It's time to take over the banks!

Get along to an excellent meeting tonight at 7pm in Westminster to discuss the public ownership of the banks.

At TUC Congress last year, unions voted in favour of an FBU motion calling for the public ownership of the banks. At the meeting tonight, to be held in Committee Room 6 in the House of Commons, FBU general secretary Matt Wrack will discuss the campaign alongside LRC and LEAP chair John McDonnell MP.

The meeting will also hear from Michael Roberts who, alongside Mick Brooks, wrote the excellent FBU pamphlet 'It's time to take over the banks' (pdf).

The pamphlet makes the case for a publicly owned finance industry that provides a public service, giving financial support to industry and working people. Taking over the banks will enable planning, investment and the creation of millions of jobs. A publicly owned and democratically accountable banking system is essential to developing such a programme.

The meeting is open to all and free to attend, but allow 10-15 minutes to get through parliamentary security.

In a Comment is Free piece yesterday, PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka also made the public ownership of the banks one of his 10 steps to kickstart the UK economy. So far, the article has an 89% approval rating!

Videos from LEAP conference 'Capitalism Isn't Working'

Here's the first selection of videos from the morning plenary session of the LEAP Conference 'Capitalism Isn't Working' which took place on Saturday 25th April at Birkbeck College, London.

There's the opening address from LEAP Chair John McDonnell MP, followed by excerpts from the opening plenary 'Who Pays for the Crisis?' with panellists Penny Cole, Rahila Gupta, Richard Wilkinson, and Matt Wrack.

LEAP Conference 2009 - this Saturday, 25th April

The LEAP Conference 'Capitalism Isn't Working' takes place this Saturday, 25th April at Birkbeck College, Malet Street, London (map here, nearest tube: Russell Square).

A full agenda is available to download. The day begins with an opening address by LEAP Chair John McDonnell MP, author of Another World is Possible, and also Chair of the LRC and Socialist Campaign Group of Labour MPs.

From there we move into the morning plenary - a panel discussion Who Pays for the Crisis? with panellists including:

• Penny Cole (co-author of Running a Temperature - an action plan for the eco-crisis)
• Rahila Gupta from Southall Black Sisters (author of Enslaved - The New British Slavery)
• Professor Richard Wilkinson (co-author of The Spirit Level)
• Matt Wrack (General Secretary of the FBU).

After a break for lunch, in which there is a free fringe with Richard Wilkinson, about his pioneering research on inequality for The Spirit Level - why more equal societies almost always do better, we break into four sub-plenary workshops:

1. Resisting the Recession & Defending Jobs will be facilitated by Professor Gregor Gall and Jerry Jones (author of Halting the Decline of Britain's Manufacturing Industry) and will look at the industrial agenda during the recession. Download the LEAP Factsheet for this session.


2. Where's our bailout? will be facilitated by Andrew Fisher (LEAP Co-ordinator) and Colin Hampton (National Unemployed Centres Combine). Download the LEAP Factsheet for this session.


3. What to do with the City? will be facilitated by John Christensen (Tax Justice Network), and Gerry Gold (co-author of A House of Cards - From Fantasy Finance to Global Crash). Download the LEAP Factsheet for this session.


4. Neoliberalism Isn't Working - fighting the ideological battle, facilitated by Paul Feldman (co-author of A House of Cards - From Fantasy Finance to Global Crash) and social psychologist Rosamund Stock. Download the Factsheet for this session.

Then it's the final plenary session - a panel discussion on The Economy We Want & How to Get There, with panelists including:

• Bob Crow (RMT General Secretary)
• John Hilary (War on Want)
• John McDonnell MP (LEAP Chair)
• Graham Turner (author of The Credit Crunch)

Then we start fighting for it, maybe via the pub first . . . hope to see everyone there on Saturday.

p.s. I recommend two very good articles in Friday's Morning Star - one's my own: 'Devil in the Detail' and the other by Gregor Gall 'How to fart and chew gum', both analyses of this week's Budget.