With two weeks to go until the start of the counter-summit to the annual meetings of the World Bank and the IMF in Marrakech, we are in the home stretch for the organization of this major activist event. It is the culmination of a collective and inclusive international process launched in January 2023. Six international online plenary assemblies have punctuated the democratic preparations for this global gathering. A joint appeal was elaborated and adopted. A multilingual website was created. Numerous preparatory meetings were held, mainly in sub-Saharan Africa, in the Arab region in general, and in Morocco in particular. The programme of activities was drawn up jointly.
More than 70 organizations and a dozen international networks have registered for workshops and are fully mobilized to ensure the success of the counter-summit.
In Africa and the Arab region, the mobilization is even greater, with over a hundred delegates from countries such as Palestine, Iraq, Tunisia, Egypt, West Africa, Central Africa, East Africa and South Africa, who have confirmed their participation in person and are informing others about the importance of this counter-summit.
The counter-summit will begin on 12 October, the date of the arrival in the Caribbean of Christopher Columbus and his expedition, which paved the way for the conquest, pillage and exploitation of the “American” continent by European imperialism from 1492 onwards. The counter-summit will end on 15 October, the date of the assassination of Thomas Sankara, President of Burkina Faso, who led the fight for the non-payment of illegitimate debts and for the unity of the peoples of Africa and the world.
With a popular opening march, 4 plenary conferences and 60 workshops out of the 84 registered at the outset, we want our counter-summit to be an opportunity for collective learning geared towards action. It’s a unique opportunity to exchange experiences of struggle and to bring together militant actions against the dictates of the multinationals, the imperialist powers and the financial institutions, including the WB and the IMF.
After an opening conference on 12 October, which will focus on the role of the World Bank and the IMF in exacerbating social and climate injustice, inequalities linked to the power of neo-colonialism and the exploitation of the working class, the programme of workshops on 13 October will concentrate on analysis to understand our world today, with its multidimensional and interconnected crises (social, food, economic, health, ecological, migratory, war and democratic). The programme for 14 October will focus on alternatives and mobilization.
The counter-summit will also be an opportunity to denounce the authoritarianism and escalating repression being carried out by various governments, particularly in the Arab region and in Morocco, and to call for the immediate release of all political prisoners.
Despite the organizational challenges, which have been exacerbated by the terrible earthquake that struck the Marrakech region and which primarily affected communities long marginalized by the regime, the national counter-summit collective and the organizing team are determined to go all the way to ensure the success of this magnificent international meeting.
Themes to be discussed include
– Debt as a tool of financial colonialism: how the global North continues to dominate the South with the complicity of the local ruling classes
– North Africa and the Middle East: where is the revolutionary process launched in 2011?
– News from Françafrique: fighting imperialism and oppressive regimes
– States and borders in Europe, women and borders in the world
– Palestine in 2023: a return to the roots of the conflict?
– The democratic crisis, the new authoritarianism and counter-strategies for emancipation
– What is the role of China today?
– From North to South, a history of debt movements: abolishing the illegitimate debts denounced by Thomas Sankara, Fidel Castro, etc.
– Global militarization: the hidden face of the capitalist economic regime
– The state of the movement
– The instruments of economic domination
– Unlearning Eurocentrism
The second day will focus on alternatives and our mobilization slogans:
– “Plan de sortie de crise”, emergency measures, etc. What programme and how do we get there?
– Feminist responses to debt
– Strategic discussion, exchange of information on mobilization at COP28 and beyond
– Roles and opportunities for social movements in Africa
– There is life without the IMF and the World Bank. What to replace them with?
– For tax justice and an end to tax evasion
– How can social movements in the North and South act in synergy to respond to the new geopolitical situation?
There is still time to subscribe to the international appeal: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfmD7lMpymBNiShA63PNfp1GorsSYH7VVNSPrpChRQC9wFiTQ/viewform
To contact us, write to: imfwbmarrakech@gmail.com
Come and join us in Marrakech.
