Committee for the Abolition of Illegitimate Debt

 Friday, October 4: Screening of the documentary ‘Les Âmes fêlées’ and testimony on the situation in the DRC

Thérèse di Campo’s documentary, “Les âmes fêlées” (Broken Souls), kicked off the CADTM Autumn Meetings. It highlights the issue of the mental health of people affected by the war in the Kivu region. Over 100 people watched the documentary, and then Yvonne Ngoyi, a CADTM Africa member from the DRC, gave a testimonial.

 Saturday, October 5: Full house for the plenary session on pan-Africanism and green neo-colonialism

Saturday, October 5, was a huge success. Large crowds turned out to attend the various workshops and conferences on offer. The workshops and conferences covered topics such as 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. , the feminist future without debt, neo-colonialism disguised as ecology, pan-Africanism, the history of Haiti’s debt, and anti-racism and anti-fascism on the left. Speakers and collectives, whom we once again thank for their presence, led the analysis, exchange, and debate, one after another.

The plenary session entitled ‘The fight against extreme right-wing extremism’ gave rise to fascinating and constructive exchanges between Philippe Poutou (NPA), Nordine Saïdi and Mouhad Reghif (Bruxelles Panthère collective), Rosario Marmol-Perez (asbl La Cible and FGTB), Sirine (anti-racist and decolonial activist), Frank Desramault (anti-fascist and LGBTQIAP+ rights activist), Cem Yoldas (La Jeune Garde) and Éric Toussaint (spokesperson for CADTM International). Lise Van Laeken from CADTM Belgium moderated all the discussions.

Nearly 200 people took part in the discussions before coming together again to support the Palestinian and Lebanese people and oppose all forms of imperialism during the evening. The Liège YCW organized the evening at the Kali collective cafeteria.

 Sunday, 6 October: Food sovereignty and the new debt crisis

The Autumn Meetings concluded with a presentation of the new CADTM magazine and a plenary conference on food sovereignty. The conference presented specific examples from Madagascar, Morocco, India, and Côte d’Ivoire. There can be no food sovereignty without debt cancellation for farmers and governments, locked into an extractivist export system by the yoke of debt.

Thank you for your support!

The CADTM Belgium team is delighted to be able to continue building on this success. Thank you to all the members of CADTM International who made the trip. We appreciate all the speakers who shared their analyses and opinions with activists. Thank you to all the interpreters who worked all weekend and without whom the conferences would not have been possible. Thank you to the organizations that came to set up their stands and 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 struggles. And above all, thank you to all the participants who turned out in such large numbers.

We need your feedback so that we can continue to make progress and organize even better autumn meetings next year. Write to us at communication at cadtm.org.

We are also organizing training courses that link the debt question to anti-colonial and feminist issues. We will also be talking about extractivism, ecological debt and the question of debt in the North. Register or request information from pablo at cadtm.org.

 THANKS !