To get out of the crisis exacerbated by Covid-19: more than a hundred organizations and networks in the Arab region are launching a campaign for debt cancellation and getting rid of "free trade" agreements.
A Webinar on Thursday 25 June 2020 at 7pm Morocco, Tunisia and London time, 8pm France time, and 6pm Mali time. It will be in Arabic with simultaneous translation into English and French.
Representatives of many social movements in the Arab region (Middle East and North Africa) launched and call for the cancellation of public debt and the dropping of free trade agreements to address the economic and social impact on peoples of the region due to Corona virus pandemic (see appeal in annex).
To date, more than 100 organizations and networks have signed the appeal in Mauritania, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, Sudan, Palestine, Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq. They include peasant rights organizations, anti-debt, political parties, research centers, coalitions, trade unions, student and feminist organizations, disabled rights organizations and others.
The declaration was also supported by more than 100, organizations and networks from other regions in Africa, Asia, Europe and Latin America.
In addition to substantive demands, the appeal contains concrete proposals, such as setting up a citizen committee to audit debt of the countries in the region, and launching a campaign to denounce the colonialist free trade agreements. To deepen the discussion and exchange experiences in order to achieve these objectives, the initiators suggested holding a regional peoples’ forum after the end of the Corona virus crisis.
The initiators organize a webinar to present the objectives and phases of this initiative. All organizations that have signed the call will be contacted to form an electronic mailing list to collectively exchange on how to concretize its objectives, while adopting the principle of consensus to decide on our different actions and activities, as well as encouraging organizations to hold webinars in each country about debt and FTA issues.
This first webinar will be held on Thursday 25 June 2020 at 7pm Morocco, Tunisia and London time, 8pm France time, and 6pm Mali time.
We call on all networks and organizations that have signed the call to participate in the webinar and to expand the signature campaign.
For more details please contact:
Imen Louati: 0021658558619
Laila Ryahi: 0021622923700
Omar Aziki: 00212661173039
Hamza Hammoushan: 00447342845198