Forum for Stable Currencies is a political advocacy group in the United Kingdom seeking economic democracy through freedom from national debt. Founded in 1998, the group is a non-governmental organization without governmental funding. In 2003, the New Statesman reported that the forum was "attracting leading figures from the world of small business and across the political spectrum." 2006's Market, Schmarket: Building the Post-capitalist Economy refers to the efforts of the Forum to "democratize the process of money creation" as "sterling work."
History
In 1998, Merlin Hanbury-Tracy, 7th Baron Sudeley, motivated by his opposition to usury, and Sabine K McNeill, a mathematician and system analyst, created the Forum for Stable Currencies at the House of Lords. It was the outcome of contacts with the Christian Council for Monetary Justice and organising the Campaign for Interest-Free Money through weekly meetings at the Global Internet Cafe near Piccadilly, London. McNeill had started the first Local Exchange Trading System in London in 1989 and organised Forum meetings mainly at the House of Lords, but also at the House of Commons under the auspices of Austin Mitchell MP. There, on behalf of the Forum, Austin Mitchell MP tabled Early Day Motions relating to public credit. The first submission to the Treasury Select Committee was entitled "Green Credit for Green Purposes". The Forum has hosted notable speakers, including Joseph Huber who on June, 2001 delivered a speech before the Forum at the House of Lords detailing the advantages of economic reform, and Nobel Peace Prize winnerMuhammad Yunus who in February 2008 spoke at St. James's Church, London Piccadilly. Other speakers have included James Gibb Stuart, Bernard Lietaer, Margrit Kennedy, Michael Rowbotham, and Stephen Zarlenga. Among issues of concern to the Forum is the "skimming", or overcharging of fees, by banks, which Corporate Watch cites the Forum as estimating to be the cause of 50% of bankruptcies in the UK. A recent political initiative of the Forum are two on-line petitions targeted at the Treasury Select Committee titled Stop the Cash Crumble to Equalize the Credit Crunch and Financial Fairness for Voters and Taxpayers, please! The corresponding article Public Cash for the Real Economy, The ultimate request, by on-line petition was published by the Journal Accountancy Business and the Public Interest. In 2009, the Forum's Early Day Motion addressed the Enforcement of the Bank of England Act 1694 which was written with the intention not to oppress Their Majesties' subjects.
