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McLibel Support Campaign
P R E S S . R E L E A S E . 28/02/05
Victory for McLibel 2 against UK Government
Verdict of European Court - campaigners celebrate 20 years of growing protests against McWorld
On 15th February, the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg declared that the mammoth McLibel case was in breach of the right to a fair trial and right to freedom of expression. The McLibel 2, Helen Steel and Dave Morris, held a press Conference outside McDonald's in The Strand, Central London - chosen to mark 20 years of growing protests against McDonald's since the first ever 'Day of Action against McDonald's' on Jan 19th 1985, when London Greenpeace protested outside that store.
McDonald's Corporation had launched libel proceedings in an unsuccessful attempt to prevent the distribution of leaflets criticising the company. The McLibel trial became the longest case in English legal history, lasting 314 days, in which the McLibel 2 represented themselves against McDonald's. The trial and a 23-day appeal in 1999, resulted in a mixed verdict in which damning rulings were made against McDonald's core business practices (see below). The case was described by commentators at the end of the trial as 'the worst Corporate PR disaster in history'. Despite the rulings, no sanctions were ordered against McDonald's, yet the McLibel 2 were outrageously ordered to pay the company £40,000 damages.
The McLibel 2 refused to pay a single penny and instead launched legal proceedings against the UK govt in Sept 2000. The European Court ruling on 15th February stated that there had been an unacceptable inequality of arms with McDonald's during the trial, and that the lack of procedural fairness and equality gave rise to a breach of the right to freedom of expression. They also said that the award of £40,000 damages to McDonald's was disproportionate. The court also recognised that there was a "strong public interest in enabling campaign groups and individuals outside the mainstream to contribute to the public debate by disseminating information and ideas on matters of general public interest such as health and the environment".
'Having largely beaten McDonald's, and won some damning judgements against them in our trial, we have now exposed the notoriously oppressive and unfair UK laws. We hope that this will result in greater public scrutiny and criticism of powerful organisations whose practices have a detrimental effect on society and the environment.The McLibel campaign and the world-wide distribution of millions of anti-McDonald's leaflets had already proved that determined and widespread grass roots protests and defiance can undermine those who try to silence their critics, and also render oppressive laws unworkable. The continually growing opposition to McDonald's and all it stands for is a vindication of all the efforts of those around the world who have been exposing and challenging the corporation's business practices.'
- Helen Steel and Dave Morris
McLIBEL BACKGROUND
The McDonald's Corporation issued writs against the McLibel 2 on 20th Sept 1990 alleging they had been libelled in the London Greenpeace factsheet What's Wrong With McDonald's? Everything they don't want you to know. The corporation currently has an annual turnover of $40billion, and a marketing budget of over $2billion. The trial began on 28th June 1994, the company spending an estimated £310m on legal costs.
On June 19th 1997, after a trial lasting 314 days (the longest trial ever in England), Mr Justice Bell ruled that McDonald's marketing has "pretended to a positive nutritional benefit which their food (high in fat & salt etc) did not match"; that McDonald's "exploit children" with their advertising strategy; are "culpably responsible for animal cruelty"; and "pay low wages, helping to depress wages in the catering trade." On March 31st 1999 the Court of Appeal, after a 23-day hearing, added to those damning findings ruling that it was fair comment to say that McDonald's employees worldwide "do badly in terms of pay and conditions", and true that "if one eats enough McDonald's food, one's diet may well become high in fat etc., with the very real risk of heart disease."
THE GLOBAL CAMPAIGN AGAINST McDONALD'S, AND ALL THEY STAND FOR, CONTINUES
TO GROW
Food is central to our everyday lives, yet we have virtually no control
over its production and distribution. The food industry is dominated by
multinational companies who for their own profits exploit consumers,
workers, the world's natural resources and billions of farmed animals.
The way we eat, and even the way we think about food is being manipulated
by these powerful institutions and their sophisticated marketing
campaigns.To understand the reality behind the propaganda, we can focus on McDonald's - one of the most powerful, influential and well-known global companies. The corporation was founded 50 years ago, in 1955. Despite its strenuous marketing efforts, McDonald's is widely despised, and its 'reputation' - along with that of the food industry in general - continues to sink ever further.
Every year there is a Worldwide Anti-McDonald's Day on Saturday October 16th [UN World Food Day] - a protest against the promotion of junk food, the unethical targeting of children, exploitation of workers, animal cruelty, damage to the environment and the global domination of corporations over our lives. Launched in the UK in 1985 by London Greenpeace, the October 16th international protests have continued to grow..
In 1999, the only year in which we systematically monitored where the protests took place, we recorded 425 protests and pickets in 345 towns in 23 countries: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, England, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Malta, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Portugal, Romania, Scotland, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, USA.In 2000 there were widespread and large protests throughout Italy - at one store in Rome 300 demonstrators succeeded in getting it closed for the day.
In 2002 for the first time, McDonald's workers joined in the Day of Action - there were walkouts and other forms of protests in many countries co-ordinated by McDonald's Workers Resistance (an international network of McDonald's workers - see www.mwr.org.uk.
Over 3 million 'What's Wrong With McDonald's?' leaflets have now been handed out in the UK alone since 1990, and are now distributed world-wide in over 27 languages. And global opposition to McDonald's has also continued to grow over the last few years:
- many determined residents' campaigns against new stores, including a successful 552-day occupation of a proposed McDonald's site by residents of Hinchley Wood, S.E. England, campaigns against drive-thrus in Canada, and protest blockades in Voronezh (S. Russia)
- mass anti-McDonald's protests by French farmers, including a 30,000-strong demo
- efforts by McDonald's workers to organise together to stand up to their bosses (eg. in the UK, France, Russia and Canada), including the creation of the McDonald's Workers Resistance www.mwr.org.uk
- a global upsurge of concern over the alarming increase in obesity, heart disease and a range of other serious health problems in industrialised countries. McDonald's identified as a main culprit. This has included a lawsuit against US junk food corporations McDonald's, KFC, Burger King, and Wendys on behalf of millions of customers misled by the systematic and unethical promotion of unhealthy food products
- there has been growing pressure for bans and restrictions on advertising to children, controversies over McDonald's sponsorship of the UN Children's Fund, and over their involvement in schools and hospitals
- an ongoing international scandal over extreme labour exploitation in China for the production of McDonald's 'happy meal' toys
- McDonald's USA sued and forced to apologise and pay out millions of dollars for deceiving their customers by not revealing beef extract was a content of their supposedly vegetarian french fries
- growing concern throughout Europe, Japan, Australia, US and Canada about the threat to human health posed by beef-related diseases (such as BSE) and genetically-modified animal feed
- food poisoning scandals in South America (Argentina and Chile)
- protests against McDonald's mass use of refrigeration chemicals linked to global warming
- controversies over McDonald's hypocritical 'concern' over animal cruelty & general corporate responsibility
- McDonald's increasingly identified by a wide range of protestors worldwide as a symbol of modern capitalism
- recent falls in their global profits and corporate closure of many stores, with US Executives admitting that recent years have been the "most challenging" in McDonald's 49-year history.
- the McLibel trial, dubbed 'the worst Corporate PR disaster in history', continues to create bad publicity.
WHAT'S WRONG WITH McDONALD'S?
McDonald's spend over $2 billion every year world-wide on advertising and promotions, trying to cultivate an image of being a 'caring' and 'green' company that is also a fun place to eat. Children are lured in - dragging their parents behind them - with the promise of toys and other gimmicks. But behind the smiling face of Ronald McDonald lies the reality: McDonald's only interest is money, making profits from whoever and whatever they can, just like all multinationals. The company's sales are now $40 billion a year. The continual world-wide expansion of fast food chains means more uniformity, less choice and the undermining of local communities.
PROMOTING UNHEALTHY FOOD McDonald's promote their food as 'nutritious', but the reality is that it is processed junk food - high in fat, sugar and salt, and low in fibre and vitamins. A diet of this type is linked with a greater risk of heart disease, cancer, diabetes and other diseases. Their food also contains many chemical additives, some of which may cause ill-health, and hyperactivity in children. Modern intensive farming and production methods are geared to maximising profits, resulting in the widespread use of chemicals and unhealthy practises which also affect people's health (e.g. BSE and food poisoning).
EXPLOITING WORKERS Workers in the fast food industry are paid low wages. Pressure to keep profits high and wage costs low results in understaffing, so staff have to work harder and faster. As a consequence, accidents (particularly burns) are common. The majority of employees are people who have few job options and so have no alternative to being bossed around and exploited - and they're compelled to 'smile' too! Not surprisingly staff turnover at McDonald's is high, making it virtually impossible to unionise and fight for a better deal. This suits McDonald's who have always been opposed to workers' rights and Unions. Pay and conditions are even worse for the workers toiling in sweatshops in China to produce McDonald's 'happy meal' toys.
DAMAGING THE ENVIRONMENT Every year McDonald's use over a million tons of unnecessary plastic and paper packaging, the production of which requires environmentally-damaging chemicals and degradation of forests. Most of the packaging ends up littering our streets or polluting the land buried in landfill sites. The heavy use of chemicals in modern agriculture and effluent from intensive farming cause pollution of land and water, harming wildlife, plants and the soil.
CAUSING CRUELTY TO ANIMALS The menus of the burger chains are based on the torture and murder of millions of animals. Most are intensively farmed, with no access to fresh air and sunshine, and no freedom of movement. Their short lives are cruel and their deaths are barbaric - 'humane slaughter' is a myth. We have the choice to eat meat or not, but the billions of animals slaughtered for food each year have no choice at all.
ROBBING THE POOR The demands made by multinationals for cheap food supplies result in the exploitation of agricultural workers throughout the world. Vast areas of land in poor countries are used for cash crops or for cattle ranching, or to grow grain to feed animals to be eaten in the West. This is at the expense of local food needs. McDonald's continually promote meat products, encouraging people to eat meat more often, which wastes more and more food resources. 7 million tons of grain fed to livestock produces only 1 million tons of meat and by-products. On a plant-based diet and with land shared fairly, almost every region could be self-sufficient in food.
WHAT YOU CAN DO Food is central to our everyday lives, yet we have virtually no control over its production and distribution. The way we eat, and even the way we think about food is being manipulated by these powerful institutions and their sophisticated marketing campaigns. But despite strenuous marketing efforts, McDonald's is widely despised, and its 'reputation' and that of the food industry in general - continues to sink ever further.
Every year on 16th October there is the World Day of Action against McDonald's and all they stand for - with pickets and demonstrations all over the world. Together we can fight back against the institutions which currently control our lives and our planet, and we can create a better society without exploitation or oppression. Workers can and do organise together to fight for their rights and dignity. People are increasingly aware of the need to think seriously about the food we and our children eat. Environmental and animal rights protests and campaigns are growing everywhere. People in poor countries are organising themselves to stand up to multinationals and banks which dominate the world's economy. Why not join in the struggle for a better world? Talk to friends and family, neighbours and workmates about these issues. Please copy and circulate this leaflet as widely as you can.
www.mcspotlight.org
contact details
McLibel Support Campaign
5 Caledonian Road, London, N1 9DX, UK.
Tel/Fax: +44 (207) 713 1269
E-mail: mclibel@globalnet.co.uk
Web: http://www.mcspotlight.org
related links
- press releases & statements
- press cuttings: McDonald's
- press cuttings: McLibel
- press cuttings: Campaigns
- press cuttings: McLibel film
- press cuttings: related stuff
- The McLibel Trial
- witnesses statements, transcripts, evidence