Eric Cantona Calls for a Bank Run, Inadvertently Starts a Political Movement

 

Ex-soccer star Eric Cantona has inadvertently spawned a global political movement calling for a bank-run revolution after a video interview surfaced on YouTube of him encouraging people to take it upon themselves to “destroy” the banking system.

Cantona, remembered – fondly in many corners – for his rebellious nature (he infamously kung-fu kicked an abusive fan), is credited with inspiring the movement after a forthright interview with regional French newspaper, Presse Océan, in Nantes.

 

Ex-soccer star Eric Cantona has inadvertently spawned a global political movement calling for a bank-run revolution after a video interview surfaced on YouTube of him encouraging people to take it upon themselves to “destroy” the banking system.

Cantona, remembered – fondly in many corners – for his rebellious nature (he infamously kung-fu kicked an abusive fan), is credited with inspiring the movement after a forthright interview with regional French newspaper, Presse Océan, in Nantes.

“We don’t pick up weapons to kill people to start the revolution,” said Eric. “The system is built on the power of the banks. So it must be destroyed through the banks. This means three million people with their placards on the streets, they go to the bank and withdraw their money and the banks collapse.”

“We have to change the way we do things nowadays. Talking of revolution, I don’t mean we are going to pick up guns and go out to kill people. Revolution is very simple to do nowadays,” he told Presse Ocean.

When the former Manchester United player gave the video interview in October protest groups against the financial system took it upon themselves to coordinate a world-wide withdrawal scheduled for today, December 7, the number of Cantona’s lucky shirt. The message went viral in days, attracting criticism from the international press and politicos in his native country of France

Francois Baroin, the budget minister, said: “It would be funny if it wasn’t so tragic.” Cantona’s call to arms was “grotesque” and “not serious”. Finance minister Christine Lagarde said “There are those who play football magnificently, I wouldn’t dare to try. I think it’s best for everyone to stick to their own speciality.” The director general of BNP Paribas deemed Cantona’s appeal “ill-founded”.

Many on the left have also rejected the idea, saying supporters don’t have enough clout to make a significant difference.

Olivier Besancenot, the head of the New Anti-capitalist party, said “I like this desire for revolution. But in reality, the people who would dream of taking part in this don’t really have enough money in their accounts.”

In Le Monde, the commentator Pierre-Antoine Delhommais remarked that he hoped Cantona would hire a lorry to withdraw his own “sacks of cash”, as “one imagines he hasn’t worked for free for all these years, advertising the merits of Bic razors, Nike shoes, Partouche casinos, Neuf Telecom, Lipton Teas, the Renault Laguna or L’Oréal deodorants.”

At the time of writing tens of thousand of protestors have pledged action via online campaign pages which have been organised worldwide.

Organisers behind newly-formed ‘StopBanque‘, who are leading the campaign, say the idea is for a mass protest against what they see as a ‘corrupt, criminal and deadly system’.