- McLibel -

targeting McDonalds is a form of "strategic warfare"

Posted by: Luke Kuhn ( Utopian Anarchist Party, USA ) on July 09, 1997 at 23:40:18:

In Reply to: tarnished and badly thought through argument posted by Paul Nicholls on July 01, 1997 at 10:35:20:

: Re: Judgement proof

: ummm....bit of a tarnished and badly thought through argument old boy.

: I think the Bailiff may seize your computer equipment don't you think?

: If and when you can be bothered to work (and if you have a legitimate reason not to I apologize) the court would order an attachment of earnings Order (certain monies would be ordered from your pay packet at regular intervals). Garnishee proceedings could be Ordered to freeze and rifle your bank accounts.

: Your credit scoring would be damned, and, if you continued to defy any restraining Order of the Court post Judgment you would be imprisoned for contempt.

: Under English law the Court has no effective 'bar' to sieze assets save for bedding and limited tools of the trade.

: I honestly think that there may be some legitimate arguments for and against McD's and I'm entirely neutral, but, let's face it when radicals who openly sneer at authority and stick two fingers up to society harp on like you they hardly do their cause well..in fact they positively damage it!

: Paul UK

First of all, I am using a public access terminal and do NOT own my own computer gear. Second, under US law I can protect up to $3000 US from any judjement-and I own less than that anyway-homemade music gear and a heavily modified,"butchered" old car probably worth $50 at auction. As I have never worked in the legal economy I have no garnishable wages( a threat under US law as in England). If they did try to take anything from me I would simply destroy it. My bank account is kept empty, so they can have it anytime they like, and if I had a job and was garnished I would just quit it like so many Americans do when wages are garnised to collect fines(a higher category of debt than any civil debt). Imprisonment for this is rare as the jails are full.
As far as "Thumbing my nose at society" is concerned, the "suits" and society controlled by the government and the rich are my PRIMARY target, and McDonalds simply one of it's components-like one ball bearing plant in Nazi Germany waiting for the B-24 Liberators to smash it to dust.
McDonalds is a common target because it as a perfect and highly visible example of how nearly all of the big multinational corporatios(that in turn regard third world governments as wholly-owned subsidiaries) behave. Because of their visibility, if they are punished for cutting down the rainforest or using the Vietnamese police to stop a strike at their sweatshop in Vietnam, it also warns many other such businesses that they may be next. This works the same way as their attempt to intimidate people by suing two who cannot pay to scara away opponents who DO have assets. Intimidation is a game two can play, and when McDonalds coughs everyone listens.
Therefore, targeting McDonalds is a form of "strategic warfare" just like when the Allies decided to concentrate their bombing raids on the Nazi's on ball bearing plants on the theory that without bearings the Panzers would literally grind themselves to a halt.



Follow Ups:

None.

The Debating Room Post a Followup