Created by Kevin Buckland of 350.org
Activists in over 35 countries across five continents are uniting today to demand European heads of state back a Financial Transaction Tax (FTT) that could raise hundreds of billions to tackle poverty and climate change.
The global day of action comes one day before a two day meeting in Brussels tomorrow meeting and initiates a global movement to urge Europe to pass this "Robin Hood Tax' before November's G20 summit.
Already, France, Germany, Austria, Luxembourg, Belgium, Spain, Portugal and Greece as well as the President of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, support the FTT. France's President Nicholas Sarkozy has promised to work towards creating a coalition of countries to back the financial tax prior to the G20.
Some call it the Robin Hood Tax, others call it the Financial Transaction Tax, others call it a really good idea. This tiny tax could take $400,000,000,000 out of the pockets of the bankers, who got rich by crashing the economy and use that money to stop domestic service cuts and help the people who are suffering the most from climate change, and who did the least to cause it. This amazing 0.05% tax also helps stabilize the economy by preventing high speed trading (done mostly by computers all on their own).
“ This unprecedented action shows that people around the world want banks and hedge funds to pay their fair share to society," says campaign spokesperson David David Hillman. "A tax on financial transactions is the best way to make the financial sector play a more productive role in society.
“People are behind it, Parliamentarians are behind it – a Robin Hood Tax would surely be the most popular tax in history. It's time European leaders turned this opportunity into reality.”
Visit the FTT Flickr photostream throughout the day for photos of events throughout the world.