Trick or Treat Alistair Darling

Mark Barrett visited No. 11 Downing Street this morning to petition Alistair Darling, the Chancellor of the Exchequer. The petition advised the Government to impliment the 'Tobin Tax' system as a matter of urgency, to raise awareness, and start the change needed to redistribute the wealth to the world's poor and hungry . A modern day slant on Robin Hood, except we tax the rich money exchangers to give to the poor. Alistair Darling , trick or treat? Gordon Brown also got a letter, and one was also deliverd to the Treasury.
Have a very nice weekend,
Best wishes Maria

Friday 31st October 2008
Petition to Chancellor of Exchequer & PM Gordon Brown

1. Abolish Tax Havens
2. Tobin Tax Now
3. Total Reform of CAP

Dear Alistair Darling & Gordon Brown,

In these extraordinary times a world-wide coalition of people from civil society are calling on you to take bold action and work with other world leaders to ensure the new, global financial architecture is for all people and the planetary ecology, and not just a few.

FYI a detailed, initial, international response from individuals, social movements and non-governmental organisations meeting in Beijing on 15 October 2008 can be found at  http://casinocrash.org, and others are in the pipeline, as you would expect.

But today, I would particularly like to draw your attention to the following:

1. in working to reform the world financial system, in particular at the upcoming Summit in Washington on November 15th, we urge movement constructively towards the creation of a transparent, viable global fiscal authority with effective representation for all nations, and with real power to regulate global markets and redistribute wealth.
2. many of us consider these principles to be fundamental to the ending of poverty, injustice and war and therefore necessary if there is ever to be world peace
3. we therefore call upon you and other leaders to build a coalition of countries – from north and south alike - determined to work together, and use this time of immense opportunity to these ends
4. in particular we call upon you – by way of basic starting point - to make public your desire to close down all world tax havens and bring in appropriate, social support mechanisms world-wide, including as a flagship the Currency Transaction or Tobin Tax, CTT. And also: to reform the Common Agricultural Policy, away from corporate and large landowner subsidy and towards EU food sovereignty, basic service provision and, most essentially housing needs.

Abolish Tax Havens: cleaning up tax havens (where approximately 11.5 trillion dollars are stored) is essential if we are to have an open, transparent system and an effective, global fiscal authority.

Tobin Tax Now: CTT, via a small levy on international currency trades must be brought in as soon as possible. This would mean:

(i) billions of dollars per annum in global tax revenues. Monies received could then be ring-fenced for use in global poverty reduction (the Millennium Development Goals).
(ii) a potentially sizeable redistribution of wealth to the most needy, via regional social funds and/or grassroots community organisations providing effective public service provision – ie to provide the basic housing, sanitation and clean water needs for the millions who are (already or about to be) dispossessed, and so begin the process of ending poverty world-wide.
(iii) no financial representation (of currency trading) without global taxation – a basic principle of democratic governance
(iv) potentially the ‘response element’ of your proposed early warning system: as you may be aware Professor Tobin originally suggested this tax as a means by which to cool markets, levying at a higher amount when they are looking to overheat
(v) potentially we do not endure yet more civil unrest – including terrorism – world-wide because of western double standards, the injustice of world poverty and global social exclusion. Nor will we have to wait another three generations for this opportunity if you act skilfully and campaign for Tobin now.

CAP Reform: as you are aware nearly half the EU budget (33 billion GBP) is currently spent on this subsidy, which severely curtails agricultural competitivity in the poorest sections of the word. Much of the subsidy goes towards large corporations and landowners. Many in civil society would like to see good subsidies remain (those for small farms enhancing ecological and wise food sovereignty) but the rest of this money redirected away from corporations and rich landowners and exclusively towards projects that are socially just, for example:

To help create a green, democratic EU economy
To enhance local, national and or EU-wide food sovereignty
To provide social housing and other basic services for those most in need
To provide structures for local decision making and democratic empowerment (local subsidiarity not corporate subsidies)

Overall, I hope you see this is as an opportunity to work with other world leaders and bring about the kind of reforms that visionaries once pioneered for the UK in the form of the NHS, only this time a safety net for the whole world. Think of it as the beginnings of a World Health Service.

I am aware that you will have substantial opposition for a programme like this from the neo-con ideologues in the White House and elsewhere, but the Doha meeting follows Washington at the end of November. If you and other progressive leaders from the rich north are willing to stand up for an end to poverty, world-wide, at this historic juncture you will undoubtedly gain immense support from the many countries effected and world social movements. But if you do not, you will almost certainly face a great deal of discontent and civil unrest.


Yours sincerely






Mark Barrett
(in personal capacity)

More info:

1. Abolish Tax Havens: info is available at  http://www.taxjustice.net
2. Tobin Tax Now: please read Colin Cowdery on CTT in this month’s Prospect - see  https://lists.riseup.net/www/arc/peopleincommon/2008-10/msg00084.html
3. Total Reform of CAP: increasingly open info about the CAP subsidy regime is available at  http://ec.europa.eu/agriculture/funding/index_en.htm |  http://farmsubsidy.org and  http://caphealthcheck.eu