Centre d'études et d'initiatives de solidarité internationale

The Centre d'études et d'initiatives de solidarité internationale (CEDETIM) is a French non-profit association (association loi de 1901) dedicated to international solidarity. It was created in 1965, in the context of the Algerian War and the decolonization struggles, by activists mainly from the international commission of the Parti socialiste unifié (PSU), notably Manuel Bridier and Gustave Massiah. Initially named Centre socialiste d'études du tiers monde, it sought to federate the so-called "pieds-rouges" — left-wing and far-left cooperants who wanted to contribute to the emancipation of the peoples of the former French colonial empire. It acted both as a liaison centre for cooperants scattered around the world and as a think tank on underdevelopment and the Third World. Over the decades, CEDETIM broadened its political engagement. In 1974 it changed its name to Centre d'études anti-impérialistes and became a multi-organizational liaison centre, participating in major French far-left mobilizations such as those around Larzac and the self-managed takeover of the Lip watch factory. Internationally, it helped found the Chile Committees against Pinochet's dictatorship in 1973 and coordinated them from 1973 to 1976. From 1971 it also supported immigrant workers' struggles, animating the Collectifs unitaires Français-immigrés (CUFI) and creating an "école des cadres de l'immigration". In 1976 it created the Centre international de culture populaire (CICP) to manage infrastructure, including a Paris building on rue Nanteuil, an printing press ("l'Internationale") and a publication distribution centre (Diffusion populaire). In July 1989, CEDETIM was, with the CRID and "Agir ici", behind a major mobilization "for the abolition of Third World debt". Since 2003 it has been part of the Réseau Initiatives pour un autre monde (IPAM), alongside organizations such as AITEC, AEC, AMORCES, CEDIDELP and Échanges et partenariats. It is currently chaired by Bernard Dréano. The association continues to work for solidarity with the countries and peoples of the Global South, and its history is closely tied to the emergence of the alter-globalization movement in France.

CEDETIM's history begins in the mid-1960s, in the context of the Algerian War and the decolonization struggles. In the various currents of the French far left of the 1960s, "anti-imperialist struggle" occupied an essential place. These commitments of radicalized youth and intellectuals extended those of the UNEF and the "porteurs de valises" against the Algerian War, but it was now American imperialism, more than French neo-colonialism, that was denounced, through support for the Vietnamese NLF, revolutionary Cuba and Latin American guerrillas. It was in this context that the discreet creation, on 22 September 1967 in Paris, of the "Centre socialiste de documentation et d'études sur les problèmes du tiers monde" (Cedetim) took place. The initiative came from PSU activists marked by their professional experiences in Africa. The president, Manuel Bridier, a former resistance fighter and communist close to the Trotskyists, and a cadre since 1954 of the Caisse centrale de coopération économique, had founded the first Cedetim in 1965, a think tank. The CEDETIM (initially Centre socialiste d'études du tiers monde) was created and built between 1965 and 1967, alongside the decolonization struggles. Under the impetus of activists mainly from the international commission of the Parti socialiste unifié, notably Manuel Bridier and Gustave Massiah, the centre first sought to federate, in an anti-colonialist spirit, those who called themselves "pieds-rouges" — cooperants, left-wing or far-left activists who sought to contribute to the emancipation of the peoples of the former colonies of the former French Empire. CEDETIM thus initially played the role both of a liaison centre for cooperants scattered around the world and of a think tank on underdevelopment and the Third World. But the politicization of CEDETIM's activities quickly engaged it in broader political battles linked to French politics. This was stated very clearly at the end of September 1968 during the CEDETIM general assembly, which affirmed that "the association intends not to limit itself to the problems of cooperation nor to the world of cooperants". These beginnings linked to the history of the PSU were essential in the association's history, particularly to understand its role in the 1980s and 1990s. First, because CEDETIM's leadership then rejected the model of development aid defined in that period, a model taken up by Christian Third-Worldists and those who would become humanitarians. According to Gustave Massiah, "the whole beginning of 1968 is very marked by the debate on the place of the Third World and that is where a fairly strong rupture occurs for us with what will become the humanitarians afterwards and with the Third-Worldism of the Catholics who develop the idea of local work, small projects, etc. And we, we defend a more political idea... We speak of class struggles, of world revolution. In short, we accuse them of being localist-basist!" From 1969, with the repression of protest movements after 1968, the Ministry of Cooperation began hunting "red cooperants". National activists were imprisoned, cooperants expelled. CEDETIM's leaders then decided to burn their files of member cooperants and asked them not to return to the groups they organized in France. As a result, CEDETIM went from 3,000 members to about fifty. But the PSU split in the early 1970s and, as the Rocardian tendency became majority, most of CEDETIM's organizers left the PSU, no longer believing in the possibility of transforming it from within. As a good number of them became involved in various structures such as the peasants-workers movement or various Maoist groups, CEDETIM became a sort of multi-organizational liaison centre. It then changed its name in 1974, becoming the "Centre d'études anti-impérialistes", and participated in the major movements mobilizing the far left in France at that time, such as those developed around Larzac or the self-managed takeover of the Lip watch production company. Internationally, CEDETIM participated in the constitution in 1973 of the Chile Committees against Augusto Pinochet's dictatorship, which gathered up to 20,000 people. CEDETIM ensured their direction and coordination from 1973 to 1976. Similarly, faithful to their first African commitments, CEDETIM's founders became involved from 1971 in support for immigrant struggles. They animated the "Collectifs unitaires Français-immigrés" (CUFI) and created in 1971 an "école des cadres de l'immigration" that brought together nine immigrant associations: the UGTSF (Union générale des travailleurs sénégalais en France), the Fédération des travailleurs d'Afrique, the Réunionnais (UGTRF), the Portuguese, the Spanish, the Antillais (AGTAG), the Algerians, the Moroccans and the Tunisians. At that time, the association's organizers decided to set up a series of new structures useful to all the activists it brought together. Thus the raising of funds by a militant subscription and their investment in a société civile immobilière allowed them to acquire and equip a Paris building, rue Nanteuil, in the 15th arrondissement, to house numerous associations and several support committees (from the Larzac committees to numerous refugee committees and national liberation committees); they made available to them a printing press ("l'Internationale") and a publication distribution centre (Diffusion populaire) in which the young activist François Gèze, the future director of éditions La Découverte, made his first forays. In 1976, they created an associative structure to manage these infrastructures, the "Centre international de culture populaire" (CICP), an association with an innocuous name to avoid the attention of the Minister of the Interior of the time, Michel Poniatowski. In July 1989, CEDETIM was, with the CRID and "Agir ici", at the origin of a major mobilization "for the abolition of Third World debt". It brought to bear its links with the far left and its insertion among the... [text truncated in source]. Since 2003, it has been part of the Réseau Initiatives pour un autre monde (IPAM) with other organizations such as AITEC, AEC, AMORCES, CEDIDELP and Échanges et partenariats. It is currently chaired by Bernard Dréano.

• 2003

  CEDETIM becomes part of the Réseau Initiatives pour un autre monde (IPAM) with other organizations.

• 1989

  In July, CEDETIM is, with the CRID and 'Agir ici', at the origin of a major mobilization 'for the abolition of Third World debt'.

• 1976

  Creation of the Centre international de culture populaire (CICP) to manage infrastructure including a Paris building, a printing press and a distribution centre.

• 1974

  CEDETIM changes its name to 'Centre d'études anti-impérialistes' and becomes a multi-organizational liaison centre.

• 1973

  CEDETIM participates in the constitution of the Chile Committees against Pinochet's dictatorship, which gather up to 20,000 people; it ensures their direction and coordination until 1976.

• 1971

  CEDETIM becomes involved in supporting immigrant struggles, animates the Collectifs unitaires Français-immigrés (CUFI) and creates an 'école des cadres de l'immigration'.

• 1969

  Following repression of protest movements, the Ministry of Cooperation hunts 'red cooperants'; CEDETIM burns its member files and its membership drops from 3,000 to about fifty.

• 1968

  At its general assembly in late September, CEDETIM affirms it will not limit itself to cooperation problems or to the world of cooperants.

• 1967

  Discreet creation in Paris on 22 September of the 'Centre socialiste de documentation et d'études sur les problèmes du tiers monde' (Cedetim).

• 1965

  Creation of the first Cedetim, a think tank, by Manuel Bridier.

A historic French international-solidarity and alter-globalization organization, rooted in anti-colonial and anti-imperialist activism and working through networks, research and advocacy.

• Research and documentation on Third World and international solidarity issues

• Advocacy campaigns on debt abolition and North-South relations

• Liaison and coordination of activist networks

• Publications and diffusion of militant literature

• Mobilization for the abolition of Third World debt (July 1989)
• Chile Committees against Pinochet's dictatorship (1973–1976)
• Support for immigrant workers' struggles and CUFI (from 1971)

1. 1Le Cedetim, de la « coopération rouge » à l’altermondialisme | IPAMreseau-ipam.org
2. 2Centre d'études et d'initiatives de solidarité internationale — Wikidatawikidata.org
3. 3Centre d'études et d'initiatives de solidarité internationale — Wikipédiafr.wikipedia.org