In early June, the French extreme-right fringe group Génération identitaire (identity Generation) launched a fundraising campaign via PayPal to finance acts of sabotage against rescue operations in the Mediterranean Sea. The project named “Defend Europe” was set to prevent migrants from reaching European shores by destroying rescue boats. According to Buzz Feed information, various organisations, and especially the
SomOfUs collective, launched a petition to force the online
paymentA transfer of funds which discharges an obligation on the part of a payer vis-à-vis a payee. More company to close the account, which had already raised €65,000.
After several days of mobilisation, PayPal finally agreed to freeze the funds and return them to the extremist group who rapidly transferred them to a newly created account at the French bank Crédit Mutuel. Another petition – which collected more than 37,000 signatures – convinced the bank to take radical measures (which go against the French monetary and financial Code) and close the account without notice.
SomOfUs officials congratulated the financial institution on its decision, which is viewed as a symbolic victory. The collective considers that no bank should ever accept to be used as an intermediary to finance activities that put people’s lives in danger, a statement with which the Crédit Mutuel seems to agree. A campaign has also been launched in the US to urge Visa, MasterCard and PayPal to stop providing financial services to nationalist groups around the world.
To read the original [French] article, please
click here.