www.moveyourmoney.org.uk went live yesterday morning.
Essentially, this genius site/campaign asks you When you are asleep what does your money get up to? and then it goes on to tell you which banks are ethically the worst and why, and which are the better. Then you can pledge to Move Your Money to one of the better ones. It's a simple and user-friendly site that educates and enables.
It's important to realise that the money in your bank account is not just sitting there peacefully waiting for your next purchase; it's being used in all sorts of investments and transactions, and that's where the problem lies. If you know that your bank is using it's customers money to fund environmentally damaging projects and you're not ok with being a part of that, then this site helps you make a change.
It's about becoming an active economic citizen. We are angry with our banks but feel powerless, when in fact most of us are stakeholders in the sense that without our custom, they wouldn't function. We do have power, if enough of us click a few buttons and use it.
This is a timely and excellent campaign which makes us see that we are not just consumers of the usual goods - clothes, food etc - but also of financial products. And as with all consumer activity, our power lies in where we put our money - the free range or the battery chicken, the sweat shop or the living wage and just as much so, the ethical bank or the one using your money to fund the arms trade.
I switched some savings from Barclays to the Co-operative Bank a couple of years ago, but have been lazy about doing the same to my current account. This campaign has educated me on where I should be leaving my money and has galvanised me to take further action, and I hope it has the same effect on you. I'm about to Pledge on it right now.
Campaigns like this that are accessible, clearly explained, pretty simple to act upon and use social media to get the message out are the campaigns that will succeed in the 21st Century. Congratulations to those who set this Good Thing up.
youcanarguewithstupid
Additional sources:
Ethical Consumer's subscription only site Ethiscore here
Ethical Consumer's site with loads of buyers' & product guides here
Banking On Crisis is Corporate Watch's research site aiming to explain and educate about the financial crisis and system with an anti-capitalist bent here
