INTERNATIONAL DAY AGAINST MC DONALDS

international | anti-capitalism | news report

Wednesday October 22, 2003 18:17

by Rasta4i's - Indymedia.ie

http://www.indymedia.org.uk/media/2003/10/279329.wmv

INTERNATIONAL DAY AGAINST
MC DONALDS- CAPITALISM AND
EXPLOITATION OF WORKERS
Video: 1: http://www.indymedia.org.uk/media/2003/10/279329.wmv

WHO ARRIVED FIRST, THE BATTERY HEN OR THE EGG?

Video: 1: http://www.indymedia.org.uk/media/2003/10/279329.wmv

INTERNATIONAL DAY AGAINST
MC DONALDS- CAPITALISM AND
EXPLOITATION OF WORKERS

The first store opened in Dublin 9/10 Grafton Street on 9th May 1977. The first McDonald's drive-thru restaurant in Europe opened January 1985 at the Nutgrove Shopping Center in Rathfarnham and in May 1996 the most westerly McDonald's restaurant in Europe opened in Tralee County Kerry.
Of the restaurants currently open in Ireland, 50% are owned and operated by franchisees.

Clearing land for crops and livestock destroys over 12,000 miles of Brazilian rainforest each year. This is an area larger than the country of Belgium. What are they doing about it? Nothing, a few daft ads on the goggle box showing two sweaty pigs running down a street with nothing else on their minds but a big jucey dollop of chemicals, animal BI-product and toped off with a BI-carbonated soda sugar drink.
As long as Mc'Donalds keep tossing burger pate and making loads of money at the expense of the ignernent unhealthy Irish consumers they will be happy and will continue to open more so called restraunts, destroying the worlds natural resources as they go.

Over the last period Globalise Resistance has organised and actively been a part of activity both locally and internationally. We mobilised hundreds of Irish people to protest the G8 in Genoa 2001, and again at Evian in 2003 . We helped to organise marches against the racist murder of Zhao Liu Tao in January 2002, against the police violence of Mayday 2002, and organised hundreds to go to the European Social Forum in Florence in November 2002. The ESF helped co ordinate the international day of action against War on February 15th, which was the biggest protest in human history.
There is enough wealth in the world for people not to have to starve and suffer. Another world is possible.

Globalise Resistance set up a stall out side Mc'Donalds on grafton street to educate the passers by about the damaging effects that fast food culture has on humans, animals and the enviornment.
There is no difference between Mc'Donalds and Burger King, Super Macks or any other fast food companies they all use BI-product, they all try their hardest to warp the minds of young people into thinking, it is the place to be and there is delicious food here. Not true.
They all produce extra-ordanary amounts of waste and have devastating, long term damaging effects on the enviornment.
People have to take responsibility for their actions and think of where your food comes from before consuming it. Parents need to make their children aware of the harm these companies are doing on our lives. Funny thing is, alott of parents of to day have grown up in the Mc'D's culture and are oblivious of the damage it is causing them and THEIR BABIES!!!!! "It makes me sick to think that a mother would stuff the mouths of their children with such chemicals. May they think twice about eating it again in the future".

WHAT'S WRONG WITH PROCESSED MEAT?

What's right about it... Some of the close up images are took of a bovine suffering from the effects of BSE 3 weeks after being diagnosed with the disease. You can clearly see the discoluration and blisters on the tongue, lips and feet of the animal.

What about all that beef that gets sent to the slaughter that may have had traces of BSE or what about all the growth hormones, tranquilizers and worm does the animal had before the slaughter. Not only that but the meat would have been treated whit bacteria, cut up and separated, frozen at very low tempiture, then further treated with colourant to give it its pink like choler oh yes it is really a dull bayish brown colour, processed and packaged and sent off to the fast food restraunts and super market shelves for consumption by the uneducated masses.

WHO ARRIVED FIRST, THE BATTERY HEN OR THE EGG?

Well the battery hen of course. Genetically altered so it could produce the most foul. Bigger is better mmmmm a lovely tender extra large chicken breast. Or maybe an egg for breakfast. Well there are plenty to go around with battery hen houses in grate numbers in Ireland producing eggs 24 hours a day. Enough is enough..
Over 100 of the world’s leading food and drink companies have chosen to locate their European operations in Ireland. Some examples of these companies are: Northern Foods Unilever Coca-Cola, H J Heinz, Grand Metropolitan, CPC International, Cadbury-Schweppes, Pernod Ricard and Nutricia.

FURTHER MC'DONALDS ACTIONS

In July 03 Food not Bombs Ireland set up shop out side Mc'Donalds at the Town Hall in Bray to hand out free food to the people who were going in to the fast food restraunt. The manager wasn't happy and had the group removed by the police for obstructing busies. A few people were saved many were lost to the foul stench that emitted out the doors the building.
Mc'Donalds in Prague... Didn't stand a chance.

Mc'Donalds Geneve. Well the flag was taken from the boarded up window and burned.

It doesn't take much to realise that processed food is bad for you no matter what you ate or what company packaged it. It is unhealthy and all that waste packaging, where dose it go?
Fruits and Vegetables are wholesome, very good for you physically and mentally and there is no waste. There are so many varieties of fruit and vegetables out there you can't get bord of the selection and add all varieties of grains, herbs, spices, nuts and berries. When you add all the combinations together you get the taste that you only dreamed of when you slurped around the greasy ham burger tray thinking, that never filled me at all.
Fast food - Fruit and Veg, can't be faster. Throw em all in a pan with water add spices. Its done. Enjoy.

Rasta4i's

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Comments (11 of 11)

are burger-king paying for the next batch of flags?

by wakawaka

Wed Oct 22, 2003 22:03

GR my arse.
I've just started a new organisation, GR2GR, who's in?

bahhhhhhhhhhhhh

bbbbbbaaaahhhhhhhh what are you doing?

by Down with The Pig System

Thu Oct 23, 2003 00:02

At least GR are doing something while the rest of the nation sits on their holes and do nothing.

Fight the system or the system will consume you!

What system?

by Frank Kelly

Thu Oct 23, 2003 02:24

Whait is this "system" you're referring to? It sounds dangerous to me. I need more information about this.

Don't send me any links, I won't read them.

bah humbug

by barry

Thu Oct 23, 2003 16:40

whilst we're all just sitting on our arses GR are out there taking credit for what other people do.
leaving aside the 'food not bombs ireland' bit (first time i've ever heard the dublin FNB crew called that) and how pissed off they're gonna be at this same old shit again, what I want to know is if GR are so proud of ripping the flag out of McDs in geneve how come we didn't hear about it at the time? were they feeling shy, modest, wary of trying to grab credit so soon after the event?

As far as I can see there is not one single action (with the possible exception of the flyering stall which happened ?when?) described in this piece that had any involvement by GR, other than the possibility that some of their leaders were in the same city at the time.

And before someone goes withering on about how they didn't claim to have done the things described in the article, read it again and see if you can find the line where they acknowledge that they didn't participate, much less do these things.

When real grown up pols do this kind of thing we call it spin, when GR do we call it monopolising resistance. see http://www.schnews.org.uk/mr.htm for a little history of this behaviour (or do a search on this site and find some of their other posturing and the responses generated)

This article (imho) breaches the TRUTH aspect of the imc.ie editorial guidelines and hopefully will have been deleted by the time I get to post this comment ;)

i don't recall

by kitty-kat

Sun Oct 26, 2003 23:19

perhaps my memory is failing me already i don't remember receiving any assistance from any GRer for Food Not Bombs.
basta

You're just a dictator barry

by freedom of speech

Mon Oct 27, 2003 20:24

Coz you want to delete any comment that you don't agree with. So much for freedom of speech. Haven't you ever heard of freedom of speech. Whatever you might think about GR they are as entitled as anybody to post here. It's called democracy, or haven't you heard of that barry?

why don't you call me a fascist as well?

Wed Oct 29, 2003 22:59

eh?

freedom of speech, like the 'non-violent' opposition to freedom of speech for David Irving in Cork a few years ago when ye sent ANL round the back to smash their way in.

ye are dissemblers, thats a big word for liars, that means ye don't tell the truth, thats against the editorial guidelines, that means your story gets deleted. (or should imho)

This wouldn't happen to be the same SCH'NEWS'?

Thu Oct 30, 2003 14:48

Based in the ever so graund and so jolly upper-class town of Brighton (a tory kip by the way) that publicly called on their followers to "physically attack the monopolise resistance dogs". That is incitement to hatred barry and yes it is illegal. Lets turn the tables around. Maybe you should be deleted because you "don't tell the truth, thats against the editorial guidelines," and therefore you should be deleted for good (imho)

Source of quote

by 1 of IMC

Thu Oct 30, 2003 15:25

"physically attack the monopolise resistance dogs"

This quote does not appear anywhere on the internet and there is no source for it within the Schnews archives that I can find. Back it up or it will be deleted.

The GR article IMO is very dishonest in that it seeks to associate GR with actions which have absolutely nothing to do with GR and some of which are carried out by groups that are very hostile to GR/SWP. However, it does not contain any straightforward lies in that it does not directly claim GR responsibility. Therefore it remains. The above comment though contains a serious allegation and it will be deleted if it is not backed up.

don't delete

Thu Oct 30, 2003 18:38

the last comment from freedom of speech contains a threat against me: "you should be deleted for good"

I would ask the editorial collective to leave the comment in place so others may see the dangers ;) inherent in opposing the vangaurd.

might be interesting:

by iosaf

Mon Dec 22, 2003 15:01

i just can't think of a plcae to put it, and well writing an article about it would be silly:

so C/P
McJob definition upsets McDonald's
18/11/2003

McJob has become part of the English language, at least according to a US dictionary, but burger chain McDonald's says its trade mark is being abused – and that the word should not be defined as "low paying and dead end work".

The offending definition appears in the latest edition of Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary. In an open letter, McDonald's Chairman Jim Cantalupo said it is not just his company that is being insulted:

"Merriam-Webster’s inclusion of the term 'McJob', with its definition of 'low paying and dead end work', is not only an inaccurate description of restaurant employment but also a slap in the face to the 12 million men and women who work hard every day in America's 900,000 restaurants."

"Furthermore, McDonald’s owns a federal trade mark registration for the mark McJOBS. It refers to a program designed to help train and place mentally and physically challenged people so they can work."

"Merriam-Webster’s unflattering definition flies in the face of their achievements and significance to the workforce."

In a statement Merriam-Webster replied:

"For more than 17 years, McJob has been used as we are defining it in a broad range of publications, including The New York Times, US News & World Report, Publishers Weekly, Rolling Stone, The Times (London), The Boston Globe, Ms., Harper's, The New Republic, Utne Reader, and The Vancouver Sun."

The publishers intend to keep their definition.

*************
McDonald's Corporate Press Release 11/10/2003

Return to the Listing of All Press Releases

Jim Cantalupo, McDonald's Chairman and CEO Offers His Sentiment on the Term ''McJobs''

I take exception to Merriam-Webster's decision to include the term "McJob" in the most recent edition of its dictionary. The following is a letter I wrote to Merriam-Webster, which was published as an open letter in the November 3, 2003 edition of Nation's Restaurant News.

Jim

************************************************************

Dear Editor,

A dictionary usually is considered a reliable source for the true meaning of words. Not any more.

Merriam-Webster’s inclusion of the term "McJob," with its definition of "low paying and dead end work," is not only an inaccurate description of restaurant employment but also a slap in the face to the 12 million men and women who work hard every day in America's 900,000 restaurants.

Moreover, Merriam-Webster’s attempt to prove that "McJob" is a well-understood part of the nation’s vocabulary is utterly unconvincing.

First, let's get to some accurate definitions. Restaurant employees are proud of their jobs and recognize that restaurants are indeed gateways to opportunity, not to mention the paychecks they provide.

According to the National Restaurant Association, restaurants are the nation's largest private-sector employer, offering all kinds of positions in a variety of fields, providing quality jobs for nearly 9 percent of those employed in the United States - for a year or a career.

In fact, salaries for food-service managers are growing at a rate twice as fast as the median salary for all managerial positions in the United States. The NRA says that nine out of 10 salaried restaurant workers started as hourly employees. That good news is in sharp contrast with Merriam-Webster’s "dead end" conclusions.

Frankly, it was disappointing to see Nation’s Restaurant News include "McJob" in a recent headline over a story about employment. On behalf of every individual who proudly waits a table, cooks the food, washes a dish, or seats a party at an American restaurant, let’s agree to stop giving this term any more exposure.

Meanwhile, to those of us at McDonald's, a more appropriate definition of a "McJob" might be "teaches responsibility." Young people learn what it takes to succeed. They learn how to interact with customers, how to prepare food properly, the importance of cleanliness, the value of showing up on time and what it means to work as an integral member of a team. They learn to take pride in their work. And, as these young people gain valuable experience and confidence in their own ability, they learn leadership and management skills that can last a lifetime.

In fact, McDonald's trains more young people than America’s Armed Forces. That training brings real opportunity to our restaurant managers and crew employees. More than 1,000 of the men and women who own and operate McDonald's restaurants today got their start by serving customers behind the counter. Keep in mind the typical McDonald's franchisee in the U.S. owns four restaurants, each one representing annual sales of $1.6 million.

Those high volume restaurants also need well-trained, smart and motivated people to run them, so tens of thousands of managers help keep those small businesses humming through salaried jobs that usually began with - you guessed it - first-time jobs behind the counter. But when it comes to opportunity, the sky’s the limit at McDonald’s.

Many members of our top management team began their McDonald’s career working as crew employees in our restaurants. Charlie Bell, McDonald’s President and Chief Operating Officer, began his McDonald’s career at 15 in Australia. Mats Lederhausen, President of McDonald’s Business Development Group started with McDonald’s as crew in Sweden. Claire Babrowski, President of McDonald’s Asia-Pacific Middle East Africa Group, Lynn Crump-Caine, Executive Vice President of McDonald’s Worldwide Operations and Eduardo Sanchez, President of McDonald’s Latin-America and Canadian Group all began their McDonald’s careers as crew employees in their hometowns. And Fred Turner, McDonald’s Senior Chairman, was Ray Kroc’s first grill man!

But McDonald’s also is a great place to work for reasons beyond potential advancement. Take Clare Kimmerle, at a youthful 79, she has proudly worked at the McDonald’s restaurant near her home in Southampton, Pennsylvania for more than 30 years. Why? Because she loves it. "I like to work. I like people," she says. Clare is a wonderful representative of the more than 1.5 million proud McDonald’s employees in 119 countries.

In addition, Fortune magazine just came up with yet another definition of jobs at McDonald’s - America’s best place to work for minorities. Best place! Will Merriam-Webster include that definition for its readers?

Furthermore, McDonald’s owns a federal trademark registration for the mark McJOBS. It refers to a program designed to help train and place mentally and physically challenged people so they can work. Many of those people have been able to lead happier and more productive lives because of our program. Merriam-Webster’s dismissive definition of "McJob" undermines the great strides that men and women with physical and mental challenges have made in our restaurants, and the skills and independence that the McDonald’s McJOBS Program has helped foster for more than 20 years. The people who have participated in McDonald’s McJOBS Program deserve our respect and admiration. We are proud to help enrich their lives. Merriam-Webster’s unflattering definition flies in the face of their achievements and significance to the workforce.

Finally, we have reviewed Merriam-Webster’s would-be proof that “McJob” is part of America’s vocabulary and, frankly, there isn’t much there. The base for the proof is an Internet search, which dug up a scattering of references from assorted academics, pundits, and random news stories over a 15-year period.

Merriam-Webster also told us it had no choice but to include "McJob" because another dictionary had – that’s followship not leadership.

Well, McDonald’s has far more credible sources – our daily, face-to-face conversation with 47 million customers, and we aren’t hearing any "McJob" talk. And we doubt anyone else does, except where it is fashionable to belittle anyone who works in a restaurant.

So you can see why your definition is completely inappropriate and absolutely demeaning for all the dedicated men and women who have been or currently are employed in a restaurant. That includes teens getting their first employment experiences, parents supporting a family, seniors supplementing their income and achieving greater purpose and fulfillment, persons with disabilities entering the workplace, and millions and millions of people from local communities working in 900,000 restaurants nationwide. In other words, restaurant jobs are valued and valuable.

In the interest of accuracy and fairness and to serve readers better, we are confident Merriam-Webster will eliminate its inaccurate definition of restaurant employment in the next edition and on its Internet site right now.

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INTERNATIONAL DAY AGAINST MC DONALDS

Comments (11 of 11)