16 October Brussels, Belgium

European Citizens’ Assembly on debt 

Auditoire Dom Helder Camara, Rue Plétinckx, 19  (Siège CSC), 9h30-17h30

In the name of debt, the Troika and the Eurogroup have forced Greece to continue to implement austerity policies. The July 13th “agreement” blatantly demonstrated how the debt is a gun held by creditors and bankers to the temple of the people in order to impose austerity, insecurity and inequality. This only exacerbates the lack of legitimacy, the huge disparities and the instability of the European Union and the Eurozone.

Many movements throughout Europe refuse to bow to this blackmail and are seeking alternatives. The first objective of the conference will be to refute the false narrative of guilt (“we spent too much, now we must pay”) imposed by the elites. Debt audits took or are taking place in several countries and we now need to confront and publicise their results.

Britain Needs a Truth Committee on Debt

by Caroline Lucas (Green Party MP for Brighton Pavilion.)

While the debt of states is widely used as an instrument of submission to neoliberal policies, Caroline Lucas points out, reflected by the recent experience of Greece, the need to set up a truth commission on debt .

Over the last few days I’ve been in Greece as part of a delegation with the Greece Solidarity Campaign. The scale of the challenge facing the Greek people, though already at the forefront of my mind, has been amplified by the many people I’ve met who describe to me a country in utter turmoil. Greece’s economy has been hit by a depression deeper than the one which plagued the USA in the 1930s. A quarter of the workforce is unemployed and half of the country’s children live in poverty. Wages have declined, more than half of pension payments don’t cover the basics and deprivation has risen.

Habla la CUP: ruptura, plan de choque y proceso constituyente

Beñat Zaldua

Primero el «qué», el «cómo» y el «cuando». Y después, el «quién». Tras una semana de silencio, la CUP presentó ayer sus líneas rojas para negociar con Junts pel Sí la hoja de ruta hacia la independencia, así como el Govern que la aplique. No hay novedad sobre la investidura, por lo que, de momento, se mantiene el veto a la reelección de Mas.

Restructuring public debts : CADTM International has debt auditing at the core of its A & B Plans

by CADTM international

On 10 September 2015, The General Assembly of the United Nations adopted, by a substantial majority (136 votes in favour, 6 against and 41 abstentions), a resolution on the nine principles to be followed in public debt restructuring. A restructuring usually means either a rescheduling of maturity or debt relief.

The UN objective is to set up an international legal framework for debt restructuring and thus counter the strategy of vulture funds. These private investment funds take advantage of this legal vacuum to reclaim from states in national courts the full repayment, plus the interest, of debts they had bought at heavily discounted rates on the secondary market.

"Independencia significa la oportunidad de crear otro país donde las condiciones de las clases populares sean mejores". Entrevista a Antonio Baños y Gabriela Serra (CUP)

Marc Font

La sede nacional de la CUP, situada en la calle Casp de Barcelona, es ahora mismo el epicentro de la política catalana. Los resultados de las elecciones de domingo han situado a la formación de la izquierda independentista en una posición clave y la han convertido en el centro de casi todas las miradas, hasta el punto que en una misma tarde medios globales como The New York Times y The Wall Street Journal han entrevistado a algunos de sus dirigentes. Público ha conversado con Antonio Baños y Gabriela Serra, números uno y cuatro de la candidatura de la CUP para el 27-S, que se estrenarán como diputados. Ambos dirigentes hacen balance de las elecciones, plantean las exigencias del partido para llegar a un acuerdo con Junts pel Sí y subrayan la importancia de utilizar la palanca institucional para dar visibilidad a las alternativas al capitalismo que ya existen.

La crise mondiale des réfugiés et la crise de l’Union européenne

 par ROUSSET Pierre

Jamais, depuis la Seconde Guerre mondiale, les déplacements forcés de population n’avaient connu une telle ampleur et n’avaient été aussi meurtriers – aussi aléatoires et dangereux, imposant à tant d’enfants, de femmes et d’hommes des conditions d’existence aussi inhumaines, des souffrances aussi intolérables. Une véritable tragédie qui met à nu la vérité du nouvel ordre international instauré par la mondialisation capitaliste, comme en témoignent la multiplicité et l’universalité croissante des flux migratoires.

L’attention se porte aujourd’hui sur les réfugiés de guerre en provenance du Moyen-Orient ; mais il y a bien d’autres conflits militaires, en Afrique notamment, avec leurs cortèges de populations déplacées. Il y a peu, c’était des victimes climatiques dont la presse parlait, frappées par millions en Asie. Quant auxdites « migrations économiques » contemporaines, elles sont aussi « forcées » (donc politique) par le déchirement du tissu social sous les coups de boutoir du néolibéralisme et la violence de régimes soutenus par les puissances occidentales.

Climate disaster is on it’s way! – Ecosocialism or barbarism

Fourth International

CLIMATE: DISASTER IS ON ITS WAY!

The earth’s climate is changing quickly, much faster than experts thought.

There is no doubt what is causing this: the warming of the atmosphere as a result of emissions by greenhouse gases, mainly CO2 from the burning of oil, coal and natural gas.

The Earth has warmed by 0.8°C degrees over the last two centuries. This is sufficient to cause a rise in sea levels by almost two metres in the centuries to come. Nobody can stop it. Hundreds of millions of people will be forced to move, millions of hectares of land for growing food will be lost, urban areas will need to be evacuated. The peoples of the South, who are the least responsible, will be the most affected.

Britain – A Statement: “The election of Jeremy Corbyn as leader of the Labour Party, a political earthquake”

Socialist Resistance (Britain)

Socialist Resistance enthusiastically welcomes the election of Jeremy Corbyn as leader of the Labour Party. Such a result seemed inconceivable after the Tory victory on May 7 and represents a political earthquake in British politics with the potential to regenerate and reshape the left [2]

The scale of Corbyn’s victory in the first round, over his lacklustre opponents, [3] deals a crushing blow to the New Labour machine which tried time and again throughout the campaign to undermine his ideas and his record without success.

Restructuring of sovereign debt: UN Expert stresses GA principles are binding

by Juan Pablo Bohoslavsky

The Independent Expert on the effects of foreign debt and human rights, Juan Pablo Bohoslavsky, welcomed today the new resolution adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on the “Basic Principles on Sovereign Debt Restructuring Processes.”

“The new GA resolution is a positive step towards clarifying which existing rules and principles of international law apply to sovereign debt issues,” said the Expert. “It will for example provide legal guidance on how to prevent and deal with vulture credits,” he added.

“Sovereign debts should be geared towards implementing economic and social policies, with a view to achieving growth and development in the concerned countries. Unfortunately, as it is too often the case, sovereign debts can also throw millions of people into poverty, in particular when resulting in a debt crisis,” said the expert.

Turkey: The People’s Democratic Party (HDP) launches an urgent international call for solidarity

“Until now, over 128 party buildings all over the country have been attacked”

HDP (Turkey)

Turkey is increasingly drifting into a civil war. Politics of violence have escalated after the general elections of June 7 led by the AKP provisional government. Today, the peace and negotiation process between PKK and the Turkish state has come to a halt and war has started again.

Just within the last month, severe clashes have taken place in many Kurdish cities such as Silopi, Lice, Şemdinli, Silvan, Yüksekova and Cizre where the civilian population has been targeted by state forces. Tens of civilians, guerillas and members of state security forces have died in the ensuing clashes. Since July 24, the AKP interim government has not been attacking ISIS, as it claims to be doing, but the Qandil Mountains in the territory of the Kurdistan Regional Government instead, as well as Kurds, democratic forces, democratic politics, civilians, women and the opposition as a whole in Turkey.

Grèce : Une capitulation porteuse de menaces mortifères

Par YORGOS MITRALIAS

Ce qui est le plus effrayant dans l’actuelle situation grecque est que l’ensemble des dirigeants de la gauche grecque donnent l’impression de ne pas réaliser ni l’étendue ni la profondeur de la catastrophe déjà accomplie par la capitulation du gouvernement Tsipras devant les créditeurs du pays. En effet, la campagne électorale se poursuit avec ses invectives et ses croches pieds en suivant les traditions bien établies, sans que personne ne fasse référence à cette catastrophe, et surtout a ses conséquences à moyen et à plus long terme. Et plus grave, sans que personne ne fasse la moindre référence  aux taches concrètes et urgentes que cette catastrophe impose à la gauche grecque et ses militants.

Zoe Konstantopoulou’s speech at the Fourth World Conference of Speakers of Parliament on 2nd September in New York

“Sovereign Debt is being used against the Greek population and the Hellenic parliament to reduce democracy”

La question grecque et ses leçons pour Podemos : « Nous ne pouvons pas cogérer des coupes budgétaires avec le PSOE »

RODRIGUEZ Teresa, RIVEIRO Aitor

Teresa Rodríguez (née à Rota, province de Cadix, en 1981) a été cinq mois à la tête du groupe parlementaire de Podemos en Andalousie ainsi que deux mois supplémentaires en tant que secrétaire régionale du parti. Auparavant, elle a été eurodéputée et l’une de personnes à la tête de l’orientation alternative à celle présentée par Pablo Iglesias lors de l’Assemblée constituante de Vistalegre [octobre 2014]. Au cours de cette période, elle a consolidé son leadership en Andalousie, surtout lors des négociations en vue de l’investiture de Susana Díaz [membre du PSOE, dirigeante du gouvernement autonome d’Andalousie].

S’allier au FN contre l’euro ? Sapir et le Front national, l’extrême jonction

ALEMAGNA Lilian, ALBERTINI Dominique

DÉCRYPTAGE. L’économiste « hétérodoxe » préconise une alliance des partis anti-euro, regroupant le Front de gauche et le Front national.

Figure bien connue parmi les économistes « hétérodoxes », Jacques Sapir a troublé nombre de ses amis en préconisant vendredi un « front de libération nationale » anti-euro (lire l’interview sur Libération.fr [1]). Le débat est né moins du programme d’une telle alliance que de l’appel de Sapir (qui se revendique « de gauche ») à y intégrer le Front national - qui marcherait alors main dans la main avec Nicolas Dupont-Aignan, Jean-Pierre Chevènement et, pourquoi pas ?, avec un Front de gauche rallié à la cause anti-euro. Vision prémonitoire ou dérive d’un économiste très politique ?

Manuela Carmena pone en marcha la auditoría de la deuda del Ayuntamiento de Madrid

El Diario, 27/08/2015

El proceso que será sometido a consulta popular, quiere determinar qué conceptos son "legítimos" o "ilegítimos", según ha explicado el delegado de Economía y Hacienda, Carlos Sánchez Mato

El PP tacha de "tribunal popular que recuerda otros regímenes totalitarios" una medida que fue aprobada con a los votos de Ahora Madrid, PSOE y Ciudadanos

La auditoría será de carácter integral e incluirá análisis del impacto financiero, económico, social, de género y medioambiental de las actividades municipales fiscalizadas.

Britain: Why Jeremy Corbyn Scares the Right

ROOKSBY Ed

Jeremy Corbyn’s momentum in the Labour Party leadership election shows British politics is moving leftward.

All the evidence [1] indicates that left-winger Jeremy Corbyn is on course to win the British Labour Party’s leadership contest. The conventional wisdom on the British center-left — both within the party and among Labour-leaning media pundits — is that a victory for Corbyn would represent an utter disaster for the party.

USA — Sanders for President: a Political Phenomenon that Challenges all Preconceptions

LA BOTZ Dan

Last night more than 100,000 people attended 3,500 meetings in all 50 states and the District of Columbia to watch a video-cast of Bernie Sanders and to begin to organize his on-the-ground campaign. Some of the meetings in various parts of the country had as many as 200 people in attendance. The meeting I attended in Crown Heights, Brooklyn was attended by 25 people, most in their 20s, with background working for social justice NGOs, in media, and in the arts, as well as a few graduate students.

How Hedge and Vulture Funds Have Exploited Puerto Rico’s Debt Crisis

by Ed Morales

For this island teetering on bankruptcy, debt renegotiation is imminent—but on whose terms?

New York–born Puerto Rican activist David Galarza spent a recent sultry summer Monday picketing a meeting of bondholders by day and meeting with professionals, students, and working people in the evening concerned about the increasingly scary crisis over the island’s $72 billion debt. “I picked up a Freddy Krueger mask on the way down there—a little bit of theater, you know?” Galarza told me. He had come to get a look at Anne Krueger, the former IMF official behind a recent report suggesting solutions to the crisis—solutions that imposed draconian neoliberal “adjustment” burdens on the island’s distressed population—and didn’t hesitate to read her body language as she entered the building. “She looked a little mystified, like she was bewildered that we were even there. She seemed to have an ‘I’m trying to help you people’ attitude.”

Is BRICS a True Alternative?

by Patrick Bond

The $100 billion BRICS New Development Bank aimed at providing capital to the developing world isn’t a sufficient alternative argues Patrick Bond.

The main point of the BRICS summit this week was host Vladimir Putin’s demonstration of economic autonomy, given how much Western sanctions and low oil prices keep biting Russia. In part this sense of autonomy comes from nominal progress made on the bloc’s two new financial institutions.

Etat espagnol : la dette, la Grèce et Podemos – « Il est encore temps de (re)construire un parti-mouvement »

PASTOR Jaime

Depuis que la crise systématique de ce capitalisme mondial financiarisé a éclaté en 2008, nous vivons des temps accélérés et convulsés qui permettent à peine de prendre du recul et d’analyser les courants de fond qui traversent ce changement d’époque. Malgré tout, il y a des efforts dans cette direction. Parmi ceux-ci, peut-être que le plus lu dans les milieux de gauche, et même académiques, est celui réalisé depuis un moment par Wolfgang Streeck. Dans l’un de ses articles, portant un titre optimiste (« How will capitalism end ? [1] » [l’un de ses ouvrages est traduit en français sous le titre Du temps acheté]), il souligne trois tendances contemporaines sur lesquelles il n’est pas difficile de tomber d’accord : un déclin persistant du taux de croissance économique ; une augmentation, également constante, de la dette mondiale [2] et, finalement, un approfondissement des inégalités économiques, autant de revenus que de richesses.