Oxfam South West to hand over ‘final demand’ to a Bristol bank As banks reveal enormous profits and bonuses, charity joins global day of action to call for Robin Hood Tax.
Oxfam South West will hand over a ‘final demand’ at a Bristol bank on Wednesday (February 16), calling for a tax on the financial sector to help alleviate poverty at home and abroad.
As part of a global day of action, involving organizations such as Comic Relief, Christian Aid, Friends of the Earth and Unite, the charity’s supporters will be at the HSBC bank on College Green, calling for a Robin Hood Tax on financial transactions.
The action comes as bonuses for bankers are revealed. A fresh wave of public anger has been ignited by news that banks are predicted to scoop bonuses of £7bn in the UK while at the same time public spending cuts start to bite.
Meanwhile, Britain's biggest banks are poised to reveal more eye-watering profits, with city analysts predicting combined profits of around £24 billion from four banking giants - HSBC, Barclays, Lloyds and Standard Chartered.
A Robin Hood Tax – a 0.05% levy on each financial transaction made by the banks – would raise up to £20bn in the UK alone. About £7 billion could stop cuts to libraries, schools, higher education and other public services, while another £7 billion could pay for free healthcare for 226 million people in poor countries around the world.
Christopher Brown, from Oxfam South West, said the action was needed to remind banks of their responsibilities to use their huge profits for positive action to alleviate poverty at home and abroad – action called for by governments around the world.
“The expected profits made by the UK banking sector are more than enough to save essential public services – which are being cut left, right and centre in the UK – and bring hundreds of thousands of people around the world out of poverty.
“A Robin Hood Tax, which has been supported by the French president and current president of the G20 Nicolas Sarkozy, is a tax whose time has come. The banks got the world into the financial mess it is in – it is time they paid their fair share to rebuild our economy and save services we all need.”
Oxfam South West will join the global call for a Robin Hood Tax on Wednesday, February 16 between 12 and 1pm at the branch of HSBC at College Green. Supporters will hand over their final demand and ask passers-by to sign a petition in support of the campaign.
The media are invited to attend – Oxfam South West volunteers, dressed as Robin Hood, will be available for interview and photographs from 12.30pm.
ENDS
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For more information about the Robin Hood Tax, visit:
Similar events will be held in Cardiff, Hereford, Glasgow, Manchester and London, in the UK, as well as in 12 countries around the world, including France, Germany and Canada.
Oxfam works with others to overcome poverty and suffering
Urgent action is needed to stop
drought in West Africa's Sahel region turning into a humanitarian disaster
affecting 13 million people, Oxfam says.
I assume that those vehement critics of Occupy Bristol (see here) are happy with huge and unfair inequality that exists - perhaps they are even advocates of it. The 2010 report, An Anatomy of Economic Inequality in the UK showed that the richest 10% of the population are more than 100 times as wealthy as the poorest 10% of society - and comparison between the richest here and the poorest in the world is of course even worse.
Human population is currently 6.989 billion. It will reach 7 billion next month. You can see the statistics in real time here http://www.worldometers.info/ . 
Energy efficiency reduces fuel poverty, tackles climate change, creates employment, generates money for the local economy, produces warm homes with lower, affordable fuel bills, less misery, ill-health and social exclusion - and lowers winter deaths due to the cold.
Oxfam South West to hand over ‘final demand’ to a Bristol bank As banks reveal enormous profits and bonuses, charity joins global day of action to call for Robin Hood Tax.
A network of charities that offer free, independent, and confidential legal advice to households on low incomes in Bristol and the surrounding areas are calling for help from the people of Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire. Proposed cuts in government funding will mean a huge reduction in the services that these agencies can offer to the most vulnerable individuals in society.
Passing on this from Nick Thomas...I'm just spreading word of a free event that may be of interest. It's the final event of the European Year for Combating Poverty & Social Exclusion - a large-scale exercise in direct democracy that we hope will attract a wide range of contributors with interest, ideas or experience of the issues involved. It's called A World in Waiting, evoking the better world that we hold in our hearts and that we could and should do more to make a reality. The agenda is completely open, to be set on the day - and the Dept for Work & Pensions is expecting us to generate 5 “policy asks” from the day’s deliberations, so it should have practical outcomes!
A UK government-commissioned study into food security has called for urgent action to avert global hunger.
Excellent letter in The Guardian:
Simon Hughes' words on housing benefit changes - 'harsh and draconian' - are right but I want to see him and others like him back their words with actions. A roof over your head is a basic need and the changes risk significantly increasing homelessness - on top of all the extra risk of a lot more unemployment, cuts in councils services and so on...
When Fairness sticks in your throat (Jonathon Porritt)
Deputy PM Nick Clegg is very unwise and unmeasured indeed to launch such an outspoken attack on the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) - using words like 'frightening people' and 'airbrushing' - because it is very widely respected for its expertise, independence and authority. This is not good leadership and in fact both Nick Clegg and Chancellor George Osbourne praised the IFS highly during the summer general election! Take a look at why the IFS regard the spending review as on the whole affecting poorer people more than richer people here. For me it makes very good sense to conclude that the poor will suffer most because they are the ones most reliant on the public services and benefits that have been savagely cut - and even the government's own figures (see image), calculated in their own way, show that the bottom 10% are hit hard. Government attempts at making the cuts 'fair' are far too small.
Ed Miliband drew on the well known Oscar Wilde quote ‘What is a cynic? A man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.’ in his first conference speech as Labour leader. Strange coming from a man who directly equates ever increasing money flow through our economy (GDP growth) with progress and wellbeing. Ed, along with Tory David Cameron and Lib Dem Nick Clegg, supports and advocates a corrupted notion of wealth which is narrow, materialist and cash-value centred.
Lansdown: now not living in the UK let alone Bristol or the West Country; now avoiding paying taxes here but clearly has made and is making shed loads of cash here....does he sound like someone committed to this country and this city to you?? Maybe someone would like to make the case for this man ??