This text is part of the special edition Solidarité internationale
The Quebec Association of International Cooperation Organizations (AQOCI) will hold its traditional Quebec Days of International Solidarity (JQSI) in November. This year, the organization is focusing on economic justice.
Throughout the month of November, several cultural activities, conferences and film presentations will take place in 12 regions of Quebec. A program specially developed for elementary and secondary school students and for college and university students will also be deployed.
“The capitalist economic system is fundamentally unjust and creates huge and damaging inequalities between rich and poor countries, but also here in Quebec,” said AQOCI Director General Michèle Asselin. We want to address this topic head-on with people. »
The testimony of an activist
Founder and CEO of the Bangladesh Workers Solidarity Center Kalpona Akter will be one of the JQSI headliners. She will notably be present at a happy hour at the POP museum in Trois-Rivières on November 25 and during a webinar on November 28. This activist was forced from childhood to work in the textile industry, then suffered ill-treatment and reprisals from her employer because of her commitment to obtaining better working conditions.
The collapse in April 2013 of a building in his country that housed garment factories caused more than 230 deaths. It produced, among other things, Joe Fresh clothing, Loblaw’s house brand. This disaster drew the eyes of the world to the working conditions of these workers – in fact especially women workers. “This tragedy led to a great international mobilization, which allowed some progress in Bangladesh, on the legislative level”, explains Michèle Asselin.
Inequalities are widening
It’s a sign that when you put the pressure on, you can get some progress. So much the better, because there is a lot to be done, especially in terms of inequalities. Oxfam’s latest report on inequality reveals that the world has 2,668 billionaires (573 more than before the pandemic), who hold more wealth than the poorest 40% of humanity. The ten wealthiest men on the planet alone possess more wealth than the poorest 3.1 billion people.
“It’s not a fatality, but rather the result of a well-oiled system that rests on certain pillars,” says Michèle Asselin. She names three: free trade agreements that reduce the powers of states to regulate on the environmental level or to improve the protection of workers, tax havens and the power of business lobbies.
She recalls that Canadian companies had accumulated more than 380 billion dollars in tax havens in 2020, according to the organization Canadians for Tax Fairness. This deprives Canada of approximately $25 billion in taxes. These sums could be used to finance our social programs, education and health.
AQOCI is taking advantage of the JQSI to invite citizens to sign a petition demanding that the federal government adopt a law on human rights and Canadian companies abroad. “This law would require these companies to hold themselves accountable for the negative impacts on human rights and the environment, which can occur throughout their operations and their supply chains, and to produce an annual report to this effect. “, explains Michèle Asselin.
A system supported by exploitation
Other issues send us back to even darker corners of the global economy. Michèle Asselin recalls that poverty, conflicts and climate change are throwing more and more people on the roads of exile. The United Nations counted 89.3 million refugees in 2021, an increase of 8% compared to the previous year. “These people, especially women, become very vulnerable, and their sexual exploitation or forced labor enriches certain people, groups or companies,” she laments.
She adds that the invisible work of women continues to support this unjust economic system. According to Oxfam, women spend 12.5 billion hours every day around the world on household chores. A job whose value is estimated at 10.8 trillion dollars, three times the value of the technology sector. Women therefore have less time to hold a job or educate themselves, which contributes to perpetuating gender inequalities and keeping a large number of them in precariousness.
“It is important to be informed of these situations to better understand our world, believes Michèle Asselin. This is why we talk about economic justice. We can and must do better. »
This special content was produced by the Special Publications team of the To have to, pertaining to marketing. The drafting of To have to did not take part.