Don´t owe, won´t pay: YES to life! NO more vultures!
We invite
other organizations to add their support, sending a message to nuncamasbuitres@gmail.com - You
might also consider presenting this statement to the Argentine embassy in your
country, your own government and other relevant institutions. Keep us informed
of your actions!
This past June 16th, the Supreme Court of the U.S.
announced two highly pernicious decisions not only for Argentina and its
people, but for all those who defend sovereignty and the primacy of human rights
over the claims of big capital. The Court rejected Argentina´s appeal, leaving
firm the lower court rulings which, since 2012, order Argentina to pay 100% of
the debt claimed by several investment funds known as vultures - led by NML
Capital - and to pay in full before continuing to service the bonds it
restructured in 2005 and 2010. Moreover, the Supreme Court upheld those same
vulture funds’ demand that Argentina identify the assets it holds outside its
own territory, in order to facilitate new actions seeking to collect what the
U.S. courts have decided that Argentina owes them.
Both decisions are as reprehensible as expected. In a
world where human life, the life of nature, sovereignty and the rights of
peoples and nations are increasingly undermined by the actions of big business
- the financialization and perpetual crisis of the global capitalist economy,
the rise of the casino economy, the intensification of its exploitative and
predatory power over human labor and natural goods – these decisions exemplify
the consolidation of a legal-political institutionality that recognizes no limit
to usury and capitalist greed. A veritable architecture of impunity that,
starting with the U.S. Foreign Sovereign Immunity Act which in 1976 established
that the sovereignty of nations ends when the market so decides, has been built
up over the subsequent years of neoliberal boom through the signing of multiple
treaties and agreements of “free trade”, "economic cooperation", investment
protection, and the waiver of national sovereignty to foreign courts and arbitration forums such
as the ICSID.
The attack of these hedge funds is not new.
Notwithstanding the backing they have now received
from the US’ highest court, it is part of a process of bloody, illegitimate, and
illegal indebtedness whose high cost the people of Argentina have been paying for
far too many years. Without going back any further in history, the bonds now in the claws of these
vultures can be traced directly to the odious debts accumulated by the
dictatorship ('76 - '83) and the debt imposed during the '90s, under the
extorsive power of those same debts and the decisive support of the IMF, World
Bank, Paris Club, and others. A debt that was found to be fraudulent and
arbitrary (Olmos Case, Case No. 14.467, Federal Court No. 2 for Criminal and
Correctional Matters, Federal Capital, July 13, 2000) and which is still the
subject of ongoing judicial investigations in other Argentine courts.
30,000 peoples disappeared, the privatization and
denationalization of public patrimony, the successive structural adjustments
and the economic collapse of 2001 with its horrendous consequences in terms of
impoverishment, unemployment, exclusion and the reorganization of the economy,
deepening its exploitative and extractive nature so as to be better able to service
a debt which, for its proven illegalities, long ago should have been declared
null and void. These are just some examples
of the human, social, economic, and ecological cost that will only continue to
grow if the underlying problems are not addressed.
So far, the Argentine government has tried to
"win" the game of debt, playing with the same rules established by
its purported creditors. Its aim is to return to international capital markets in
order to borrow more and continue its dependency and submission to the
domination exercised by those very markets.
While the government keeps betting on a "more humane"
capitalism however, that same capital keeps reaffirming that its very nature is
exploitative and predatory. The results are clear: despite the fact that
Argentina has made debt service payments of more than USD 400 billion since the
end of the dictatorship in 1983, and more than USD 174 billion in the last
decade alone, over that same period the debt has increased from USD 43 billion
to more than USD 240 billion. The fact that the partial moratorium on debt
payments, after the collapse of 2001, allowed Argentina to begin a process of
economic recovery, clearly shows that there are alternatives to paying over and
over for a debt that is not even owed.
Do not let the vultures continue flying!
We call on peoples, movements and organizations,
governments and institutions of integration, especially here in our America and
throughout the South, to join forces to stop this onslaught and the possibility
that the vultures of any ilk, continue to live off us. In particular, we call for support of the
demands and actions expressed by numerous Argentine organizations and popular
leaders, as in their declaration VULTURES
NEVER AGAIN:
• Support
the Argentine people in their struggle to stop paying what they do not owe. Whatever
measures are taken by the government now, for the people of Argentina the cost
of continuing to recognize and pay debts that have been proven to be fraudulent
is already too high. Let us unite behind their demand that the Argentine
government suspend all payments until a participatory and comprehensive audit
of the various claims can be completed, building on the criminal investigations
already realized or in process. This would help to separate out those debt
claims that are illegitimate and illegal and enable priority to be placed where
it should be: on payment of the social debt to the only proven legitimate
creditors: the Argentine people.
• Support the right of the Argentine
government to not give into these hedge funds or vultures of any kind, notwithstanding
the unfair backing of the U.S. judiciary or wherever. It is important to
remember that not all laws are just, and unjust laws should be resisted until they
are overturned. The Guiding Principles on
External Debt and Human Rights reaffirm that human rights, including in
particular economic, social, and cultural rights, take precedence over any commercial
agreement or debt contract. They underscore for lender and borrower states, financial
companies and investors, and multilateral institutions directly involved in the
processes of indebting sovereign nations, that it is the right and obligation
of States to take the necessary measures to comply first and foremost with the
human rights of their populations, as well as to not pay debts that are odious or
whose legitimacy and legality have not been established. They also reaffirm the
obligation of all States to fulfill, and enforce, these rights.
• Call
on the Argentine government, and all governments that want to protect their
populations and prevent new vulture attacks, to put an end to the privileges
and impunity of such transnationals, by:
- Annulling and ending further recognition of the waivers of sovereignty imposed in debt contracts and the extension of jurisdiction to foreign courts and extra-judicial arbitration forums such as ICSID, where other vultures nest;
- Denouncing and stopping further negotiations and the signing of free trade and investment protection treaties and agreements which involve the surrender of our sovereignty to big business and the merchants of capital.
• Call
on all governments, particularly in Latin America and the Caribbean and the
rest of the global South, on the institutions of integration such
as UNASUR, ALBA, CELAC, the G77, to support Argentina in the direction
indicated and to advance together in the creation of new policies, instruments
and institutions that break once and for all with the neoliberal, capitalist
schemes imposed and allow us to build on the basis of what is ours, including
for example a South Solidarity Bank and the adoption of national, regional, and
international laws and policies of control over capital movements and
transnational corporations in general, in order to effectively subject them to
sovereignty and respect for all human rights.
The vultures will not find it so easy to continue flying
over us if our countries do not allow them to pass. Together we can move
forward in the building of new realities of life and bien vivir, putting an end as well to the impunity with which the
international economic and financial system works and ensuring that those
responsible for the crimes committed make reparations, paying the debts they
have accumulated to us.
We
don´t owe, we won´t pay! The only true creditors
are the people!
Jubilee
South / Americas - Latin America and the Caribbean, July 2014
Regional and global endorsements, as of 1.8.14:
African Forum for Alternatives, Dakar, Senegal
AITEC, Francia
Amigos de la
Tierra América Latina y el Caribe ATALC
ARCADE,
Dakar, Senegal
Bia´lii, Asesoría
e Investigación, A.C., México
Campaign for a
Life of Dignity for All (KAMP), Filipinas
CEDETIM,
Francia
Centre national de coopération au développement, CNCD-11.11.11. Bélgica
Centro de
Información y Servicios de Asesoría en Salud,
Nicaragua
Colectivo
Voces Ecológicas COVEC, Panamá
Comité por la
Anulación Deuda Tercer Mundo - Abya Yala - Nuestra América CADTM - AYNA
Comité por la
Anulación Deuda Tercer Mundo (CADTM) Internacional
Comité
Regional de Promoción de Salud Comunitaria,
Development alternatives with Women for a New
Era (DAWN)
Diverse Voices and Action for Equality, Fiji
Diverse Voices and Action for Equality, Fiji
Ecologistas en
Acción, Estado español
Ecuador Decide,
Ecuador
Equipo del
periódico "El Independiente", El Salvador
Equity and Justice Working Group (EquityBD), Bangladesh
Europe solidaire sans frontières (ESSF), France
Federación
Nacional de Sindicatos Bancarios FENASIBANCOL, Colombia
Freedom from
Debt Coalition Philippines
Foro Social
México Global, México
GCAP
Philippines
Global
Exchange, EE.UU.
Grupo Tacuba,
México
Indian Social
Action Forum - INSAF, New Delhi, India
Instituto de
Estudios Ecologistas del Tercer Mundo, Ecuador
Instituto
Políticas Alternativas para o Cone Sul – PACS, Brasil
IPAM, Francia
Jóvenes frente
al G20, México
Jubilee Debt
Campaign, Reino Unido
Jubilee Oregon,
EE.UU.
Jubilee South
Asia/Pacific Movement on Debt and Development
LDC Watch
(Países menos desarrollados)
Maryknoll
Office for Global Concerns, EE.UU.
Movimiento
mundial por los bosques tropicales (WRM)
Movimiento
para la Salud de los Pueblos Subregion Centroamerica, Mexico, y Caribe
ONG Desafío,
Santa Cruz, Bolivia
Otros Mundos,
A.C./Amigos de la Tierra México
Pakistan
Fisherfok Forum, Paquistán
PAPDA, Haití
Partido
Popular Tekojoja (Vivir en igualdad) del Paraguay
Philippine
Rural Reconstruction Movement (PRRM), Filipinas
Platform of Filipino Migrant Organisations in Europe
Plataforma
Auditoria Ciudadana de la Deuda, Estado español
Plataforma
Ciudadana por la Auditoria de la Deuda Pública en Colombia
Plataforma
Descam Uruguay
Plataforma
Interamericana de Derechos Humanos, Democracia y Desarrollo (PIDHDD)
Red del Tercer
Mundo / Third World Network
Rede Jubileu
Sul Brasil
REDES-Amigos
de la Tierra (FoE), Uruguay
Rural
Reconstruction Nepal (RRN)
Sanlakas
Philippines
South Asia
Alliance for Poverty Eradication (SAAPE)
Transnational
Institute, Holanda
Unidad
Ecologica Salvadorena UNES, El Salvador
WomanHealth
Philippines
A Ercelan, World Fisherfolk Forum, Paquistán
Alberto
Rabilotta, periodista argentino-canadiense
Cyril Bowman,
Irlanda
Dr. Daniel
Ozarow, Argentina Research Network, Reino Unido
Dr. Eugenia Correa, Posgrado de
Economía-UNAM, México
Dr. Ramiro
Chimuris, Uruguay
Fernando
Montalbán Blanco, miembro de El Mensaje de Silo de Nuevo Baztán Madrid, España
Francine
Mestrum, Global Social Justice, Brussels
Gigi Francisco, DAWN General Coordinator
Gladys Hernández, Centro de Investigación de la Economía Mundial CIEM,
Cuba
John Dillon,
Coordinador del Programa de Economía Ecológica, KAIROS: Iniciativas Ecuménicas
Canadienses para la Justicia, Canadá
María Elena
Saludas (ATTAC / CADTM – AYNA)
Maria Hamlin
Zúniga, Nicaragua
Paul-Emile
Dupret, jurista, Parlamento europeo, grupo GUE/NGL de Bélgica
Pedro Córdova
Del Campo, CEDAL- Perú
Víctor
Regalado, periodista, El Salvador
http://dialogo2000.blogspot.com.ar/2014/07/no-debemos-no-pagamos-si-la-vida-no-mas.html (castellano)
http://www.jubileusul.org.br/nota/2057 (portugués)
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