Supporters of The Tobin Tax calling on
the chancellor to back Attac's aims
(PA/EMPICS)
Not a type of activist tank, Attac
stands for – get ready for this – Association for the Taxation
of Financial Transactions for the Aid of Citizens.
What's that when it's at home? Well, in 1972 James Tobin – a
Nobel Prize-winning economist – suggested it would be a good idea
to take a cut out of exchanges from one currency into another.
This, say his supporters, would put people off speculating on
currency fluctuations, thereby stablising local economies and
creating a big pool of cash to put into sustainable development.
Are you still with us? Because Attac is – in a big way. Today,
it devotes itself not just to the 'Tobin tax' but to a wide range
of other issues related to globalisation – like watching the World
Trade Organisation, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation
and Development and the International Monetary Fund.
With its famous slogan, 'The world is not for sale', and its
spirited denouncements of what it sees as the grand sell-off of
society and public resources, Attac wields a lot of influence
in the anti-capitalist movement. |
