And for those of you who arent Brits wondering, 'who is this guy?' he is the one who performed the marriage ceremony for the tabloid spectacle of year, the wedding of Prince William and the lovely Kate. So even beyond religious issues, the dude has cred. Dont mess.
Part of the backstory that has received little coverage in the US is that St Paul's Cathedral, one of the world's preeminent relgious sites, has endured its own occupation related to the OWS phenomenon. This has inspired far more soul searching than the occupation of some glass and steel bank building in London's City financial district might have, as it has thrown into high relief the disparate fortunes of the finance industry which makes a more significant contribution to the UK's GDP than it does in the US, and the rest of the populace.
Whatever one thinks of banking and bankers, that one of the world's most respected religious leaders is calling them out signals that this is no longer just about who gets what. JL
Robert Willet, Victoria Ward and Richard Alleyne report in The Telegraph:
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.
The central recommendation is for a financial transaction tax – known as the “Tobin tax” after the economist who developed the idea – levied on the sale of shares, bonds and foreign currency. It would be expected to raise billions of pounds that could be spent in the developing world.
The archbishop said: “This has won the backing of significant experts who cannot be written off as naive anti-capitalists – George Soros, Bill Gates and many others. It is gaining traction among European nations, with a strong statement in support this week from Wolfgang Schäuble, the German finance minister.
“The objections made by some who claim it would mean a substantial drop in employment and in the economy generally seem to rest on exaggerated and sharply challenged projections – and, more important, ignore the potential of such a tax to stabilise currency markets in a way to boost rather than damage the real economy.”
The issue of the Tobin tax is expected to be on the agenda at the G20 summit in Cannes, with European countries considering introducing the levy to help fund the single currency rescue package.
Mr Osborne, the Chancellor, has said that he would only support the introduction of the tax on a global basis, because financial trading would simply move from London to other markets such as New York and Singapore. American and Asian governments are thought to be opposed to the levy. Government sources declined to comment on the archbishop’s intervention last night. Dr Williams also called for wider controls on banks, saying they should be compelled to help “reinvigorate” the economy and not put the public’s savings at risk.
Writing in today’s Financial Times, the archbishop says: “The rolling-up of individual and small-scale savings into high-risk and high-return adventures in the virtual economy is one of the more obvious danger areas. Early government action in this area is needed. A second plea is to recapitalise banks with public money. Banks should be obliged in return to help reinvigorate the real economy.”
He concluded: “These ideas, which have been advanced from other quarters, religious and secular, in recent years, do not amount to a simplistic call for the end of capitalism, but they are far more than a general expression of discontent.
“If we want to take seriously the moral agenda of the protesters at St Paul’s, these are some of the ways in which we should be taking it forward.”
The archbishop spoke out on a day in which senior bankers appeared in Parliament to defend their actions. Stephen Hester, the chief executive of RBS, said that bonuses paid to staff were “not the fount of all evils”. Bob Diamond, the chief executive of Barclays, said that banks “can’t be told to increase lending and capital at the same time” but backed the need for “strong regulation”.
Dr Williams’s article is his latest in a series of interventions in politics. Earlier this year, he warned that the public was gripped with fear over some government reforms and said that the Coalition lacked democratic legitimacy. Yesterday, it emerged that the St Paul’s protesters would almost certainly still be in position during next week’s Remembrance Sunday service and probably in the run-up to Christmas. Police had been expected to start attempting to move them on this week.
Following a meeting between senior figures at St Paul’s and the Rt Rev Dr Richard Chartres, the Bishop of London, the authorities decided to abandon their eviction plans.
The bishop effectively told the Corporation of London that the Church would not sanction evictions on Church land, by saying: “The Chapter recognises the Corporation’s right to take such action on Corporation land.”
He added: “The alarm bells are ringing all over the world. St Paul’s has now heard that call. Today’s decision means that the doors are most emphatically open to engage with matters concerning not only those encamped around the cathedral but millions of others in this country and around the globe.”
The cathedral asked Ken Costa, 62, an investment banker and Conservative Party donor, to draw up a plan to “reconnect the financial with the ethical”, and also gave a voluntary role to the Rev Dr Giles Fraser, the cathedral’s former Canon Chancellor, who resigned last week.
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