Committee for the Abolition of Illegitimate Debt

From ATTAC Argentina, we tell them “you will not be able to INTIMIDATE us”. ATTAC is an organization known worldwide for its activism against tax havens and money laundering. It is absurd and disgusting that a government filled with crooks, who have accounts abroad, tries to stain an organization like ATTAC by accusing it of money laundering. The small amounts received by ATTAC Argentina, as donations from renowned international organizations sharing our ideas have been received in accordance with all banking regulations and have been used with the corresponding documentary support, to carry out campaigns against tax havens, tax evasion and the payment of illegitimate public debts of Third World countries. We have nothing to hide, our actions and initiatives are open and public.

This strategy used by the Argentinian government against popular organizations has generated expressions of solidarity at the national and international levels.

As members of the Confluence Fuera G20 G20 The Group of Twenty (G20 or G-20) is a group made up of nineteen countries and the European Union whose ministers, central-bank directors and heads of state meet regularly. It was created in 1999 after the series of financial crises in the 1990s. Its aim is to encourage international consultation on the principle of broadening dialogue in keeping with the growing economic importance of a certain number of countries. Its members are Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, Italy, India, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, USA, UK and the European Union (represented by the presidents of the Council and of the European Central Bank). /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 (Confluence “G20 and IMF Out”), we are working to expose the obscenity of the meeting of the Group of Twenty (G20) and the major international financial institutions (IFIs) such as the IMF , 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.

and the Inter-American Development Bank (BID), which have to fill the city with 25,000 soldiers to protect them, while traveling by plane and using sophisticated security devices, with all the cost that this will entail. It is a summit of the small group of Presidents and Heads of State of twenty powerful countries that grants itself the right of decision for the remaining 174 sovereign countries; a summit involving Trump, Macron, Putin, Merkel, etc. and assassins of the stature of Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman, involved in the case of the murdered journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Our goal, as part of the Global Week of Action against the G20 and the IMF, is to denounce this forum that does not represent us, as well as to debate and find alternatives to the deep crisis in which we are immersed, not only in Argentina, but also at the regional and global levels. The economic, financial, food, energy and climate crisis, in short, civilizing, will not be mitigated by the policies prescribed by the G20 or the major international financial institutions, such as the IMF.

In this context, we are not surprised by this intimidating note from Infobae. It is the best demonstration of the intimidation carried out against the Argentinian social organizations, trying to spread fear and to divide the Argentinian society. It is a preventive repressive act to justify any action by the security forces against the peaceful demonstrations that will take place on November 30 to repudiate the arrival of the G20.

Likewise, we repudiate the denunciation against Ms. Beatriz Rajland, a renowned lawyer and human rights activist, researcher at the Agency for Science and Technology, regular professor of state theory at the Faculty of Law of the University of Buenos Aires (UBA). Her name is also associated with civil resistance against the military dictatorship and it is a permanent example of coherence and commitment.

From ATTAC Argentina, we do not accept that we try to “persecute” and intimidate us with false accusations. We have nothing to hide, on the contrary: our backpacks are full of ideas, proposals and dreams for another world.