Barclays Banks across the UK closed down by protesters

[editor]

So far there's reports of 41 banks being closed as a result of a UKUncut action.

Follow UKUncut on Twitter for the latest updates. Press release here: http://ukuncut.org.uk/blog/press-release-uk-uncut-plans-weekend-of-bank-protests

The Brixton branch was closed down this morning

 

[xes]

ooh, I'm popping into town in a bit, I'll have a look and see if there's anything here. I'm willing to bet money that this little pocket of hertfordshore has a fully functional Barklays bank

 

[editor]

This can't be from the real Barclays Twitter account, can it?

http://twitter.com/#!/BarclaysBankUK

 

[Wilson]

they're going to open on sunday?

 

[Dillinger4]

This can't be from the real Barclays Twitter account, can it?

http://twitter.com/#!/BarclaysBankUK

Not real.

I think this is great, a bit of bad publicity and public anger against Barclay's.

However, local branch business and deposits are only ever going to be a tiny part of their business.

 

[sleaterkinney]

Not real.

What makes you say that?

I think this is great, a bit of bad publicity and public anger against Barclay's.

However, local branch business and deposits are only ever going to be a tiny part of their business.

I think targeting the politicians who make such crap laws is a better target,imo

 

[editor]

The good part is that it's getting the ordinarily dull and oft-ignored facts about Barclays' tax avoidance into the mainstream at a time when we're beng told that we're "all in it together" and communities are facing massive cuts to services.

 

[Dillinger4]

What makes you say that?

I think targeting the politicians who make such crap laws is a better target,imo

It was set up three days ago. With a name like BarclaysBankUK, you would imagine that to be one of their main twitter accounts to talk to customers. It just doesn't look real to me at all.

I think targeting politicians is a bit of waste of time as well. They are essentially passing laws that have been wrote by the City of London, just like tax havens like the Caymans/Jersey etc have had their laws wrote directly by financial interests and have merely rubber stampted them.

 

[Dillinger4]

The good part is that it's getting the ordinarily dull and oft-ignored facts about Barclays' tax avoidance into the mainstream at a time when we're beng told that we're "all in it together" and communities are facing massive cuts to services.

I don't think the facts about tax avoidance are truly being raised here. I agree completely, its good to raise awareness of it in general, but the facts of what allows tax dodging of this kind is still being obscured.

 

[Kid_Eternity]

The good part is that it's getting the ordinarily dull and oft-ignored facts about Barclays' tax avoidance into the mainstream at a time when we're beng told that we're "all in it together" and communities are facing massive cuts to services.

This. /\/\

 

[editor]

I don't think the facts about tax avoidance are truly being raised here. I agree completely, its good to raise awareness of it in general, but the facts of what allows tax dodging of this kind is still being obscured.

Corporate tax laws are hugely complicated and not easy to digest but I think the average person in the street will arrive at the same conclusion that Barclays only paying a paltry sum of £113m in corporation taxes on record profits of £11.6bn is unbelievably out of order.

 

[Mr.Bishie]

Barclay's holds the largest amount of shares in the global arms sector, with £7.3 billion invested in total.

• Ranks amongst the top 10 largest investors in US arms
companies.

• Serves as principal banker for three arms companies: VT
Group, Cobham and Meggitt.

• Has been part of 50 syndicated loans to the arms sector
over the last 10 years and has invested in and gives loans to
companies that produce cluster munitions and depleted
uranium munitions.

http://bristol.indymedia.org/article/702963

@the banks!

 

[sleaterkinney]

It was set up three days ago. With a name like BarclaysBankUK, you would imagine that to be one of their main twitter accounts to talk to customers. It just doesn't look real to me at all.

It looks fairly real to me, going on about loans etc

I think targeting politicians is a bit of waste of time as well. They are essentially passing laws that have been wrote by the City of London, just like tax havens like the Caymans/Jersey etc have had their laws wrote directly by financial interests and have merely rubber stampted them.

At the end of the day, we vote them in or out - but I agree the link between govt and business is far too close.

 

[Dillinger4]

Corporate tax laws are hugely complicated and not easy to digest but I think the average person in the street will arrive at the same conclusion that Barclays only paying a paltry sum of £113m in corporation taxes on record profits of £11.6bn is unbelievably out of order.

Offshore banking is what ties all of this together. It allows banks/corporations/multinationals/wealthy individual scum to:

Move their money offshore and avoid paying taxes
Set up sham companies that don't even need any incorporation details so they cannot be investigated
Operate in a country where any investigation of company details is essentially illegal (even though there is nothing to investigate)
Decide where they make their profit (which is what gets taxed) - invariably in a country where there is no corporation tax

And loads and loads of other stuff. The entire financial crisis can in part be blamed on offshore banking - nobody knew what was going on in those jurisdictions.

I agree that corporate tax law is hugely complicated, but I think there are ways it can be presented and tied together to reveal who we really need to be fighting - unaccountable offshore financial capital.

I think it is fucking disgusting, and the more I learn about how multinationals actually operate, in terms of setting up companies, accounting, etc etc, the more deeply I am disgusted.

 

[editor]

I think it is fucking disgusting, and the more I learn about how multinationals actually operate, in terms of setting up companies, accounting, etc etc, the more deeply I am disgusted.

Of course, but even getting this discussion going in them mainstream is a massive win. This is just the start.

 

[Dillinger4]

It looks fairly real to me, going on about loans etc

At the end of the day, we vote them in or out - but I agree the link between govt and business is far too close.

I think it has reached a point where govt/business are pretty much inseparable now. The Bank of England and the City of London are calling the shots.

They have literally wrote laws for smaller jurisdictions like Caymans/Jersey/other offshore tax havens. These institutions will be heavily consulted in drafting any financial law, and they are the ones calling the shots. It doesn't matter who you vote in or out, they will not be consulting with the electorate, they will be consulting with the city when it comes to any law that touches on finance or business.

 

[Mr.Bishie]

Of course, but even getting this discussion going in them mainstream is a massive win. This is just the start.

Absolutely!

 

[Dillinger4]

Of course, but even getting this discussion going in them mainstream is a massive win. This is just the start.

Oh yes, definitely!

 

[sleaterkinney]

I think it has reached a point where govt/business are pretty much inseparable now. The Bank of England and the City of London are calling the shots.

Especially more now that the tories are in.

They have literally wrote laws for smaller jurisdictions like Caymans/Jersey/other offshore tax havens. These institutions will be heavily consulted in drafting any financial law, and they are the ones calling the shots. It doesn't matter who you vote in or out, they will not be consulting with the electorate, they will be consulting with the city when it comes to any law that touches on finance or business.

And the worst thing is - they're still calling the shots even though they fucked up...

 

[Dillinger4]

Put in a purely capitalist sense, it is bad for business.

One of the main reasons China is so successful is because it has controlled capital flows (that is not to say they also use offshore capital, in Hong Kong for example).

 

[Dillinger4]

Especially more now that the tories are in.

And the worst thing is - they're still calling the shots even though they fucked up...

They have been calling the shots since Thatcher, and have been powerful since at least the late 60s, with the creation of the eurodollar/eurobond market.

And that is the really scary thing, that they can still have such influence even though the entire model is deeply deeply flawed.

In one extremely cynical sense, I can find hope in it. Neo-liberalism of this kind only encourages deeper and deeper crisis's of capital. Whilst that will make the majority of peoples lives more awful, it also offers the hope that these crisis's will expose the workings of financial capital, and will help people to organize against it.

 

[ViolentPanda]

Absolutely!

You'd think that Barclays had learned their lesson way back in the 70s and 80s with the whole long-running Barclays de Zoete Wedd fiasco, but no. They thought they could sneak more shit past the people and the government.

 

[Mr.Bishie]

Would that be the fiasco of Barclay's supporting Apartheid? Don't know much about all that tbh.

Fuckin' parasites.

 

[BigTom]

Well, GunnerADT will be pleased to hear the 20-30 went on the demo today in Birmingham, and although I couldn't get there till later, by which time they'd been moved out of barclays onto the street, it was decent, and good to have bigger numbers, especially since almost all of them hadn't been on one before.

edit: yeserday, not today

 

[gunneradt]

Well, GunnerADT will be pleased to hear the 20-30 went on the demo today in Birmingham, and although I couldn't get there till later, by which time they'd been moved out of barclays onto the street, it was decent, and good to have bigger numbers, especially since almost all of them hadn't been on one before.

well I prefer a glass of wine on a sunday rather than standing out in the wet and cold.

 

[Ld222]

Good to see this kind of action, the more the likes Barclays and Vodafone are exposed the better!!

 

[shagnasty]

Did read an article that the americans are organising US uncut ,glad to see us exporting something good to the US