Mid-2017, fishermen were prohibited from crossing, installing nets, and carrying out fishing activities in locations claimed by the company PT. Pelindo IV for the Makassar New Port development project. Mrs. Zainab, a fisher woman from Makassar, explains how coastal women were impoverished through policy papers and company lobbying.
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.
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
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.
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.
Today, the G7 Finance Ministers issued a communiqué announcing their joint agreement on new global tax rules, including a global minimum corporate tax rate and a special new tax on some of the world’s largest corporations.
In response to the G7 agreement, Tove Maria Ryding, Tax Coordinator at the European Network on Debt and Development (Eurodad), said:
“We have three overall concerns with the new global tax measures that the G7 countries are outlining. In essence, they are not fair, they are not ambitious, and there is a high risk they will lead to a more complex and ineffective tax system.”
Ryding also expressed strong concerns about the way the G7 is trying to decide what the global corporate tax system should look like.
“The negotiation about new global tax rules belongs at the United Nations, where all countries can participate on an equal footing, rather than at a small rich countries’ club like the G7.”
During the webinar speakers discussed perspectives and demands of movements in the global South for debt cancelation and debt relief, as well as for tax justice to respond to multiple crises and rising inequalities, looking at both cases of national tax agendas and the global tax architecture.
