Last week the Robin Hood Tax campaign began. Katy Wright explains what happened when a gang of merry (wo)men took the campaign to David Cameron’s constituency, Witney.
Dressed in homemade green costumes and peaked hats, a band of merry (wo)men set up camp on a dreary Friday in the middle of Witney’s market square. Along with our supporters and local shop volunteers we were there to bring the campaign for a Robin Hood Tax to Witney, home turf of Conservative Party Leader David Cameron.
It turned out that the news of a tiny tax that can make a huge difference was just the idea to cheer up a cold morning.
The idea is simple: if the world’s leaders put a tax of 0.05% on the transactions between banks it could raise £250 billion a year worldwide. That’s £250 billion to spend on protecting public services, fighting poverty and helping the world’s poorest adapt to climate change.
Lots of people were happy to sign our petition straightaway and mentioned they’d already seen Mr Nighy on the TV. Some were more sceptical but when we explained that the tax would be designed to come out of the banks’ pockets not ours; we won over a few more folks. In the end we had over 120 names on our petition.
20 super-stars of Witney also appeared in a video letter to David Cameron asking him to support the Robin Hood tax. Once Mr Cameron has had a good look, we’ll put the video on the main website for everyone to enjoy.
And as a lasting memento of Sherwood, earlier that Friday morning a bunch of merry mischief-makers had been out putting the message on streets. Yup, actually on the pavements with a bit of clean stencilling asking people to “Be part of the world’s greatest bank job”.
But it’s not just Witney that can get merry; we think every neighbourhood can become Sherwood from the one near your home to your one online but we need your help. So make sure you join our Facebook fan page and “officially” sign up at the website. But then do that little bit more and ask your favourite café to put the poster up or starting asking your friends and family if they want to “be part of the world’s great bank job”. We’ve got loads of ideas to help you get merry.
Find out more about the Robin Hood Tax.