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7 Dec Mass action. take your money out of the bank

jack | 21.11.2010 10:57 | Sheffield

Internet campaign for coordinated global bank withdrawals gaining momentum

Article from guardian website
 http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/nov/20/eric-cantona-bank-protest-campaign

Eric Cantona's call for bank protest sparks online campaign


As students and public sector workers across Europe prepare for a winter of protests, they have been offered advice from the archetypal football rebel Eric Cantona.

Cantona was once a famous exponent of direct action against adversaries on and off the pitch. In 1995 he was given a nine-month ban after launching a karate kick at a Crystal Palace fan who shouted racist abuse at the former Manchester United star after he was sent off. But while sympathising with the predicament of the protesters in France, the now retired Cantona is urging a more sophisticated approach to dissent.

The 44-year-old former footballer recommended a run on the cash reserves of the world's banks during a newspaper interview that was also filmed. The interview has become a YouTube hit and has spawned a new political movement.

The regional newspaper Presse Océan in Nantes had asked Cantona about his work with the Abbé Pierre Foundation, which campaigns for housing for the destitute and for which he produced a book of photographs last year. But the discussion soon moved on to other issues, including the demonstrations in France and elsewhere against government cutbacks in the new era of austerity.

Cantona, wearing a bright red jumper, dismissed protesters who take to the streets with placards and banners as passé. Instead, he said, they should create a social and economic revolution by taking their money out of their bank.

He said: "I don't think we can be entirely happy seeing such misery around us. Unless you live in a pod. But then there is a chance... there is something to do. Nowadays what does it mean to be on the streets? To demonstrate? You swindle yourself. Anyway, that's not the way any more.

"We don't pick up weapons to kill people to start the revolution. The revolution is really easy to do these days. What's the system? The system is built on the power of the banks. So it must be destroyed through the banks.

"This means that the three million people with their placards on the streets, they go to the bank and they withdraw their money and the banks collapse. Three million, 10 million people, and the banks collapse and there is no real threat. A real revolution.

"We must go to the bank. In this case there would be a real revolution. It's not complicated; instead of going on the streets and driving kilometres by car you simply go to the bank in your country and withdraw your money, and if there are a lot of people withdrawing their money the system collapses. No weapons, no blood, or anything like that."

He concludes: "It's not complicated and in this case they will listen to us in a different way. Trade unions? Sometimes we should propose ideas to them."

Cantona's call appeared to touch a popular chord and generated an instant response. Nearly 40,000 people have clicked on the YouTube clip, and a French-based movement – StopBanque – has taken up the campaign for a massive coordinated withdrawal of money from banks on 7 December. It is claimed that more than 14,000 people are already committed to removing deposits. The movement is also gaining increasing attention in Britain.

The trio of French Facebook users now leading the campaign have appealed to people across Europe to provoke a bank crash. "It is we who control the banks, not vice versa," they write.

In a fuller statement on the website Bankrun2010.com, the organisers write: "Our call has been more successful than we dared think. Our action is a people's movement... we're not seeking to destroy anyone in particular, it's the corrupt, criminal and moribund system that we have decided to oppose using what means we can, with determination and within the law." The statement is signed by Géraldine Feuillien, 41, a Belgian filmmaker, and Yann Sarfati, 24, an actor and director from France.

Sarfati said he and his friends had simply wanted to pass on Cantona's video clip, but had found themselves caught up in a global "citizens' movement".

"We were surprised by the interest and the buzz it created on the internet. It has really spread; there are now Facebook events in Italy, Romania, Bulgaria and even Korea," Sarfati said.

"We're not anarchists, nor linked to any political party or trade union; we're not even an organisation. We just thought this was another way of protesting."

He added: "In between doing publicity campaigns for L'Oréal, Cantona has this revolutionary side. He earns a good living, but obviously he has a social conscience and I think he is sincere."

Valérie Ohannesian, of the French Banking Federation, said she thought that the appeal was "stupid in every sense" and a charter for thieves and money-launderers.

"My first reaction is to laugh. It is totally idiotic," she told the Observer. "One of the main roles of a bank is to keep money safe. This appeal will give great pleasure to thieves, I would have thought."

She also doubted the practicalities of the suggestion. "If Mr Cantona wants to take his money out of the bank, I imagine that he'll need quite a few suitcases," she said.

jack

Comments

Hide the following 13 comments

Eric Con-tana

21.11.2010 11:29

Let's imagine for one moment that this stunt did work and that the banking system "collapsed" across the western world. How much do you think your cash would be worth?

Reality check


Where should I keep it then?

21.11.2010 12:29

Under the bed?

Crazy Barry


Buy Gold and Silver

21.11.2010 13:15

The idea of boycotting the banks should be ongoing. Only keep what you need for regular transactions in the bank. The rest should be withdrawn and used to buy gold and silver.

Even students can buy a few ounces of silver and even if the banks and currencies collapse, silver and gold will retain their intrinsic value.

Privately owned central banks have been robbing the people through inflation. They along with othe financial institutions have created these financial bubbles. They have been gambling with other people's money and the government have bailed them out with public money.

Ignore the naysayers... most of them are invested in the system as it is and are trying to save their hides. This is the time for people all over the world to exert their strength and take back the initiative from the wealthy elite who have been feeding off the poor and oppressing the weak.

We also need to establish a Republic style government that is run by the people and for the benefit of all the people not just a few. Taxation needs to be shifted from the workers and onto the large landholders who are mostly aristocrats like the British Royal Family that has inherited their land and capital. Tax the rich, not the poor.

Klamber


COnatana and economical experts from indymedia...

21.11.2010 13:23

I don't know if to laugh or cry when I see articles like this. If everybody got their money out of banks, they wouldn't collapse, just inflation would get as high as african currencies, not 2% like we got now, but probably 3000% . Anyway no economist knows how the economy really works these days, the effects would be unpredictable.. however, are you seeking to make revolution which will deepen the world in hunger and poverty or to change the world for better? bringing complete chaos and starvation is not an answer I think.
Albeit demonstrations which turn violent and burn the city are just temporary chaos which in purpose is not to destroy the present world, but to show that we hate this world order. And still, we live in it and if we burn all, our comfort would be no more and millions of disorganised people would kill, steal and stink, probably in the case of instant disorganised anarchy, some other more malicious country with it's system would take over.. Do you want to live under North Korean or Chinese regime??

Conatana


Swot Up, Activists

21.11.2010 13:38

I know the comments section of indymedia is hardly a hotbed of intellectual activism, but come on...

Cantona is proposing something we should have been for decades.

Take the money out of capitalist scumfuck banks (or refuse to pay yer loans) and put it into: local credit unions (where it will be lent to working class people for necessary expenditure without being skimmed for shareholder profit and managerial bonusses) or

Building societies (where you at least theoretically have ownership rights over the 'bank' and voting rights on it's management, their remuneration and policies) or

Local currencies (effectively full reserve banks which mean no pressure for economic growth and expanding debt, as well as their main function of promoting local economic prosperity) or

(if you actually have a sizeable chunk) Invest it direct in something local and decent you believe in - or give it away.

Keep it under the bed - at least you won't be effectively giving money to shareholders and banker bonusses.

If you're living under the illusion that it's 'safe' to have your money in a bank, or makes sense because you 'earn' 'interest', you are being breathtakingly silly. Banks are not safe (should be pretty clear now), you'd be the first to lose money if they collapse (unless the govt pays, in which case you pay anyway), and unless you've got over £100,000 the 'interest' you 'earn' is still less than your money has 'earnt' for the bank, and likely less than you'll pay as 'interest' on loans in the course of your lifetime - this is the case for ~80% of the population.

Only 20% of the population are benefitting at all from our current banking structure. Even Meryvn King - Governor of the Bank of England - admits that "of all the banking systems we could possibly imagine, we have the worst"

C'mon Cantona. Let's Gives banks a Kung-fu kick (and some racists while we're at it, eh?)

PP

 http://www.positivemoney.org.uk/ - campaign and resource group

For more info try  http://www.redpepper.org.uk/The-future-of-money of Mary Mellor's book The Future of Money (on which this article is based)

 http://gaianeconomics.blogspot.com/ or Molly Scott Cato(author of blog)'s books Market Schmarket, Green Economics

or look at Argentina post economic crisis 2001: www.thetake.org/ , www.naomiklein.org/articles/2009/02/all-them-must-go , www.newstatesman.com/south.../08/argentina-workers-movement

PeterPannier
- Homepage: http://www.twitter.com/PeterPannier


now blackblocers are defending the banking system, you're shitting me

21.11.2010 13:44

WTF?!

smashing bank windows is strategically helpful but actually causing the collapse of banks and their system that enslaves us is a bad idea. no wonder anarchism has got nowhere since 1936...

"we'd better not upset the banks, otherwise we might cause starvation"

"err, couldn't we still grow food and share it"

"hmmm... well, ideologically i can agree, but no, we must protect the banking system at all costs"

"um, but our literature says we must destroy it by any means necessary"

"pfft, that's just our agit-prop to get people to throw rocks through windows, we don't actually *mean* it"

I'll say it again... What. The. Fuck.

PeterPannier


Gold and silver have no "intrinsic" value

21.11.2010 14:11

@Klamber: "even if the banks and currencies collapse, silver and gold will retain their intrinsic value."

Gold and silver have no "intrinsic" value - they are only valued for cultural reasons. Sure they are useful for some things purely for their practical value (e.g. gold connectors in electronics) but their monetary value at the moment is far in excess of their practical value. This idea of gold being some kind of God-given currency is just US libertarian conspiracy theory bullshit

You also have the problem of people stealing your gold and silver. True, the banks can equally steal your money too, but...

The best solution is to just have enough for yourself to live on. What you don't have can't be stolen. Or ideally abolish money altogether.

anon


@anon

21.11.2010 14:55

Gold and silver will always have some value, as you say they are also widely used in the technical, chemical and health industries. As far as security goes, I have a floor safe and very few people apart from my close family know where it is and what it contains.

Yes, I agree, gold and silver are not the be all and end all of life but they are a tried and tested means of saving and trading without letting the banks have a monopoly on currency.

I would also agree that to find some peace and happiness in this life we must learn to be more self-sufficient and enjoy what we need, not what we want.

We need to reclaim the Common Land and rights to access it. All Common Land that has been taken from the people by the Robber Barons, who now like to be referred to as aristocrats, must be returned to Common Ownership and the traditional freedoms along with it that have been ligislated out of existence by the faux parliament. The Common Law is the Law of this land, not Legistlation that is Contract Law derived from Admiralty Law.

There is a Criminal Conspiracy by the wealthy elite, not just in this country but around the world. One only has to look at the poverty, the homelessness and the desperation of the the people compared to the smug wealth and arrogance of those in power.

Tax the rich, not the poor!

Klamber


Awesome idea

21.11.2010 16:02

Congrats to Peter Pannier for making intelligent points!

Mobilizing people to withdraw savings on December 7th would be an incredible form of protest. Even if people said 'But what if the banks collapse?' that is exactly the sort of thing people need to be thinking about, THE BANKS NEED US NOT THE OTHER WAY AROUND! There's no reason you'd have to keep it under the bed, credit unions are the best easy option, an even better option is getting together with local activists and forming your own union where you can jointly invest in causes that will genuinly improve your circumstances, not just get you a tenner a month in interest.

Imagine if an anti-cuts group could get together and put all their savings into forming a not-for-profit community cafe or wholesale food scheme or land coop or something!! They wouldn't lose money because it would just sit in the bank anyway, but they'd gain infrastructure which will actually make a difference in replacing capitalism.

Imagine if a critical mass of people did a bank run on Dec 7th/ Whenever, so that the banks actually got scared and people went to withdraw. It's more than any demo/black bloc could ever do.

Frank


Might I humbly suggest (practicality)

21.11.2010 17:06

This form of protest is effective only if done by those who HAVE money in the banks.

It doesn't matter what the 80% of the people who together have only 5% of the money in the banks decide to do. Only the other 20% who together have 95% of the money in the banks. Or whatever your percentages would be.

Poor folks and folks just getting by don't HAVE any money in the banks to take out. I dare say most of the readers of Indymedia are more likley to have overdrafts or minimal amounts on deposit than sizable positive balances.

MDN


Eric has a point

21.11.2010 17:41

The nature of modern banking is that it is fractional reserve. This means that, for every £1 you put in the Bank can magically create £100. Which is the source and nature of the current financial crisis.

Banks have progressively introduced "policies" that mean you are not permitted to take more than £500 in cash out in any one transaction. The official reason given will be to prevent fraud. The actual reason is to avoid the situation where liquidity (all of those magically created £100's) dries up.

It really does not matter how little people take out. If they do it in a concerted manner on a certain day then it will have an extremely potent effect. One hundred people taking £65 of money out take £6,500 physical notes out but take £6,500,000 of liquidity out of the system. The protest is effective because the system got "too big to fail" (oh look it failed anyway).

Flat Eric


addicted to banks

21.11.2010 20:00

The comments above show how society (social hierarchy) is supported by a system of dependent live stock. Some one turns up with a really potent weapon and even the revolutionaries attack it, and so defend the system.

If you want a democratic banking system, where the people get to vote, that's what you've got. Just buy shares in the bank!

The system isn't imposed on the people against their will. Most people want it because there dependent on it, just like a drug addict.

Theoretically to bankrupt a fractional reserve bank, you'd have to disinvest the reserve. If the reserve is say 10% of the banks liability, that's what you'd have to withdraw. So to bankrupt french banks would need 6,500,000 average investors to close their accounts. But if even a few thousand closed their accounts it would cause very big logistical problems, and could lead to a lack of confidence which could do the rest of the job.

But more to the point, if you want a world without the tyranny of banking, you've got to learn to live without a bank account. That would't have been hard just 40 years ago. But bankers, just like drug dealers, want to get you addicted.


anarchist


Bankrun 7 decembre (and after)

28.11.2010 13:01

Money is the trick to stole everything.
FED is the main gangster, as Paul Grignon explain in its video :
 http://www.moneyasdebt.net/
 http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2550156453790090544
Or for frenchies
 http://bankster.tv/videos.htm

So If you do not want tha bankers continue to stole your lifes, when speculating on your country (like Irish are now slaves of bangsters for generations), withdraw all your money the 7 decembre!

More data on bankrun2010 event on facebook (23 country alraedy in the loop) or here :  http://www.stopbank.blogspot.com/

Put your money only on cooperative/ethical banks, or In gold or silver if you prefer. But do not let bangster speculate whis your money!

Uman ET
- Homepage: http:// http://www.stopbank.blogspot.com/


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