Borrowing a page from the anti-Apartheid fight

movement. For those of us who might be too young to remember that, the "divest from South Africa" movement sought to remove the white-supremacist apartheid regime in South Africa by crippling its economy, and the way we did that was to pressure everyone from companies and businesses to government bodies to remove ALL of their investments in anything connected to the South African economy (extending even to musical acts refusing to play gigs at the Sun City Resort in South Africa.

We can do the same thing. We can ask--and then "encourage" as necessary--businesses and local/state governments to divest from the big banks, by moving their funds to locally-based credit unions. If you think the big banks were hurt by all of us individuals "moving our money", just wait till they see city councils and local businesses doing the same.

There is certainly movement in this direction.

In October of this year, after hearing story upon story of foreclosures in his parish, Samaniego translated his compassion into action. He brought the issue to members of the parish’s financial committee, and together they decided to take a stand against large banks. Samaniego announced the divestment of the parish and its school’s accounts, amounting to $3 million, from Bank of America. The money was deposited in a local credit union.

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