consequential social and economic disparities. However, the Occupy protesters initially found it difficult find a credible media outlet for their message. In the late Autumn of 2011, this began to change, especially when they protested outside St Paul’s Cathedral in the City of London. The main agent for change, in both share of voice and eloquence of the protest, came, perhaps unexpectedly, from the Roman Catholic and Anglican Churches. The for Justice and Peace (2011) called for the Vatican’s Pontifical Council creation of a global system for managing a global economy and strongly backed the introduction of a Financial Transaction Tax. More recently, the Archbishop of to the (2011) argued that the societal unrest, Canterbury’s letter Financial Times evident in the Occupy protests, has deeply social, moral and economic causes. He went further to suggest that: at St. was seen by an unexpectedly large number of ‘The protest Paul’s people as the expression of a widespread and deep exasperation with the financial establishment that shows no signs of diminishing. There is still a powerful sense around fair or not of a whole society paying for the – – errors and irresponsibility of bankers; of impatience with a return to as It easy to say what we should do differently. It ‘business usual’ … isn’t is time we tried to be more specific.’ Whilst the financial sector has chided the Church for its involvement, it is well worth noting that, unlike politicians, the influence of the financial sector over the Church is relatively weak; and it is hard to dismiss the and policy Church’s overall objectives proposals. Unfortunately, the burgeoning crisis is yet to generate new thinking amongst They remain locked into narrow, nationally defined political silos, with only loosely held interests in international political and economic events, beyond those that directly affect their perceived national self-interests. Insular national governments are hardly a match for internationalized global business and finance. Yet, whatever scorn
consequential social and economic disparities. However, the Occupy protesters initially found it difficult find a credible media outlet for their message. In the late Autumn of 2011, this began to change, especially when they protested outside St Paul’s Cathedral in the City of London. The main agent for change, in both share of voice and eloquence of the protest, came, perhaps unexpectedly, from the Roman Catholic and Anglican Churches. The Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace (2011) called for the creation of a global system for managing a global economy and strongly backed the introduction of a Financial Transaction Tax. More recently, the Archbishop of Canterbury’s letter to the Financial Times (2011) argued that the societal unrest, evident in the Occupy protests, has deeply social, moral and economic causes. He went further to suggest that: ‘The protest at St. Paul’s was seen by an unexpectedly large number of people as the expression of a widespread and deep exasperation with the financial establishment that shows no signs of diminishing. There is still a powerful sense around – fair or not – of a whole society paying for the errors and irresponsibility of bankers; of impatience with a return to ‘business as usual’ … It isn’t easy to say what we should do differently. It is time we tried to be more specific.’ Whilst the financial sector has chided the Church for its involvement, it is well worth noting that, unlike politicians, the influence of the financial sector over the Church is relatively weak; and it is hard to dismiss the Church’s overall objectives and policy proposals. Unfortunately, the burgeoning crisis is yet to generate new thinking amongst They remain locked into narrow, nationally defined political silos, with only loosely held interests in international political and economic events, beyond those that directly affect their perceived national self-interests. Insular national governments are hardly a match for internationalized global business and finance. Yet, whatever scorn