Three banks in Birmingham sabotaged on Mayday action
Smash The Banks | 03.05.2011 12:26 | Public sector cuts | Social Struggles | Workers' Movements | Birmingham
During the night three banks (HSBC, Nat-West and Lloyds TSB) were sabotaged on Harborne High Street.
The ATMs (four in total) where targeted after the screens and keypads where covered in black spray paint rendering them inoperable whilst the Lloyds TSB branch was shut down after the front doors where D-Locked. The action was timed to coincide with the banks return to work after the May Day bank holiday and in the case of Lloyds meaning it would be prevented from doing so.
The action was taken partly in response to the central role the banking sector played in crashing the worlds economy, being bailed out for £1.26 Trillion[1][2] and then expecting everyone else to pay through harsh and unfair[3] public sector cuts that will hit the poorest the hardest. This is on top of continuing to reward this failure by giving it's top investment bankers massive bonuses.[4][5] For example Stephen Hester, RBS's chief executive, will be paid a bonus of £2.44 million.[6]
However the action was about more then just cuts, just about every issue we've ever campaigned against somewhere down the line has had investment and support from a bank. From RBS investing in climate change [7][8] and funding some of the most destructive projects and companies on the planet such as the Alberta Tar Sands, Cairn Energy (who are exploring for oil in Greenland’s Arctic), Tullow Oil (who are fueling conflict in Uganda and DRC), and investment in BP's Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline project.[9] To investment in war and Arms manufacturing[10], investment in animal cruelty[11], making billions from speculating on food and causing people around the world to die from starvation.[12] And of course on top of investment in big multi-nationals, banks also maintain the status-quo by keeping the worlds poor enslaved in debt.
One activist said "Once you realise just how many different reasons there are to justify this action it's hard to justify not having taken it sooner. No doubt there are thousands of other reasons we could have chosen but the main point is that banks are an essential cog in the capitalist machine"
1
http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/news/article.html?in_article_id=487951&in_page_id=2
2 http://www.ukuncut.org.uk/targets/banks/barclays
3 http://falseeconomy.org.uk/cure/how-cuts-will-make-britain-more-unfair
4 http://www.ukuncut.org.uk/targets/banks/lloyds
5 http://www.ukuncut.org.uk/targets/banks/rbs-natwest
6 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/banksandfinance/8291190/Big-banks-to-unveil-24-billion-profits.html
7 http://peopleandplanet.org/navid3756
8 http://peopleandplanet.org/ditchdirtydevelopment/whyrbs
9 http://peopleandplanet.org/ditchdirtydevelopment/casestudies
10 http://www.waronwant.org/news/press-releases/16333-banks-slated-on-arms-sales
11 http://www.shac.net/SHAC/victories.html
12 http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/2011/jan/23/food-speculation-banks-hunger-poverty
Smash The Banks
The ATMs (four in total) where targeted after the screens and keypads where covered in black spray paint rendering them inoperable whilst the Lloyds TSB branch was shut down after the front doors where D-Locked. The action was timed to coincide with the banks return to work after the May Day bank holiday and in the case of Lloyds meaning it would be prevented from doing so.
The action was taken partly in response to the central role the banking sector played in crashing the worlds economy, being bailed out for £1.26 Trillion[1][2] and then expecting everyone else to pay through harsh and unfair[3] public sector cuts that will hit the poorest the hardest. This is on top of continuing to reward this failure by giving it's top investment bankers massive bonuses.[4][5] For example Stephen Hester, RBS's chief executive, will be paid a bonus of £2.44 million.[6]
However the action was about more then just cuts, just about every issue we've ever campaigned against somewhere down the line has had investment and support from a bank. From RBS investing in climate change [7][8] and funding some of the most destructive projects and companies on the planet such as the Alberta Tar Sands, Cairn Energy (who are exploring for oil in Greenland’s Arctic), Tullow Oil (who are fueling conflict in Uganda and DRC), and investment in BP's Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline project.[9] To investment in war and Arms manufacturing[10], investment in animal cruelty[11], making billions from speculating on food and causing people around the world to die from starvation.[12] And of course on top of investment in big multi-nationals, banks also maintain the status-quo by keeping the worlds poor enslaved in debt.
One activist said "Once you realise just how many different reasons there are to justify this action it's hard to justify not having taken it sooner. No doubt there are thousands of other reasons we could have chosen but the main point is that banks are an essential cog in the capitalist machine"
1
http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/news/article.html?in_article_id=487951&in_page_id=2 2
http://www.ukuncut.org.uk/targets/banks/barclays 3
http://falseeconomy.org.uk/cure/how-cuts-will-make-britain-more-unfair 4
http://www.ukuncut.org.uk/targets/banks/lloyds 5
http://www.ukuncut.org.uk/targets/banks/rbs-natwest 6
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/banksandfinance/8291190/Big-banks-to-unveil-24-billion-profits.html 7
http://peopleandplanet.org/navid3756 8
http://peopleandplanet.org/ditchdirtydevelopment/whyrbs 9
http://peopleandplanet.org/ditchdirtydevelopment/casestudies 10
http://www.waronwant.org/news/press-releases/16333-banks-slated-on-arms-sales 11
http://www.shac.net/SHAC/victories.html 12
http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/2011/jan/23/food-speculation-banks-hunger-poverty Smash The Banks
Smash The Banks