Cantona sparks campaign to cause run on the banks

Get ready for another run on the banks. This time, it won't be fuelled by panicking mobs fearing their bank is about to become insolvent.

Rather, if a new campaign sparked by former footballer Eric Cantona gets off the ground, this bank run will be caused by the orchestrated, calculated actions of empowered citizens who are upset at the way the banks have sailed through the financial crisis seemingly unscathed.

In an October interview with French newspaper Presse Ocean, as France endured a series of nationwide strikes against President Nicolas Sarkozy's plans to raise the pension age, Cantona questioned the effectiveness of street protests.

"Nowadays what does it mean to be on the streets? What does it mean to demonstrate?" he asked. "You swindle yourself."

The alternative? Direct action - but of the non-violent kind. "We don't pick up weapons to kill people to start the revolution. The revolution is really easy to do nowadays," says Cantona.

"The system revolves around the banks. It's based on the power of the banks so it must be destroyed starting with the banks.

"The 3 million people with their placards on the street, they should go to the bank, withdraw their money from the banks and the banks collapse.

"Three million, 10 million people and the banks collapse... No weapons, no blood or anything like that."

Strong stuff and Cantona's call-to-arms - whether he intended it as one or not - has gone viral.

A campaign, bankrun2010.com, has been launched by Géraldine Feuillien, a Belgian screenwriter, and Yann Sarfati, a French actor, in an effort to coordinate the action and make it global.

Blaming the banking sector for pretty much all of the world's ills, including war, famine and pollution, they are urging supporters to withdraw their money from their bank accounts on December 7.

Valérie Ohannesian, of the French Banking Federation, told the Observer the campaign was "stupid in every sense". She also took aim at the organisers' inspiration: "If Mr Cantona wants to take his money out of the bank, I imagine that he'll need quite a few suitcases," she said.

Quite what people should do with their money once they have relieved the banks of it is unclear. France once had a reputation for hiding their savings under the mattress: given the low savings rates being offered by the banks in the current financial climate, perhaps it's not such a terrible idea. ·