Declaration from the International South-North Conference on Debt Repudiation
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WE KNOW THROUGH HISTORY that daring and persisting to struggle for what
seems to be the impossible has given rise to major advances in human
civilization. It is in this spirit that we gathered here in Nairobi, Kenya June 18
to 20, for an International Strategy Conference on Debt Repudiation.
The call for debt repudiation is based on our common conviction that not only
is it unjust to extract “debt” payments from people of the South because of the
debilitating and destructive impacts on lives, communities, economies and
environment, but also that the debts being claimed from the people of the
South are illegitimate and should not be paid. Moreover, we assert that the
peoples of the South are in fact the creditors of immeasurable historical,
social, economic and ecological debts of the North.
We also believe that the struggle against debt domination is a struggle to
change the relations of power, and debt repudiation is an assertion of power
from the South.
We are all too aware of the huge challenges we face in promoting the call for
the repudiation of debt by governments and peoples of the South. Northern
governments, international financial institutions and those who benefit the
most from the predatory, unjust and merciless global financial system will take
all efforts to prevent this from happening. Many Southern governments today,
whose political will is compromised by interests of Southern elites and is
further weakened by the threat of cutting off of aid/credit and of retaliation
from the international financial markets, refuse to consider repudiation and
even actively oppose it. Understanding that repudiation is a vital step to
ending debt domination and controlling our destiny, we must confront these
challenges and overcome them. To do so, we must:
• Develop and build strong movements in countries in the South capable
of waging the struggle in many fronts - in policy debates, in
parliamentary and judicial strategies, in international arenas, and most
importantly in mobilizing an informed and empowered people in various
forms of resistance and assertion of alternatives. Northern support for
the struggle for debt repudiation is essential, thus we also need to
strengthen movements and campaigns in the North. Strong movements
in both South and North also serve as the foundations for genuine and
effective global solidarity and partnership in our common struggles to
transform the global economic order.
• Effect changes in governance. Only truly democratic and independent
governments in the South will be able to muster the political will to
repudiate the debt and lead their countries on the path to equitable,
sustainable, and self-reliant development. At the same time, the
solidarity of governments in the North is crucial, and will be possible on
the basis of their own democratization and respect for the rights and
self-determination of all peoples.
• Build cross-border alliances and South-South cooperation not only in
the call for debt repudiation but also in the development of alternative
financial mechanisms and economic relations. Inspired by recent
initiatives in Latin America and Caribbean, we must begin establishing
these alternatives even as we challenge the dominant neoliberal global
order. This is vital in order to mitigate and counter the retaliation from
the financial markets and the so-called creditors of the South, which
may come with debt repudiation.
• Support and strengthen all those processes, such as integral and multicriteria
Audits of the debts, which promote and broaden the bases of
support for the repudiation of financial debts and the claiming of the
right to restitution and reparation of all that has been unjustly taken from
the peoples of the South.
• Work together in calling for global solidarity with countries going
through extraordinary crises and critical moments of struggle, even as
we advance our own national and local campaigns. . We do so not only
in support of the people of those countries but with the understanding
that their victories are ours too, that their gains contribute to the
weakening of the global system of injustice and oppression and
demonstrate to the world what can be achieved.
We are representatives from debt campaigns and related initiatives from more
than 35 countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Caribbean, Europe and
North America. We are prepared to work together and combine our collective
experience, wisdom, skills and strengths, to advance the call for the
repudiation of the debt, the debt that is illegitimate, the debt that the peoples
of the South do not owe.