Comité pour l'abolition des dettes illégitimes

Soutenez-nous

South

Development banks must be held accountable for their disastrous oil palm plantation investments in the Congo

25 September 2020 - by GRAIN

The remains of assassinated Congolese leader Patrice Lumumba are finally on their way back home from Belgium. But this brings no closure to the anti-colonial struggle he led and was ultimately killed for. Foreign powers continue to loot the (...)
6 months after the official announcements of debt cancellation for the countries of the South: Where do we stand?

18 September 2020 - by Milan Rivié

As they were faced with requests for debt cancellation from several heads of state from countries of the South and social movements at the end of March and in early April, international financial institutions and other creditor groups suggested (...)
World Bank’s rating obsession will negate debt justice

31 August 2020 - by Patrick Bond, Dominic Brown

The international financial system’s reliance upon credit ratings – usually based on dubious premises – needs urgent rethinking. The Covid-19 pandemic is just one of the catastrophes leaving many low-income countries – and soon middle-income (...)
We are not fools! Solidarity with Omar Radi! Freedom!

7 August 2020 - by Myriam Bourgy, ATTAC/CADTM Morocco, Pauline Imbach

Omar Radi investigative journalist and human rights activist has been the subject of a violent campaign of intimidation by the Moroccan authorities. Accused of undermining state security and espionage, since June 25, he has been summoned 9 times (...)
Caribbean reparations movement must put capitalism on trial

5 August 2020 - by Ajamu Nangwaya

From chattel slavery to the current period of neocolonial flag independence, the Caribbean labouring classes have yet to exercise substantive power over the political institutions that govern their lives. A system of popular assemblies with the (...)
Will the G20 cancel the debt of the Southern countries?

17 July 2020 - by Renaud Vivien

On 18 and 19th of July, the G20 Finance Ministers will meet to decide the measures to be taken in response to the Covid-19 crisis. Debt cancellations should be among the urgent measures to free up the funds needed to tackle the crisis. However, (...)
The struggle against authoritarian liberalism is more urgent than ever. Epidemic and the far right on the European periphery

13 July 2020 - by Ana Podvršič, Jaša Veselinovič

Preliminary note: The article was written at the end of May 2020. Since then, the protests further intensified and the social initiatives, mentioned at the end of this article, succeeded in equipping the protests with better articulated and more (...)
The Global South Needs More Than Just Debt Relief

10 July 2020 - by Benjamin Lemoine, Quentin Deforge

The G20’s plans to postpone 76 emerging countries’ debt repayments are a band-aid on fundamental injustices in the global economy. Rebuilding the Global South after the pandemic will require a complete upending of the international order — and the (...)
Publicity stunt, lies and omission on African debt, Macron bets on the Paris Club

7 July 2020 - by Milan Rivié

On 13th and 15th April 2020, French President Emmanuel Macron drew the world’s attention by calling for a “massive cancellation” of Africa’s debt. A few hours later, the G20 disavowed it by decreeing a suspension of payments of the poorest (...)
How Foreign Debt Undermines Sovereignty: The case of the Global South

1 July 2020 - by Ndongo Samba Sylla

“There is nothing a nation should avoid as much as borrowing money abroad.” So confided Ulysses Grant to Emperor Meiji during his visit to Japan in August of 1879. After giving several examples of nations then enslaved by foreign (...)
Belgium’s colonial crimes in the Congo. A duty to remember

17 June 2020 - by Eric Toussaint

Thanks to the Black Lives Matter mobilizations against racism in general, and racism against black people in particular, becoming an international phenomenon more and more people are seeking to know the truth about the dark past of the colonial (...)
Series: 1944-2020, 76 years of interference from the World Bank and the IMF (Part 15)

The South Korean miracle is exposed

15 June 2020 - by Eric Toussaint

In 2020, the World Bank (WB) and the IMF are 76 years old. These two international financial institutions (IFI), founded in 1944, are dominated by the USA and a few allied major powers who work to generalize policies that run counter the (...)
South African should be wary about long term repercussions of new IMF loans

5 June 2020 - by Patrick Bond

Amidst this raging debate about the role of IMF loans to pull out countries from the economic mess triggered by the outbreak of the pandemic, Patrick Bond, professor at the University of the Western Cape School of Government in an interview to (...)
Running to the now ‘reformed’ IMF would be a mistake

3 June 2020 - by Dominic Brown

Covid-19 creates an opportunity for the government to act boldly, which includes greater investment in social services and a much larger public sector Historically regarded as a villain that has obstructed the prosperity of “developing (...)
A project against militarist Europe

2 June 2020 - by Nathan Legrand, ReCommons Europe

The role of militarism, arms trade and wars in Europe`s foreign policy This document is a longer version of the fourth of the five texts that form part of the publication entitled “The impact on the South of European financial policies and (...)
Argentina

Voluntary Termination of Debt

18 May 2020 - by Verónica Gago, Luci Cavallero

The feminist movement in Argentina, and across Latin America, has gained force and strength in recent years. That movement can be characterized not only by its massiveness in terms of the number of people on the streets, but also for how it has (...)
UNCTAD calls for aid plan and hard tackles creditors

15 May 2020 - by Milan Rivié

The coronavirus pandemic has triggered a real economic crisis whose effects will be as severe as they are long-lasting, even more so in the countries of the South. In recent days, the international financial institutions’ announcements to cancel (...)
President Macron never intended to cancel African debt

4 May 2020 - by Pauline Imbach

Had we been born yesterday, we would have been tempted to believe that the question of African debt was finally going to be taken seriously. Emmanuel Macron, wielding a magic wand, was about to cancel the continent’s debts, once and for all. Yet, (...)
Should South Africa Follow the Law of the Jungle – or the Doctrine of Odious Debt?

30 April 2020 - by Patrick Bond

South Africa’s fierce debates over the costs and benefits of a proposed International Monetary Fund (IMF) bail out of $4.2 billion unveil the country’s massive weaknesses and potential strengths, at a time food protests have moved from the slums (...)
Nepal needs Total Debt Cancellation to face the Covid-19 Crisis

23 April 2020 - by Praman Adhikari

The devastation caused by the coronavirus pandemic is a serious threat which has brought our civilisation and economies at the brink of collapse. The current crisis in every sector of our lives has revealed how weak our system is when it comes (...)
Cancel the debt

23 April 2020 - by Mustafa Talpur

Last week, the G20 group of rich countries decided to postpone the debt payment that is due to be paid to G20 governments up to the end of 2020 for developing countries. This will help Pakistan free up some resources to tackle the pandemic. (...)
Class Struggle, Environment and the Corona Virus Pandemic

22 April 2020 - by Kunal Chattopadhyay

The Corona virus threat has been declared a pandemic by the World Health Organisation. How not to respond to it from the left is easily seen, by apparently leftist posts circulating in social media (Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter), which suddenly (...)
Franck Gaudichaud: “Look at Chile to understand the kind of world they want us to live in”

22 April 2020 - by Jérôme Duval, Franck Gaudichaud

Franck Gaudichaud* returned a few weeks ago from a stay in Chile and gave us an interview to talk about more than six months of social unrest that shook the country. The Chilean uprising began in October 2019 and spread like wildfire in the (...)
Covid-19 and debt in the global south: Protecting the most vulnerable in times of crisis III

20 April 2020 - by Daniel Munevar

This is the third part of a blog series covering the impact of Covid-19 on vulnerable countries in the global south. Part 1 analyses the impact of debt burdens on health services. Part 2 discusses how the economic crisis will affect countires in (...)
Covid-19 on a debt assault

17 April 2020 - by Eric Toussaint, Christophe Koessler

The Committee for the Abolition of Illegitimate Debt (CADTM) is of the opinion that the limited resources of the countries of the South should be devoted to fight the pandemic rather than reimbursing international creditors. The coronavirus (...)