Saturday, January 20, 2007

McLibel - orig. 10/08/05

I just finished watching a documentary called, "McLibel" that was put on by the local film festival. I would probably not have gone to any of the shows as it is hard to support many aspects of the festival (in regards to destructive production methods, t-shirt sales etc.), but I am friends with the organizers and a number of people involved with the festival and have been given free tickets to the shows.

"McLibel" documents the libel case brought by McDonalds against a couple of British citizens. It was an amazing example of the ability individuals still have to control their own destinies and shape the world in a more humanistic fashion.

The protesters chose McDonalds as a symbol of corporate domination and the various evil practices that arise from corporate rule. The were sued for handing out pamphlets that said McDonalds' practices were exploiting workers, exploiting children through targeted advertisement, cruel to animals, contributing to the destruction of the environment, selling food that causes long term health risks and two other items that I can't remember off the top of my head.

The eventual verdict was split.

The two protesters went on to the European court to sue the nation of England because of the unfairness of libel laws in Britain at the time. They won that case.

To find out more go to McSpotlight.org which they set up to disseminate information as they were not able to receive appropriate coverage from mainstream media because the mainstream media is owned by corporations and controlled by corporate advertising revenue.

There was also a lot of footage of the guy who wrote, [u]Fast Food Nation[/u] which have not read, but am interested in reading. I hope my local library has it although they don't seem to have books about the environment that are less than ten years old. I wonder who makes the decision as to what books they carry.

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