THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: The Archbishop of Canterbury has thrown his weight behind the St Paul’s Cathedral anti-capitalist protesters as he called for a new tax on banks.
Dr Rowan Williams said that the Church of England had a “proper interest in the ethics of the financial world” and warned that there had been “little visible change in banking practices” following the recession.
He urged David Cameron and George Osborne to drop their opposition to a European-wide tax on financial transactions, which is expected to be formally proposed by France and Germany at the G20 summit of world leaders starting tomorrow.
“The demands of the protesters have been vague. Many people are frustrated beyond measure at what they see as the disastrous effects of global capitalism; but it isn’t easy to say what we should do differently. It is time we tried to be more specific,” Dr Williams said.
The archbishop’s intervention came after the Church and the City of London Corporation agreed to suspend plans to evict protesters who have been camped on the doorstep of St Paul’s for more than two weeks. The issue has caused deep divisions within the Church and led to the resignation of three members of St Paul’s clergy.
The archbishop said the rows over the handling of the demonstration had risked “forgetting the substantive questions that prompted the protest”. “The protest at St Paul’s was seen by an unexpectedly large number of people as the expression of a widespread and deep exasperation with the financial establishment that shows no sign of diminishing,” Dr Williams said.
“There is still a powerful sense around – fair or not – of a whole society paying for the errors and irresponsibility of bankers; of impatience with a return to 'business as usual’ – represented by still-soaring bonuses and little visible change in banking practices.” He added: “The best outcome from the unhappy controversies at St Paul’s will be if the issues raised… can focus a concerted effort to move the debate on and effect credible change in the financial world.”
The archbishop said he supported the main proposals of a recent report from the Vatican calling for widespread financial reform. Read on and comment » | Robert Winnett, Victoria Ward and Richard Alleyne | Tuesday, November 01, 2011
My comment:
Should we tax the bankers? Yes, till the pips squeak! Is the Archbishop right to intervene? Yes, of course. The Pope did; and so should he. We need to re-introduce ethics into banking, just as there used to be. – Mark
This comment appears here, too.
