For tax-lovers and offshore-haters, Paris is home to more than just the OECD - it also accommodates the headquarters of ATTAC France, a key player in the 'anti-globalisation' movement.
The Association for the Taxation of Financial Transactions for the Aid of Citizens was founded in France, and now has offices (well, maybe that's the wrong word, cells would be better) around the world. Its sites concentrate on giving information about 'rendezvous', but also carry serious contributions to the intellectual debate over globalisation, naturally mostly with a socialist or Marxist tinge.
It's a curiosity of politics, or anyway of ideology, that extreme left-wingers and extreme right-wingers both believe in anarchy. Someone should write a book about this.
Anyway, ATTAC France sees 'tax havens', not wholly wrongly, as a manifestation of 'fat-cat' capitalism, and is planning a series of 'rendezvous' in some key European low-tax jurisdictions, starting with Jersey on 9th June.
The Jersey Evening Post reported yesterday on the rather fevered reaction of the Jersey authorities, who have drafted in 60 Scottish (why Scottish? are they the roughest?) riot police to supplement their own force, more used to having cocktails with Charlie and arresting svelte money-launderers than coping with anti-globalisation protesters.
Reports the Evening Post:
'An advance party from Attac France arrived in the Island this morning to plan their anti-tax haven demonstration for 9 June.
'Six co-ordinators were met by members of the Police Special Branch at the Harbour and were taken to see senior police officers to discuss their demonstration next month.
'Attac originally planned to bring about 220 people to Jersey for the day to express their views on tax havens and why they believe they encourage money laundering. However, following the ‘panic’ it is causing in Jersey, they are now considering reducing the number of visitors by up to a half.'
‘We have seen an over-reaction to our planned visit and we are concerned that people are panicking unnecessarily,’ said Jean-Luis Perrault of Attac. ‘We want to assure everyone that we are a peaceful organisation and will be coming to Jersey to hand out leaflets and talk to people. The police are totally over-reacting by bringing in all these extra Scottish police – we were very surprised about it when we found out.
‘Later this year we will be demonstrating in the south of France, Monaco, Luxembourg and Liechtenstein and nobody is reacting the way Jersey is,’ he added.
Not yet, anyway! No doubt they are all watching carefully to see what happens in Jersey. In fact, this will probably be a case of 'all publicity is good publicity' as far as Jersey is concerned. Any tax haven that's worth invading by French protesters has got to have something going for it. Eat your heart out, Bermuda!
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