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Barclays Branches Targeted in Protests Against Tax Avoidance
UK Uncut mounts direct action against 50 branches as Barclays admits it paid 1% corporation tax in 2009
More than 50 branches of Barclays bank across the UK have been targeted by activists protesting against tax avoidance.
A protester from UK Uncut raises his arms as he takes part in an occupation of a branch of Barclays bank in central London. Photograph: Carl Court/AFP/Getty Images The direct action by UK Uncut, taking place in more than 30 towns and cities including London, Liverpool, Manchester and Birmingham, came as Barclays was forced to admit it paid just £113m in UK corporation tax in 2009 – a year when it rang up a record £11.6bn of profits.
A UK Uncut spokesman said: "We are hoping to very peacefully and legally send a big message to Barclays that paying 1% corporation tax is not really acceptable."
There are around 10 different protests underway in central London with protesters staging a live stand-up comedy show, a breakfast club for children and setting up a library.
Ruth Griffiths, 36, a UK Uncut supporter, said: "Today we are transforming the banks into schools, leisure centres and libraries and forests because it's society that's too big to fail, not a broken banking system."
Earlier this morning protesters gathered outside the entrance of the Barclays branch at Piccadilly Circus, holding banners saying: "People before profits" and chanting "books not bonuses" as they made an impromptu library outside the building.
After 30 minutes of public protest waiting police officers intervened to request activists move on.
Most of the group began walking towards another branch via Soho, while 20 people remained at the bank in Piccadilly Circus.
Supporters of UK Uncut said people were also angry at the refusal of Barclays' chief executive Bob Diamond to apologise for the banks' role in the economic crisis.
Emma Draper, 25, who stayed outside the branch, said: "It was announced yesterday that Barclays paid around 1% corporation tax.
"The government is allowing banks such as Barclays to get away with not paying huge percentages of their taxes while at the same time slashing public services.
"The cuts are not necessary, they are a political choice because the government chooses to continue to prop up banks such as Barclays instead of funding public services."
UK Uncut, a group set up five months ago to oppose government cuts and corporate tax avoidance, has previously targeted companies such as Vodafone, Top Shop and Boots.
CD Editor's note: See the US Uncut website here: http://www.usuncut.org
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32 Comments so far
Show AllSame thing happening in the US. When are the citizens here going to revolt against the banks and their corrupt minions in the government? Viva la revolution!
Yeah! I call it the "Bankster Welfare Theft Program".
You might find this interesting, as to the long haul.
www.contactcon.com
It was my prediction, and indeed hope, that this would eventually happen, where techies, nerds, and activists start taking action to create an decentralized internet that can't be taken down. This conference will be the first of its kind, coordinated with meetups all over the country. Everyone is invited to give their ideas, whether artists, or whatever.
... with protesters staging a live stand-up comedy show, a breakfast club for children and setting up a library ... Bravo!
If your protests don't get major media attention, then they are invisible.
CD can stand for many things, including "Common Dreams." I propose that it also becomes the acronym for "Creative Disruption."
Ahhhh! Nice idea. Akin to Creative Dissoncance. How about Creative Disconnection? I sense the feeling and energy for "Creative Disruption" is found here on CD. Where is the energy and passion to throw on's being into the jaws of the "system"? Union activists in Wisconsin---as well as the brothers in Egypt and Tunisia---have provided a template for action. Have the sheeple of Western idiocracy the guts to put it on the line when it counts? Time will tell, methinks. The time is nigh.
It will happen when concerned people turn there concern into ACTION.
We are the ones who must make this happen. Look in the mirrow. For your children and grandchildren take action NOW
Here is the U.S. UNCUT web site:
US Uncut
http://www.usuncut.org/
Thank you!
Wake up America!! Join the Wisconsonites and demand economic justice! The Egyptians led the way, then their neighbors, followed by Wisconsin citizens. Now let the movement grow and attack the real roots of America's problems: Banksters & Wall Streeters, Lobbyists, Mega media, MIC & war profiteers, Health Industrial Complex (insurance companies, Pharma, etc), Fascist Supreme Court "justices." No doubt, they all have a fat, secret bank account in the Cayman Islands, Dubai, Abu Dabi, or Switzerland.
They have stolen our country. THEY are the traitors who have TERRORIZED American citizens. They are only interested in "empire" and money-----the only reason for all these wars---and their goal is to replace our beloved country with a permanent neofeudal state. They have stolen the remnants of our system of government---"democracy" has become a delusion since Saint Ronnie ascended the throne 30 years ago.
Geez pavrov.......you sound just like me!
...and me ... and many of us who are ready to put our bodies on the line - for our grandchildren's future.
Go, Brits, go!
Go, Brits, go!
And go some more!!! Citadels of evils remain.
......and me. Thank you!
Saint Ronnie set us off on the path to fascism and billie and barry both the thorny Bushies have hastened the pace. We are in desperate need of regime change in this nation. The top 1% of the most wealthy own the place and that includes all three branches of our government. With the Supreme Court ruling that a corporation is a person and entitled to the protections of our Constitution, we are in the last stage of our republic. The United States is a world empire and our government gives us the same rights and protections that any greedy dictator allows their citizens.
We need to follow the lead of the Tunisians and Egyptians and the brave citizens of Madison Wisconsin to get REGIME CHANGE. In the French revolution they killed the very rich; here I suggest we tax the bastards. No one deserves over a million dollar each year in income. End the wars and tax the rich. We are going to have to get out on the streets to get this done. No one in elected office wants the change we need. They are corrupt and happy with their nice perks.
Join Facebook and Twitter. With these tools we can coordinate our actions. Get ready! Change can happen.
Here is a substantial "inventory" of methods for our continued non-violent uprising:
http://www.aeinstein.org/organizations103a.html
The organization was founded by Dr. Gene Sharp. whose "guide book" inspired the Egyptian uprising.
And check out: TheEinsteinPlan.com
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gene_Sharp
We have the power! Let's make things right. South America and the Middle East will believe in us as a people.
And for the long haul, check out…
www.contactcon.com
It is about techies, nerds, artists, whoever, coming together to share ideas on how to make a completely decentralized home spun networks come together, so any "kill switch" won't be 100% effective.
Sorry. There's just something not right about this Gene Sharp.
http://www.intrepidreport.com/archives/422
More on Gene Sharp:
http://www.counterpunch.org/maher04162008.html
http://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/2600
http://notmytribe.com/2007/otpor-and-the-us-made-coup-attempts-against-chavez-in-venezuela-81260.html
We need a "Canada Uncut", too. How about it?
"More than 50 branches of Barclays bank across the UK have been targeted by activists protesting against tax avoidance [by banks]."
Good one. Should be even stronger.
Banks are infrastructure - should be publicly owned and run. Why do we collectively accept profiteers with slurping drinking straws into the transactions of cash flow we must make daily in order to function? - No good reason. Banks like government should be non-profit.
and who suggests we need "austerity"?
The millionaires in charge.
Lots of news out there, here is an article regarding a loophole they found.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704657704576150443241518166.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
In other related news...
http://dailybail.com/home/angelo-walks-feds-drop-criminal-probe-against-mozilo.html
My prediction was that nobody would take the government/whorporate-in-bed-together scenario seriously until the middle class was affected. They all failed to listen to us "socialists' , hippies, activists, or whatever, as we saw the whole thing unraveling years ago. Thank you Dr Zinn and Dr Chomsky et al. So now, those of us in the left bottom corner are just tickled pink to see this finally happening. We support you, cheer you, and cherish you, Wisconsiners....
One must realize that the light will always overcome the dark. The light has shone in Wisconsin and there's no putting it out now. REVOLUTION.
And seventeen hoopalas and shouts at UK...so brave.
oh how i wish what the wisconsin "middle-class" wants was a REVOLUTION!
my favorite Wisconsin poster
"revolution is the solution"
If you're on Facebook "like" UK Uncut, write something on their wall to show support. We need to band together globally and one of those first steps is using the online tools that we have. This is where we start to wake up, as the Brits are doing. Their education, their universal healthcare, etc. -- everything under attack over there, too. They're getting the message that if they don't fight back big it will all be gone. Fight the global oligarchy globally.
Great thoughts...Thanks! Let's ALL wake up! And let's ALL dig in, and dig in some more. And learn, somehow, without shame or appology, to FIGHT BACK!!!
yes! kick the parasites out, take over the banks, and turn them into non-profit public credit system!