid... or perhaps she was, but was able to hide her fear, to the point of taking the risk of loitering near the Mansión Seré, a clandestine torture centre in Castelar, where she strained to hear any cry that might have told her if Gustavo was being held prisoner.

Today the place has become the House of Memory and Life (La Casa de la Memoria y de la Vida), and we bid farewell to her there, chanting: “Until Victory, Always, Norita!”

After the return of democracy, Norita led the Madres de Plaza de Mayo–Línea Fundadora and continued to march around the Pirámide every Thursday, always in a counter-clockwise direction, as if to hold back time… But she was never able to find out what happened to her son, Gustavo.

 Norita, the ETERNAL FIGHTER

She is and surely will be a central figure in Argentina’s history, from the time of the dictatorship until FOREVER. She was able to communicate with everyone with her energy, her strength, and her rebellious spirit, always with an affectionate smile that never left her lips.

And as she marched and searched for her son, she realised that the struggle for human rights goes beyond seeking truth and justice for the dictatorship’s crimes. And she became a comrade in every cause, with strong convictions and ideological and political consistency. She could navigate from demanding press freedom for the Mapuche in Patagonia, to joining workers sacked by a company, to denouncing the debt trap. She devoted all of her energy to founding the Autoconvocatoria por la Suspensión de Pago e Investigación de la Deuda (People’s Assembly for Suspending Repayment of and Auditing Debt), which works alongside the Popular Tribunal on Debt and 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 , because she recognised that debt is a structural conditioning factor that leads to an extractivist and ecocidal model.

Another day, another struggle – this time calling (with her green scarf in her hand) for the rights of women and dissidents… or denouncing the Zionist genocide in Palestine. She became involved in every struggle of our time, and she did so with a firm will, the commitment of her physical presence, the powerfully symbolic Mothers’ headscarf, her ability to listen, and her spirit of resistance, bridging social and political movements and bolstering the strength of everyone who participated in them.

It is worth noting that Nora understood, as few others in the Human Rights movement may have, that to make the most effective contribution, she needed to maintain political independence from the governments in power - independence that would allow her to preserve her integrity and reserve the right to criticise or support any official initiative.

 Norita, an ETERNAL INTERNATIONALIST

Norita was “an activist who envisioned a new society; certainly for this reason, what she sowed will last through time”

She always carried these words of Che Guevara in her heart: “...always be capable of feeling deeply any injustice committed against anyone, anywhere in the world. This is the most beautiful quality of a revolutionary.”

As a result, she served as a global social-political (and ethical) reference point. She drew many people into her embrace of solidarity. During the Thursday marches, she addressed issues all across the world, from the Plaza de Mayo to Japan, Kurdistan and Honduras, Haiti and the Western Sahara.

She expressed a strong attachment to the cause of the Haitian people, saying, “Haiti continues to pay the price of its dignity for being the first country in America to gain independence and the first in the world to abolish slavery. It is a crucial country that the major powers have continued to dominate and despoil.” She criticised “[the United Nations Stabilisation Mission in Haiti] MINUSTAH, including the epidemic of cholera that killed more than ten thousand people.” And she argued that “we South Americans owe a great debt to the people of Haiti. We are not showing them the support that they require and deserve.”

She also backed the causes of Subcomandante Marcos in Chiapas and Cuba and participated in the peace talks between the Colombian State and the guerrillas. She attended numerous meetings and forums, and she never stopped criticising the repayment of external debt, particularly in nations of the Global South.

She collaborated with CADTM International network and was always welcomed at the network’s meetings. In particular, she was invited by the CADTM and the Belgian Social Forum to speak in Brussels in 2001 and 2003. In 2003, she addressed a thousand-person audience, conveying her vibrancy, energy, fortitude, and perseverance in the struggle for people’s self-determination.

For all these reasons, and many more, Norita is ETERNAL because she is a genuine symbol of unwavering resistance. She will continue to serve as a beacon for us and future generations. And her words will always reverberate: “30,000 prisoners disappeared: Present! Now and Forever! Until Victory... Always! We Shall Overcome!”