City of London - London City. |
Originally founded by the Romans as a maritime centre, The
City of London, a city within city, is a unique place and not just because I
was born there but because of its financial control, not only of the UK but
also over most of the world. It’s one of the worlds major business and
financial centres and vies with New York as the financial capital of the world.
A great many institutions have there headquarters there, The London Stock
Exchange, Lloyds of London and the Bank of England are all based there, as are
over 500 banks that have offices in the city as well as other major global
companies who also have there headquarters there including Aviva, BT Group, Old
Mutual, Prudential, Standard Chartered Unilever and Ernst and Young one of the
big four accounting firms. For an area that does not cover much more than a
square mile it’s quite impressive. The daytime population is in the region of
330000 but when these have gone home the population shrinks to just over 7000.
Some people are even born there! |
Directed by Michael Chanan and written by Lee Salter the
documentary Secret City (2012) was shown at the Robert Burns Centre Film
Theatre with the director in attendance to introduce the film and take a Q&A
session after the screening. But before the main feature we were treated to a
short film called A Short Film About
Money that was a spin-off from the documentary to prompt thought on what
money actually is and ended by announcing that Goldman Sacks rules the world!
It was when anti-capitalist protesters were ejected from
outside the Stock Exchange in Paternoster Square and set themselves up in front
of St Pauls Cathedral that provided the spark for this documentary to be made. The
idea behind Secret City is to provoke
debate, not necessary about the City itself but about the power it wields and
the dominant body that controls the power. The City of London Corporation is an
ancient body that dates back before there was a parliament in Westminster. It
claims to be the world’s oldest continuously elected local government body. As
well as the residents of the Square Mile the businesses are entitled to vote in
elections something that’s not general known even by the people that work in
the vast corporations. Its structure includes the Lord Mayor, nothing to do
with Boris Johnson’s post as Lord Mayor of London, the Court of Alderman, the
Court of Common Council and Freemen and Livery of the City. This influential
body zealously
guards its autonomy and privileges to this day.
The documentary was premiered on the 16th October
2012 at the Houses of Parliament at the invitation of John McDonnell MP who
also appears in the film along with many other interesting talking heads.
Michael Chanan who has been a documentary maker since 1971 is also a music
critic, an author, editor and translator of books and articles on film subjects
including early and Cuban cinema, he informed a very lively audience that he
had been involved in between 70 and 80 screening of the documentary to date.
The finance involved in making the film was virtually nothing, the only expense
was fees for archive rights which was funded by the University of Roehampton
(where Chanan is a Professor of Film and Video), there is no commercial
distributor and the director explained that the main reason for making the film
was to encourage debate about the City and the rather secretive corporation
that runs it and not to offer alternatives. When asked why he did not include
an opposing view he quite simple answered that he had no intention in giving
rich capitalist yet another platform to spout their platitudes. He explained
that the corporation held immense lobbying power over the British government
and in
his view it was the city that dictated the financial policy of this country and
not the elected UK government (I always thought it was the IMF?) and it was the
City that did not want to join the euro but at present were undecided over
whether to stay in Europe? It’s also in this part of London that the prices are
set for the world’s commodities. This hub of global capitalist power is almost
impossible to contest and was made more secure by Thatcher and her deregulation.
Which in turn enables the City to control the world’s tax havens. Michael
opined that the taxation deficit could be abolished if big business paid there
legitimate taxes rather than channel monies into the havens. We went on to
discuss odious debt, which is a debt incurred that in international law we as a
nation have no responsibility for and could refuse to pay if it was incurred by
a government for purposes that did not serve the best interests of the nation
and its people. Which could be a useful concept if as Michael said this country
comes to its socialist senses and finally elects a government that puts its
people before big business.
Finally a documentary that’s deliberately kept short (72 minutes) to
allow time for debate following its screening, one that does not continually repeat
itself and one which manages to hold your attention. A fascinating film that
attempted to open up the secrets of a very controlling financial institution.
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