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Stop Killing Us!: Over 150 days of campaigning to end the needless deaths of sanitation workers

By Campaign, India

“Casteism and untouchability still decide the social structure in the larger part of the country. For them development is just a superficial myth.”

Members of Safai Karmachari Andolan – a movement of people engaged in or formerly engaged in manual scavenging that spans across India, have been campaigning every day for over 150 days. The campaign, called “Stop Killing Us” aims to bring attention to the often ignored, under-reported issue of deaths of sanitation workers who regularly die from exposure to noxious gases in sewers and septic tanks. This work is carried out by people who feel they have no economic alternative. SKA is calling for contractors and municipalities to take responsibility, for governments to make use of machinery compulsory for such work, and for proper rehabilitation and support to be provided for people to transition to dignified livelihoods with living wages. Read more here and follow the ongoing campaign updates on Twitter here (#StopKillingUs).

October 10, 2022
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Reject the OECD/G20 BEPS Tax Deal of the Rich! UN Tax Convention Now!

By Campaign, Global Inequalities

The Asian Peoples’ Movement on Debt and Development (APMDD) welcomes the support of United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres for calls for a UN Tax Convention, recently reiterated by Finance Ministers in Africa and by civil society organizations across the world.  This is a step in the right direction towards fixing the fundamental flaws of the international tax architecture and upholds the rights of Global South countries not only to their tax and fiscal sovereignty, but also to raise revenues and rebuild economies in the face of  multiple crises that have sharpened under the COVID-19 pandemic.

Read the full press release

September 28, 2022
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Asia Days of Action 2022 – Tax Justice Now for People’s Recovery

By Campaign, Events, Global Inequalities, India

The Asian Peoples’ Movement on Debt and Development, together with its members at the national level across Asia, carried out the Asia Days of Action – “Tax Justice Now for People’s Recovery” from 23 to 24 September 2022 (click here to watch a video summary).

Multisector groups from Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan took part in days of action, holding seminars, protest actions, solidarity gatherings and photo actions. The groups stressed the urgency to address policies that severely undermine the capacities of people to prepare for, respond to, survive, recover, and rebuild when crisis or natural disasters strike.

Highlights in India included a workshop bringing together CSOs, domestic workers and migrant workers, a puppet show on unjust tax regimes, poster-making by children, and a ‘Ride for a Fair Tax’ that mobilised domestic workers on bicycle.

In Bangladesh, garment workers protested in front of the National Press Club, demanding an end to VAT.

In Pakistan, the Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum organised a rally against injustices in the tax system in Pakistan, and a seminar was held to discuss the need for taxes to work for ordinary people and help deliver public services and much needed relief in light of the floods that struck Pakistan that month.

Click here to read the press release

Click here to watch a video of the Asia Days of Action for Tax Justice 2021

September 26, 2022
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Asia Day of Action calls for “Tax Justice for Genuine People’s Recovery!”

By Campaign, Events, Global Inequalities

This press release coincides with the launch of the Asia Days of Action on Tax Justice, and highlights actions being taken by APMDD’s partners in Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and the Philippines.

The statement demands changes and reforms in tax and fiscal systems, asking governments and the UN General Assembly to take action by ending unjust tax burdens on the poor, fairly and sharply taxing the wealth and income of corporations and the elite and ensuring taxes are used to meet people’s basic needs.

Download now (English)
September 23, 2022
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Tax Justice Now, towards Ending Inequalities And Building People’s Recovery and Resilience

By Campaign, Global Inequalities

The multiple crises brought to the fore by the pandemic have widened inequalities that had already been present and worsening before the COVID-19 outbreak. Any serious attempt at ensuring peoples’ recovery and addressing inequalities would require bold and decisive actions that strike at the root causes of inequalities and multiple crises.

This is a second press release published by APMDD during the Asia Days of Action, focused on the role of tax systems in addressing inequalities.

Read the statement

September 23, 2022
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Tax Justice Now for People’s Recovery!

By Campaign, Global Inequalities

Tax justice groups in Asia are calling for a Day of Action on Tax Justice to be staged on September 23 to demand changes and reforms on taxes and fiscal system with Jeannie Manipon of The Asian Peoples’ Movement on Debt and Development (APMDD) saying that “national tax systems are biased in favor of MNCs and the elites. We can also see the similar pattern in the international tax system”, emphasizing that a progressive mechanism must be put in place in order to allow the removal of the backwards tax and fiscal system.

In an online press conference organized by the Tax and Fiscal Justice – Asia (TAFJA), the combined and resounding messages of speakers stressed that regressive tax policies exemplified by VAT and GST impact women, workers, farmers and other marginalized sectors the most and severely undermine their capacities to prepare for, respond to, survive recover and rebuild when crisis or natural disasters strike. Regressive tax systems, with their elite and gender biases are legacies of colonialism, part of systems that enable countries of the Global North to extract wealth from the Global South.

Read the full press release.

September 15, 2022
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Tax the Rich, Not the Poor!: A Call to Institute A Wealth Tax

By Campaign, Global Inequalities

Webinar “Wealth Tax for Tax Justice: A Call Whose Time Has Come!”

As inequality and poverty grow in the Philippines, in Asia, and across the globe, so too does the call for a wealth tax.

A wealth tax is a potent tool for equality and justice. A wealth tax is a tax on the market value of assets owned by an individual taxpayer rather than on his/her income. Taxable assets may include cash, bank deposits, shares, land, real property, cars, and furniture. By taxing the wealth of high net-worth individuals and not just income, governments will be able to raise more domestic revenues for funding essential public services that are needed so urgently today.

Groups based in the Philippines calling for a wealth tax are advocating for one of the most direct ways to stem inequality by reversing the highly regressive tax system that governments across Asia have long depended on to sustain basic public services. Regressive taxes such as Value-Added Tax (VAT) and excise taxes have long been known to hit those with smaller incomes harder, and have thus helped to widen the gap between poor and rich, women and men, marginalized sectors and influential elites.

Read the full press release here.

August 24, 2022
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Indigenous women’s voices should be heard in all W20 G20 negotiations

By Campaign, Indonesia

Outside the W20 Summit, on July 20, indigenous Toba women and a number of activists unfurled a giant banner that read “Women of North Sumatra Against Deforestation” on Lake Toba and a number of action posters on the boat. The action was a protest against the discussions at the W20 meeting that did not address the problem of economic injustice experienced by Indonesian women, especially indigenous women. This meeting was actually held only to produce policies that would benefit the country’s economic and political elites, corporations and international financial institutions, and not to discuss the real interests of the people.

Among other media coverage, Narasi, an online media outlet responded with a comprehensive video of the story and interviewed Aksi! and its partner KSPPM.

Read more (in Bahasa)

July 21, 2022
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Women from all walks of life walk together and call out for change

By Campaign, Events, Indonesia

“Hopefully it [our calls for change] will contribute to the G20 agenda so that the impoverishment of Indonesian women can be addressed.” 

Indonesian women from various backgrounds – from farmers to street vendors to migrant workers – came together for a series of events in March 2022 to address the inequalities they face in their daily lives. After a series of consultations and a strategy meeting, a set of 9 demands was drawn up which represented the common priority concerns of these women. These demands were released during a press conference on International Women’s Day, and a demonstration on the beaches of Bali helped draw further attention to the demands.

As a result of these activities and the sense of solidarity and sisterhood established through the process, the women decided to form a network of women for gender and economic justice, dubbed “P23+ Network”. The network is committed to working together to pursue the nine demands formulated together.

Read more here.

March 18, 2022
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