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Effective Direct Action against Barclays

Mr Countrymouse | 14.04.2011 19:39 | Tar Sands | Climate Chaos | Globalisation | Public sector cuts

A true story. A brief reminder for all anarchists with Barclays Bank accounts ("I would change it but it's all too difficult").

_Scene_
A sunny morning. A Barclays Bank in a minor university town somewhere in England.

_Characters_
Franchessica - a Barclays Bank cashier
Countrymouse - a Barclays Bank customer for the past 15 years

F - Good morning. How can I help you?

C - Hi, I'd like to transfer all my money out and close all my Barclays accounts.

F - All your Barclays accounts?

C - That's right. I have three of them. I'd like to transfer all the money from those into this account (shows piece of paper) and close all my Barclays accounts?

F - Okay sir, I need to confirm some details...

[dull bit containing personal details, edited for reasons of security and boringness, followed by much keyboard-tapping, then Franchesicca tries some small talk]

F - So, Mr Countrymouse, why are you closing the account?

C - (at a volume slightly louder than strictly necessary) - I read some stuff about Barclays, and about its wider social and environmental impact. It didn't seem very good. I thought about it for a while, and it just didn't seem very ethical for me to carry on being a customer here. It's not one thing in particular, Barclays just seem to have a fairly dodgy record on lots of things, so I don't want to be a part of it any more...

F (trying to change subject) - So why did you choose this other bank?

C - Because they don't fund arms manufacturers and weapons development businesses, they haven't invested in that Tar Sands extraction thing in Canada, they don't avoid paying tax, and don't pay multi-million-pound bonuses to their top-management. They don't support corrupt African dictators, they haven't helped build random dams all over the world, and they don't seem to behave like a bunch of bastards.

F - Okay. That's the transfer finished - you can review on the screen.

C - Thankyou Franchessica. I've been meaning to do that for ages, but never quite got round to it. It seems stupid for me to get so angry about all this stuff, but not take this really basic step to stop myself supporting it. I'm going to tell my friends and family to do the same.

F - (Smiles, says nothing)

C - I will take some of these free pens on my way out though. I'll use them to take notes at the next anti-cuts meeting.

Mr Countrymouse

Comments

Hide the following 6 comments

wow...

15.04.2011 13:50

transferring money from one bank to another bank is not anti-capitalist or direct action. Its consumer action, the same as buying a fairtrade organic banana.

A


Great plan but you need

15.04.2011 17:34

Nice plan but....

accounts with money in them


Good on you

15.04.2011 18:36

I bank with the Coop. Anyone with a Barclays account should transfer it to the Coop. If you don't have any money you might get over drawn; you don't want to be owing the Barclays bastards any money; they're fucking Tories. The Cooperative Party are on the libetarian wing but have a membership overlap with the Labour Party. So while possibly free from connections to "dodgy African" governments (don't use that term again) they are not so untarnished closer to home. There is also the better Ecology Building Society.

Consumer Action is a form of Direct Action!


@Consumer Action is a form of Direct Action!... You are a.....

15.04.2011 19:02

complete idiotic tosser. Please fuck off back to the Guardian where you belong... you tit.

Aunty Christ


not DA however....

15.04.2011 21:24

Direct action means physically stopping something bad happening there and then.

That doesn't mean that other forms of protest are not worthwhile, they are just not direct action.

You don't need accounts with money in them - I guess it's still the same that they have to tick a box about why accounts are closed.

And consumer action sounds demeaning, and maybe it is. Unless the campaign is really big enough, like against apartheid back in the day, it's pretty meaningless to the corporation.

HOWEVER, that doesn't mean it's pointless to do, all you holier-than-thou anti-capitalistas (gawd, why do things have to have ista on the end!). By taking part in something, same as choosing to fly, you are condoning and contributing to an impact - it may not be very effective to choose to buy organic/fair-trade etc, but is it in your ethics to contribute to people's suffering or death, from your privileged Western position, in any way that you can change. I hope not comrades.

istaista


I dont think they will bat any eyelid

16.04.2011 15:44

People open and close accounts all the time. Its a competitive business. The bank teller has probably lost all memory of the conversation by the day's end. I guess if it makes you feel better then its good for the ego.

Coop ----- ethical! lol
I used to work for them. They certainly don't treat their staff ethically.

dumb