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Global Protest to Fight Inequality 2022

By Campaign, Events, Global Inequalities, India, Indonesia

On 15-22 January 2022, APMDD and its members participated in the Global Protest to Fight Inequality (initiated by the Fight Inequality Alliance). This included activities in Indonesia, India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and the Philippines, around the theme “It’s Time to Tax the Rich”.


Actions ranged from protests by workers and union leaders in the Philippines and dances to the tune of “We Will Tax You” (see Facebook Live stream above), a children’s art exhibit in Pakistan, a human chain in Bangladesh, a package of activities from movie screenings to talk shows, declarations and mural installations in Indonesia, and a discussion forum bringing together around 70 activists, thinkers and leaders in India.

Further details on the actions can be found in this article.

24 Januari 2022
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G20-Proposed 15% global minimum corporate tax rate to give more benefits to corporations, more undue burden on the poor

By Global Inequalities

Lidy Nacpil of the Asian Peoples’ Movement on Debt and Development (center) presses for new tax rules to be negotiated in a proposed United Nations Tax Body. Labor Leader Ka Leody De Guzman (left) calls for the scrapping of VAT and institution of a wealth tax in the country. Sanlakas Secretary General, Atty. Aaron Pedrosa, moderated the press conference.

The Asian Peoples’ Movement on Debt and Development (APMDD) today slammed the 15% minimum global corporate tax rate jointly proposed by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), G7, and G20, calling it the “tax deal of the rich” and instead called for the creation of a tax body under the United Nations (UN).

“Under the guise of, or pretending to be helpful as part of COVID-19 and multiple crises responses, the OECD, which is the organization of 37 wealthiest countries in the world, in collusion with the G7 and G20, are now putting forward and promoting a tax deal that will actually result in more benefits for corporations and governments of wealthy countries rather than the Global South,” APMDD coordinator Lidy Nacpil said.

“We are taking this occasion to express our rejection because in a few hours, the G20 will be convening its summit, and this is an important time to raise our voices,” she added.

Read the full press release.

30 Oktober 2021
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“We’re trying to send missions to Mars, but don’t harness tech to stop manual scavenging”

By India

Expressing serious concern over the persistence of manual scavenging in 22 states of India, social activist and National Convener of the Safai Karamchari Andolan, Bezwada Wilson said that his mission would not be over until manual scavenging is fully eliminated. Referring to the plight of women who are forced to persist in manual scavenging for earning their daily bread, Wilson, while inaugurating a new centre at RV University,  expressed deep pain and declared that he would not rest until last woman who is engaged in cleaning dry toilets is liberated.

Read the full opinion piece (via Edex Live)

7 Oktober 2021
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An Introductory Guide to Financing for Development by the Civil Society FfD Group

By Global Inequalities

This document is an introductory briefing of the Financing for Development (FfD) process and of the Civil Society FfD Group’s role in it.

By guiding readers through the UN Financing for Development world, it shines a light onto how shaping decision-making on global economic governance at the UN has the potential to transform our global economic systems to reduce inequalities within and between countries and make them work for people and the planet.

This guide was developed based on collective work by the Civil Society FfD (Financing for Development) Group, and is available in Arabic, English, French, German, Spanish and Russian.

Download now (English)

Download now (Arabic)

Download now (French)

Download now (German)

Download now (Spanish)

Download now (Russian)
27 September 2021
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Global Days of Action for Tax Justice 2021

By Campaign, India

From 23 to 24 September 2021, APMDD members were mobilised to participate in Global Days of Action for Tax Justice (see also the video montage here).

This included actions in several countries. In India, activists participated in a photo action, candlelight march, human chain, and the press statement “India should stop this race to the bottom of corporate taxation” was released. Plus, a photo action took place in Bangladesh, and a photo action by fisherfolk and a press conference was organised in Pakistan

26 September 2021
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Watch the video of the Days of Action for Tax Justice 2021

By Campaign, Global Inequalities, India

During the 76th session of the UN General Assembly on 14-30 September 2021, the Asian Peoples’ Movement on Debt and Development (APMDD) strongly urged governments in Asia to reject the OECD-G7-G20’s “tax deal of the rich” and heed civil society demands for democratic, inclusive, and transformative global tax architecture.

This video was shot during the Days of Action for Tax Justice on 23-24 September 2021.

24 September 2021
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Our Stories: Time for Solidarity, Time to Rewrite the Rules

By Global Inequalities

This comic strip is inspired by real stories of APMDD members across the region. As COVID-19 lockdowns brought already marginalized communities to extreme crises of survival, people came together in the spirit of solidarity. Community pantries and kitchens, the delivery of basic necessities to the elderly and others who must keep indoors, among other community-led initiatives, are testament to peoples’ solidarity.

People’s solidarity, however strong and effective, is not a substitute for the State’s responsibility to provide essential public services, especially amidst widening inequalities in Asia. People living in extreme poverty, barely affording a single meal in a day, are estimated to have increased to over 100 million in Asia. Gender inequalities have also deepened with heavier demands on women to provide a disproportionate amount of time on unpaid care work in the midst of greater female unemployment and widening gender wage gaps. Ironically, Asia and the Pacific has also seen rapid growth in wealth by individuals and corporations amounting to over US$ 7.5 billion in 2020 alone.

Read more via APMDD’s website

25 Agustus 2021
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Webinar – Inequalities, Public Services and Tax Justice

By Events, Global Inequalities

Participants to the Webinar – Inequalities, Public Services and Tax Justice made the sign for equality to cap off a two-hour session that brought together organizations and communities in the frontlines of fighting inequalities and most affected by failing public services and loss of public revenues due to flawed fiscal and tax systems. Over 110 attended the webinar, and learnt about how to strengthen campaigns on tax and fiscal justice especially in light of developments in global, regional, and domestic policy-making.

The webinar aimed to:

• Surface some of the most pressing issues faced by marginalised sectors and communities in the context of failing public services and deepening inequalities;

• Highlight the systemic barriers to making public services accessible and responsive to people’s needs and rights, drawing the links to gaps and flaws in fiscal and tax systems;

• Discuss and collectively analyze key developments in national, regional, and global policy fronts that impact inequalities and people’s access and right to public services; and,

• Facilitate sharing of strategies for advancing tax and fiscal justice agenda, with a focus on public services.

Read more

10 Agustus 2021
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Civil society rejects “false solutions” in the OECD/G20 tax proposals

By Global Inequalities

Seen from an economic justice perspective, the results of the recently concluded meeting of G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank governors in Venice are a huge disappointment. The G20 through its finance leaders resoundingly echoed the OECD tax proposals, considered by many leaders of developing countries and CSOs as “false solutions.”

“The G20 did not address the fundamental flaws in the international tax architecture nor respond to the needs, rights, and interests of peoples of the Global South,” said Lidy Nacpil of the Asian Peoples Movement on Debt and Development (APMDD). 

“The disappointing outcome of this latest G20 finance leaders’ meeting is perhaps not surprising. It simply underscores the longstanding objection of civil society organizations to the persistent hijacking by rich countries of the agenda to transform global tax rules that have historically benefitted multinational corporations residing within their jurisdictions,”  Nacpil added.

In a Communique issued after their meeting concluded last July 10, G20 finance leaders noted that the “global outlook” has improved but that the recovery has “great divergence” across and within countries. The so-called “historic agreement” of the G20 finance leaders is built upon a mere endorsement of the Two-Pillar solution on tax issues proposed by the OECD but widely criticized by CSOs and thought leaders from Africa, Latin America, Asia, Europe, and other parts of the world. 

Read the full press release.

13 Juli 2021
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