MAKE FINANCE PAY: World wakes up to Robin Hood Day
This week (17-21 May) Robin Hood Tax campaigners from across the world are taking part in Make Finance Pay Week, a global event aimed at pushing the financial sector to take responsibility for the global recession it helped cause.
As G20 finance ministers prepare to meet in Berlin this week, coalitions from England, Scotland, the United States, Canada, Germany, France and Australia will come together to campaign for all G20 governments to introduce a Robin Hood Tax on banks that would raise hundreds of billions of dollars annually.
Robin Hood Tax campaigners say this money should be used to prevent cuts in public spending, tackle poverty at home and abroad, and help fight climate change by enabling developing countries to adapt to the effects of global warming.
“Make Finance Pay Week shows that the Robin Hood Tax campaign is now a global phenomenon, with events taking place in at least seven countries on three continents this week,” said Owen Tudor, Head of European Union and International Relations at the TUC.
“We hope that many more people will join the hundreds of thousands of people across the globe who are urging their political leaders to hold banks accountable for the economic crisis they created.
“It’s time for the G20 heads of state to listen and agree a Robin Hood Tax to prevent large-scale cuts in public spending, meet their obligations to developing countries hurt as a result of the global recession, and raise the billions of dollars necessary to protect people from climate change.”
A global petition directed at the G20 heads of state will be launched this week. By signing the petition Make Finance Work, people can show the G20 leaders their support for a Robin Hood Tax.
The Make Finance Pay Week events that will take place this week include:
- Australia The Australian Robin Hood Tax coalition will undertake a film/photo stunt with campaigners dressed as Robin Hood . The event takes place in the Central Business District, Sydney on Thursday 20 May at 1.00pm (EST).
- United States US unions and community-based economic justice groups, led by the National Peoples Action, will take part in demonstrations in Washington DC today (Monday) targeted at the Wall Street lobby. Over 2,000 supporters are expected at the demonstrations.
- United Kingdom Robin Hood Tax campaigners will gather at the Houses of Parliament on Wednesday 19 May at 10.45am to urge new MPs to make a Robin Hood Tax on banks one of their top legislative priorities.
- Scotland Activists will perform a stunt in Glasgow on Wednesday 19 May at 10.30am and march from Concert Hall to the Bank of Scotland on Buchanan Street.
- Germany Activists from the German Robin Hood Tax campaign will perform a stunt in aimed at the heads of state and finance ministers taking part in the G20 informal finance meeting in the city this week.
- Canada Led by Oxfam Canada, campaigners will call on the country’s government to support the Robin Hood Tax, with events taking place in major cities including Toronto, Vancouver, Halifax, Saskatoon, Ottawa and St. John’s.
- France The Robin Hood Tax campaign will officially launch on Tuesday 18 May.
