[781] in Vegetarian_Support_Group
WWW Activists take on McDonald's censors
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (elsiedee@MIT.EDU)
Sun Feb 11 01:43:57 1996
From: elsiedee@MIT.EDU
To: vsg@MIT.EDU, save@MIT.EDU
Date: Sun, 11 Feb 1996 01:42:52 EST
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Date: Sat, 10 Feb 1996 23:36:34 -0500
To: elsiedee@MIT.EDU
From: Vegetarian Resource Center <vrc@tiac.net>
Subject: WWW Activists take on McDonald's censors
Date: Fri, 9 Feb 1996 21:36:39 GMT
Reply-To: Ben Leamy <leamy@sunrae.uel.ac.uk>
Sender: Activists Mailing List <ACTIV-L@MIZZOU1.missouri.edu>
From: Ben Leamy <leamy@sunrae.uel.ac.uk>
Organization: University Of East London
Subject: WWW Activists take on McDonald's censors
To: Multiple recipients of list ACTIV-L <ACTIV-L@MIZZOU1.missouri.edu>
McSpotlight Press Release
- -- Final nail in the coffin of McDonald's global censorship strategy --
http://www.McSpotlight.org/
McSpotlight is the latest and most dynamic weapon in the fight against
McDonald's global domination. As one of the first Internet sites
starting to make full use of the century's most powerful communication
system, it combines text, graphics, video and audio into a readily
accessible and interactive package that can be used on a whole spectrum
of levels by campaigners, journalists, researchers, scientists,
students, and surfers alike. McDonald's own customers and employees
may well find it impossible to ever walk through the Golden Arches
again after visiting McSpotlight.
The infamous McLibel Trial, and the issues at its heart (diet and
ill-health, destruction of the environment, animal welfare,
exploitation of children through advertising and workers through low
pay) provide the focus for the site, but it is not just McDonald's in
the McSpotlight. As the most carefully manicured, defensive and
possibly the most arrogant corporation, they have been used as a symbol
for all transnational corporations maximising their profit at the
expense of people, animals and the environment.
Some of the highlights of McSpotlight are:
- - RealAudio interviews with the McLibel 2
- - the video clip linking McDonald's with rainforest destruction
(evidence in the trial)
- - the complete set of McLibel witness statements
& scientific reports used as evidence
- - 'guided tours' for first-timers
- - autonomous pages for 26 countries
(many run by key local campaigners)
- - the Debating Room
- - the infamous 'McQuiz'
(Sample question: "Why is it environmentally friendly for
McDonald's to produce mountains of disposable packaging?"
Answer: "...otherwise you'd end up with lots of vast,
empty gravel pits all over the country." -
Ed Oakley, McD's Head of Purchasing for Northern
Europe, in the witness box).
McSpotlight marks a watershed in the history of grassroots activism.
Compiled by a huge team of volunteers working from 14 different
countries, with support and contributions from not only the McLibel
defendants and their colleagues, but also some of the world's leading
scientists and authorities on the issues (including Professor Colin
Campbell, author of the "China Study", the world's most authoritative
report on the links between diet and cancer), it shows that power,
influence and advertising budget are no longer the restraining factors
dictating how far a message can be heard. The equipment is easily
available for anyone to rapidly and cheaply disseminate information to
the 70 million people with Internet access worldwide. As a form of
campaigning, McSpotlight marks a development from the established
methods employed by protesters from the Jarrow Marchers & Greenham
Common to Brightlingsea & Newbury.
"The climate of fear that McDonald's past tactics have created is fast
being eroded, and the Internet will be the final nail in the coffin of
their attempts to suppress criticism. The McLibel 2 have shown that people
will not be bullied and controlled for the profits of a few." - Franny
Armstrong, McSpotlight UK volunteer
A huge controversy is raging among the legal experts and political
authorities as to whether and how to regulate the Internet. Up until now,
the main subject of concern and media hype has been the dissemination of
pornography, particularly to children. McSpotlight will realign the debate
to the fundamental issue: should the spread of information about matters of
great public concern be controlled, and if so by whom? This is of course
particularly poignant in McSpotlight's case as Freedom of Speech forms the
core of the Mclibel trial.
"It is vital that scientists and members of the public feel able to discuss
openly and freely such important issues as the links between diet and
disease and the targeting of children, without fear of being sued by those
with vested interests. The Internet is an ideal forum for such a debate."
- - Dr Neal Barnard, President of the Physicians Committee for Responsible
Medicine, USA
The McDonald's Corporation will be faced with an impossible dilemma: should
they attempt to close-down this site, one of the most comprehensive and
damning collections of data ever assembled about a single corporation,
immediately after their disastrous attempt to suppress the distribution of
the McLibel leaflets? (1.5 million copies of the leaflets have been handed
out in the UK alone since the writs were served 5 years ago, and thousands
of people have pledged to continue distributing them whatever the verdict
in the trial.) Once information is released onto the Internet, can it ever
be stopped?
"We have been defending the right to criticise multinational corporations
for over 5 years since McDonald's served the writs on us. The campaign is
clearly unstoppable: McSpotlight now makes freely available across the
globe everything they don't want the public to know - and in the kind of
detail that all those who value the truth will appreciate. We're backing
McSpotlight 100%." - the McLibel 2
____________________________________________________________
McSpotlight Launch - Friday February 16th 1995
Photo opportunity:
10.30 am: McLibel 2 activate the site from a laptop
connected to the Internet by a mobile phone. Outside
McDonald's Leicester Square store, opposite the Swiss Centre, London
Press conference:
12pm - 2pm: Cyberia Cybercafe, 39 Whitfield Street, W1P
Video Press Release: Available on request
UK Press contact:
Polly Lawrence - tel: 0181 220 2318, fax: 0181 444 1597
mobile 0374 140725, email: mcspotlight@globalnet.co.uk
____________________________________________________________
McSpotlight has been constructed by the McInformation Network, an
international network of volunteers working from 14 countries around the
world. It is autonomous from, but supportive of, the McLibel 2 and the
McLibel Support Campaign.
!!! McDonald's in the McSpotlight - Friday 16th Feb 10:30am GMT
!! Judge for yourself . . . - http://www.McSpotlight.org/
! (Spread the word, please add these 3 lines to your signature file)
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