In September, our solidarity fund was almost exhausted. We launched an appeal so we could seal the gap up to the end of the year, and it was done. More generally, we were able, in 2024, to provide our partner organizations with financial support comparable to that of previous years. . All this was not a foregone conclusion. We would like already to express our sincere thanks to all those who made this possible.

However, it will not be possible to draw up a financial balance sheet for 2024 until the beginning of next year, to include, among other items, the results of our present appeal for the 2025 solidarity fund.

As a reminder :

• All the donations we receive are passed on to our partners. The ESSF team itself covers the costs of maintaining the website and distributing the Newsletters. No one is paid for this militant activity in any form whatsoever.

• All donations count, large or small. Don’t give up on making a donation because it’s ‘too far out of line’ with what’s needed. In addition to the financial contribution, which is never negligible when they multiply, they constitute a gesture of political solidarity which the movements we support are sensitive to. If you can make a large donation, please feel free as well!

• We help the movements we support to continue their work with vulnerable populations. It is up to them to judge the priorities on the ground, with the aim of rebuilding (after the trauma of a disaster) and strengthening the self-organisation capacities of the grassroots sectors in which they operate.

• South Asia and South-East Asia are among the regions of the world where the effects of the climate crisis are most violent, with alternating droughts and torrential rain. In some areas, rising temperatures combined with high levels of humidity are having a major impact on health and living conditions. Rising sea levels are impacting the entire coastline and estuaries. Climate chaos also tends to exacerbate periodic peaks in atmospheric pollution.

The ‘polycrisis’ is striking everywhere, in the North, South, West and East, while the established powers (political and economic) are increasingly reducing the resources without which no public policy to protect people is conceivable. In the face of adversity, we can only stand together by strengthening our local and international solidarity: by fighting together and supporting each other. This support, however reciprocal, implies a financial commitment on our part. That is the reason for this appeal.

We are still unable to re-establish operational links in Burma. Our four current partners are

• In the Philippines, the MiHANDs coalition. Based in Mindanao, in the south of the archipelago, it can also intervene in neighbouring islands. It organises a network of around fifty associations that pool their specific skills together to respond to crisis situations and strengthen the sustainable self-organisation capacities of grassroots communities. It is particularly active in the region where Christian and Muslim populations live side by side, as do the indigenous Lumad peoples.

The year 2024 confirmed the trend towards an increase in the number and strength of typhoons hitting the archipelago. In addition, the situation of minority populations in the Moro administrative region of Mindanao continues to deteriorate in the absence of any formal transcription of the recognition of their rights (which exist at the national level). The MiHANDs network is particularly active on this issue.

• In Indonesia, the ‘Free Women’ movement. As well as taking part in collective initiatives on various issues and working closely with trade unions, this association, based in the industrial areas of Jakarta and Sukabumi (West Java), works with women workers in the clothing sector to defend their social and reproductive rights (which are not respected by employers), and against gender-based violence in the domestic sphere and in the workplace. It runs educational campaigns, conferences, helps with self-organisation, supports women’s demonstrations, etc.

In 2024, the repression of civil society increased. Numerous mobilisations took place, for the rights of wage earners, women, LGBT+ people, ethnic minorities, etc.

• In Bangladesh, the twin peasant associations BKF (men) and BKS (women). They are mainly based in the south-west of the country. The majority of their members are farmers who occupy public land (large sandbanks that appear in estuaries), cultivate it and demand legal recognition of their usage rights. BKF-BKS members have to face violence from the henchmen of landowners. In the event of a humanitarian disaster, these associations can provide aid elsewhere. In association with a trade union and an indigenous peoples’ organisation, they take part in unitary activities, particularly in Dhaka, where their national headquarters are located, on a wide range of issues.

Demonstration in defence of landless peasants, 5 May 2024

In 2024, despite severe repression, the dictatorial regime of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was overthrown by a vast student and popular mobilisation - a great victory. Unfortunately, the new interim Prime Minister, Muhammad Yunus, winner of the Nobel Prize for Economics, is a fervent defender of the neoliberal order.

Climate disasters have followed one another, with rising sea levels, increasing salinisation of estuaries and rivers, and flooding. Millions of people are sinking into extreme poverty.

Distribution of aid by the BKF-BKS

• In Pakistan, the Labour Education Foundation (LEF) and the Crofter Foundation (CF). The CF’s priority is to defend the interests of peasant farmers. It works closely with the LEF, which helps workers in the formal and informal sectors to organise, train and demand their social, economic and political rights, with a view to radically transforming power relations. Based in Lahore, it operates throughout Pakistan. Part of the aid we provide goes to the Himalayan territories under Pakistani administration (Gilgit-Baltistan, Kashmir).

Women farmers for the right to food sovereignty.

In 2024, the February elections expressed a rejection of the military order, but the army nonetheless retains a wide margin of manœuvre. Between IMF dictates, extreme heat, floods, social insecurity and toxic pollution peaks, all exacerbated by the climate crisis, survival conditions in a growing number of regions are becoming hazardous.

* * *

In recent years, the populations of this part of the world have suffered successive traumatic shocks. With each shock, the living conditions of the working classes are structurally weakened, and their dependence on the established powers is aggravated. The effects of one shock are far from over when another occurs.

The role played by our partners is all the more important in helping grassroots communities to cope, but they have to intervene in situations that are increasingly deteriorating and often dangerous.

We would like to thank in advance all those who will be able to help us enter 2025 in good financial conditions, while knowing that the rising cost of living is weighing on each and every one of us.

Pierre Rousset and Adam Novak
ESSF, 20 November 2024

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To send donations via ESSF

Donations can be given by cheques (in euros only, payable in France), direct bank transfers to our account or via Helloasso and PayPal. All payment options are listed on the home page of our website.

Cheques
cheques to ESSF in euros only, payable in France, to be sent to:
ESSF
2, rue Richard-Lenoir
93100 Montreuil
France

Bank Account:
Crédit lyonnais
Agence de la Croix-de-Chavaux (00525)
10 boulevard Chanzy
93100 Montreuil
France
ESSF, account number 445757C

International bank account details :
IBAN : FR85 3000 2005 2500 0044 5757 C12
BIC / SWIFT : CRLYFRPP
Account holder : ESSF

Through PayPal
To access PayPal use the email address contact europe-solidaire.org
Or click on the PayPal icon on the home page.

Through HelloAsso
You can also send money through the association HelloAsso: see its button on ESSF English home page: http://www.europe-solidaire.org/spip.php?page=sommaire&lang=en
Or go directly to:
https://www.helloasso.com/associations/europe-solidaire-sans-frontieres/formulaires/1/widget

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