UK G20 Protestors Say Leaders Have Heads in Sand
2009-11-9 1:0
Protesters showed G20 finance ministers and central bankers what they thought of them on Saturday, November 7, when they buried their heads in the sands of a beach in St Andrews, Scotland.
The suited, briefcase-carrying demonstrators said the financial leaders were blind to the actions needed to be taken on global economy and climate.
They want more transparency as well as fairer reforms from the powerful financial group.
[Lexi Barnett, Protester]:
"Well we're here today to send a clear message to the G20 finance ministers who are meeting in St Andrews today that the time for burying your heads in the sand is past, it's the time for action. We want to send a clear message that you know, the global financial crisis is showing us that these systems are clearly not working and this is a great opportunity for them to restructure those systems in a way that puts people first. So we are actually saying that time for stalling is past, the time for burying your heads in the sand is past, it's time for action."
Meanwhile, the ministers and central bank governors were sitting down for their final talks of the two-day summit.
They hope to hammer out agreements on issues like a framework for global recovery and financing climate change.
Earlier on Saturday, Britain threw its weight behind proposals to impose a global levy on banks to fund future bailouts.
The proposal had strong support from British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, but reactions were mixed.
[Alexei Kudrin, Russian Finance Minister]:
Well, first I need to study this proposal. Secondly, I'm quite skeptical about such taxes. And thirdly, Gordon Brown is well known as a person who is raising taxes all the time."
[Martin Redrado, President, Argentina Central Bank]:
“I have to tell that from an economist's point of view I see some difficulties in the implementation, and that may be counterproductive in terms of the objective that we want to achieve. But it is up there on the table. I think we need to have an open mind, to think out of the box always, to see the effects that this will have."
France and Germany have for some time been in favor of looking at a levy but London, with its huge financial center, has always resisted.
But, the British Bankers' Association said the matter did deserve consideration.
Washington, which has also traditionally been opposed to any global tax, had no immediate comment.
Brown said the International Monetary Fund would review the possibility of a global levy and report back in April next year
