ACTION ON BANKS - WHAT YOU CAN DO

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Action on banks - what you can do

It’s possible to live without the very big banks. It’s more logical to use other services and movements – they give a better deal or another way of seeing things.

15.05.27-banks-590.jpg

401(K) 2015 (under a Creative Commons Licence)

AUSTRALIA

Compare, Ditch and Switch: betterbanking.choice.com.au/ditch-and-switch

Comparison site run by Choice, the Australian Consumers’ Association. Compare banks and change to a better one. Has led the campaign to get the big four banks to work better.

BRITAIN

Move Your Money: moveyourmoney.org.uk

Lists and explains ‘best-in-class’ building societies, ethical banks, banks that work better than the Big Five. It also explains crowdfunding, peer-to-peer lending, credit unions and Community Development Finance Institutions (CDFIs). You can read blogs and campaigns. Helps you to change banks. We recommend it.

CANADA

Canadian Community Reinvestment Coalition (CCRC): cancrc.org

A non-profit group of 100 small community and consumer business groups. They represent more than three million people. Since 1996 they have been fighting for banks in Canada to act responsibly. Works with Democracy Watch on its bank accountability campaign.

NEW ZEALAND/AOTEAROA

Co-op Money NZ: coopmoneynz.org.nz

Industry voice for credit unions and mutual building societies. The big banks owned by other countries pay their profit to external shareholders. But these credit unions and building societies put the profit back into improving products and services for their Member-owners and the local communities.

UNITED STATES

A Smarter Choice: asmarterchoice.org

Finder site of the Credit Union National Association. After a protest about unfair bank practices on Bank Transfer Day in 2011 about 610,000 people moved their accounts to a credit union or community bank.

INTERNATIONAL

Banktrack: banktrack.org

A global network of civil-society groups following the operations and investments of private-sector banks… and their effect on people and the planet. Supports Global Divestment Day and a people’s movement to stop institutions and banks investing in the fossil-fuel industry. One of the strongest actions on finance.

And here's what they've been doing in Spain... WATCH THESE 2 YOUTUBE CLIPS:

Youth unemployment is at least 50 per cent. Many young people in Spain have been badly affected by the banks – and they have imaginative responses.

1) How would you rob a bank?

Artist Núria Güell got advice from an expert. She wrote to Jaime Giménez Arbe, a famous bank robber. He is now in prison for 47-year years. Her plan is political art. She wants to expose the people she believes are responsible. Watch this 8-minute video to see what she did:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJHSJ85PcmY

2) flo6x8: Bankia, pulmones y branquias (bulerías) – Bankia, lungs and gills (flamenco)

You don’t need to know Spanish (but you won’t understand the words to the song) to enjoy this. The singers and dancers went into a Bankia bank, one of the banks in the middle of the crisis in Spain. Watch this 4-minute youtube clip to see what they did.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iop2b3oq1O0

NOW READ THE ORIGINAL: http://newint.org/features/2015/05/01/action/ (This article has been simplified so the words, text structure and quotes may have been changed).