From October 24 to 31, 2025, Akhator Joel Odigie, General Secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation in Africa (ITUC-Africa), traveled across Germany together with erlassjahr.de. For a week, he spoke in five cities about debt justice and workers’ rights. What we experienced: a great deal of interest, intense discussions, and new alliances. My conclusion? Joel has shaped my awareness of how deeply debt policy, workers’ rights, and global justice are intertwinedâand how important it is to forge alliances.
Five cities â five evenings full of exchange
FrankfurtâKickoff at the DGB House
The tour kicked off in Frankfurt am Main, the official starting point of the Speaker’s Tour. Despite a slight lack of sleep and a tiring flight, Joel started the program with full enthusiasm a few hours after landing. This was also evident throughout the week: in his role as Secretary General, he works non-stop! Just a few hours after his arrival, we met influencer Stève Hiobi, who reports on the African continent and its culture, society, politics, and history on Instagram under the name @deinbrudersteve. Joel spoke with him about the effects of the debt crisis in Ghana. You can find a video of their conversation and the debt situation in Ghana here on our Instagram account. In addition, you can also find a reel of the entire Speaker’s Tour on the erlassjahr.de account.
After a short break, we continued on to the DGB building for the first evening event of the tour. Together with Debt for Climate Germany and ver.di Bildungswerk Hessen, we kicked off a week full of inspiring discussions. Already in Frankfurt, it was clear how closely debt cancellation, climate justice, and workers’ rights are intertwined, and what role trade unions play in the fight for debt justice and economic justice worldwide. The ITUC-Africa, for example, has been working intensively on the debt crisis on the African continent for several years, but trade unions in other regions of the world have also exerted significant political pressure for debt cancellation. Joining Joel on the podium were Robin Jaspert from the grassroots movement Debt for Climate Germany and Martin Lechner from TIE Bildungswerk. Martin offered insights into how workers along supply chains are showing solidarity and how, for example, workshops are being held in South-South cooperation initiatives where workers can exchange ideas on strategies for improving their working conditions. A key question that arose and was discussed during the evening was why trade unions, particularly in Germany, form few political alliances with trade unions in the Global South and why issues that are very important to trade unions in Africa â such as debt crises â receive little attention in Germany. This was a question that continued to be on our minds throughout the week. At the same time, however, we also reflected on the fact that the climate movement in Germany has so far been largely unable to forge alliances with trade unions â and how important such alliances are!
DĂźsseldorf â Political debate in the Bundestag constituency
On Saturday evening in DĂźsseldorf, we discussed Germany’s special responsibility in global debt crises with Lizzy Schubert (Member of the German Parliament, Die Linke) at an evening event. The focus was on the consequences of previous IMF and World Bank programs, the role of private creditors, and the question of what debt justice might look like in concrete terms. It became clear how much sovereign debt restricts democratic freedom and how important it is to forge solidarity-based, progressive alliances in Germany as wellâespecially in times of a shift to the right. It was particularly nice to see so many young people attending the event in DĂźsseldorf.
The following day, the erlassjahr.de team visited the Zollverein Coal Mine Industrial Complex in Essen with Joel. The tour offered a fascinating insight into the history of the former mining operation. We were able to visit various buildings and get a feel for what everyday working life used to be like on the site â and we were also able to show Joel a little bit of the working-class history of the Ruhr region.
Hanover â Hod Anyigba on the social dimension of the debt crisis
In Hanover, we were guests of the Church Development Service of the Evangelical Lutheran Regional Churches in Braunschweig and Hanover, supported by the DGB district of Lower Saxony â Bremen â Saxony-Anhalt and the IGBCE. As Joel had to attend an important meeting at short notice, his colleague Hod Anyigba (Executive Director of the Africa Labour Research Institute and Chief Economist of ITUC-Africa) took over the presentation, live from Togo. Hod painted a clear picture of the current challenges: debt is not an abstract economic problem, but a socio-political one â with direct implications for families, employees, hospitals and educational institutions. He spoke about the consequences of austerity, the collapse of pensions in Ghana, and how workers are usually the first to suffer from the burden of debt. During the tour, it was emphasized several times that a working person on the African continent is usually responsible for many family members, so that the consequences of frozen salaries in the public sector, for example, always affect entire families. At the same time, Hod outlined the key strategies of ITUC-Africa: broad mobilization for comprehensive and unconditional debt cancellation, political pressure for a UN debt framework convention, and demands for greater transparency and an African rating agency.
The subsequent discussion between Nils Hindersmann, Head of the Politics and International Affairs Department at IGBCE, our colleague Malina Stutz from erlassjahr.de, and Joel with the audience focused on specific political measures and clarified specific questions, such as the role of the IMF. The extent to which colonial relations still have an impact on relations between Africa and Europe today was also discussed.
Kassel â Back to the Roots
In Kassel, it was âback to the rootsâ â because about 20 years ago, Joel studied in Kassel for his Master’s degree in Labor Policies and Globalization, a program specifically aimed at trade unionists and activists for workersâ rights worldwide. So it was an obvious choice for us to attend the LPG Master’s âOne World Seminarâ with Joel and discuss debt, neoliberal structural reforms, and the colonial continuities of global financial policy with lecturer Dr. Fabian Georgi and the students. The students also contributed their own experiences with trade union work to the discussion.
In the evening, we continued the debate at Kassel University with Dr. Frauke Banse from the Department of Development Policy and Postcolonial Studies, Kassel University, and the DGB Kassel as part of a public event. It quickly became clear how closely debt justice, workers’ rights, and the fight against austerity are linkedâin Africa as well as in Europe. Frauke Banse made it clear how austerity policies and rising inequality are a problem in both Africa and Europeâeven if the consequences are felt to varying degrees and look different, they are based on similar neoliberal structures. From an internationalist perspective, it is worthwhile to recognize these similar structures and look for commonalities â ultimately in order to unite as a global working class. The interests of workers in Europe and those of workers in Africa should not be played out against each other â instead, international alliances must be forged.
After the event, we took a walk around the campus with current students from Kassel. Joel showed us the places where he used to study and discovered some new buildings in the processâa personal ending to an intense day.
Berlin â Long live international solidarity!
The last public evening event in Berlin was jointly organized by WEED e.V., the Aktionsgemeinschaft Solidarische Welt (ASW), moveGlobal, and members of the former IG Metall Berlin Internationalism Working Group. The focus was on how transnational trade union solidarity can be strengthened and why German trade unions should take on more international responsibility. Particularly insightful: following Joel’s input, Boubacar Diop (ASW) explained the tense debt situation in Senegal â from IMF programs to the recent change of government and the financial audit. In a joint closing round with all participating organizations, the question of what we in Germany can do in concrete terms to combat neoliberal austerity policies was also discussed â from the perspective of each respective organization. The room was filled to capacity with around 50 people, which was also reflected in the numerous questions: They ranged from the role of trade unions and criticism of IMF programs to currency and trade issues, the social consequences of the debt crisis, and possible ways to achieve greater economic sovereignty. Joel and Boubacar took the time to answer each question comprehensively and engagingly.
The following morning, the final event of the Speaker’s Tour took place: a joint strategy meeting at the Friedrich Ebert Foundation. Representatives from various civil society organizations gathered there. Together, they discussed how the demands of African trade unions could be incorporated into international processes and how medium- and long-term political goals could be pursued. One thing was clear to all of us: only through close networking and joint strategies can real progress be made towards global debt justice. To this end, a number of very specific points and ideas for future cooperation were already noted â at the technical, content and political levels. We will continue to follow up on this!
Conclusion
The tour made one thing clear: trade unions belong at the heart of the global debt cancellation movement! Debt policy is not a niche technical issueâit determines whether countries can invest in health, education, and social infrastructure. I was particularly impressed by Joel’s remarks on how debt specifically affects people’s lives â because behind every statistic there are families and workers who bear the direct costs of the debt crisis. Joel also made it clear how structurally disadvantaged many African countries are due to the unequal global financial architecture and how urgently reforms are needed in this area. His message to us: transnational solidarity is essential! Where trade unions and civil society actors act together, political spaces emerge in which real change becomes possible. The momentum generated during the tour offers an opportunity to further expand and strengthen the networks that have been established, including with the tour’s cooperation partners in Germany.
To conclude with Joel’s words:
âThe most important resource is solidarity.â
Funding information
This publication was co-funded by the European Union. Its contents are the sole responsibility of erlassjahr.de and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union.
