Demonstration at Ledras's McDonald's

Multinational companies destroy our health and the environment and they exploit workers and children with our contribution and accomplice (fast service+ capital= low quality+ human and children exploitation+ environmental destruction=> our own accomplice). Boycott now.

McDonald’s, one of the biggest fast food companies in the world, as all multinational fast food companies (Starbucks, KFC, Burger King, etc.), exploit all of us on a daily basis, earning their profits in our expense, whether we are consumers of their products or not. The following information is indicatory:

Let’s begin with the issue of the quality of “food,” which is being served in fast food restaurants. Their “food” contains large amounts of fat, salt, sugar, conservatives, synthetic colourings and scents, whilst it contains very low amounts (if any) of vitamins and fibres. Moreover, most of the meat as well as vegetables used by fast food multinationals are genetically modified. The DNA of the “animals” being bred for the purposes of consumption by such companies is modified so as for these “animals” to provide as much meat as possible and in order for these companies to increase their profits. As a result of these genetically modifications, these “animals” do not have any feet, bones, hair, tails, or ears and their head has the size of a tennis ball. Furthermore, the “food” being served at the restaurants of multinational companies not only is precooked, but it is fried in oil, which has been used several times before. As a result of the above, the consumers of such “food” face high risk of intestine and breast cancer, heart diseases, diabetes and other diseases related to mal-nutrition. There is no case for McDonald’s “food” to be healthy food, although they advertise that their “food” is nutritious and healthy. It is a logical induction that in order for McDonald’s to be able to sell “food” in low prices and at the same time earn the profits they do earn, their production costs are low, having as a result the low quality of the “food,” which results in all of the above consequences against the consumers of their “food.”

However, the negative consequences resulting from the operation of companies like McDonald’s do not affect only the consumers of their “food,” since the ecological disaster caused by them influences (in a negative way) all the inhabitants of planet Earth. The fast food multinational companies have a major role in the ecological disaster of the planet in so many ways. Huge rainforest areas are being destroyed, so as to bring cultivation land about for the cultivation of grain, which is used to feed animals for the production of meat for these companies. Moreover, by promoting the consumption of meat, fast food companies contribute to the greenhouse effect, since the cattle that are bred to cover the needs of the market produce huge amounts of methane, which is mainly responsible for the greenhouse effect. Furthermore, McDonald’s, as well as all fast food multinational companies, produce vast quantities of waste (plastic, carton and polyester), since they produce millions of kilos of redundant disposable packages.

McDonald’s exploits thousands of people throughout the whole world on a daily basis. 10year old children work in sweatshops in China and Hong Kong in the manufacture of toys that are included in the happy meals packages of McDonald’s. These children work 14-15 hours per day in slavery conditions, without freedom of movement and with the salary of 20-30 cents per hour. Certainly, these children do not enjoy the toys of the happy meals, which our children get excited to have, brainwashed by advertisements and other techniques (such as hideous clowns and playgrounds of questionable security). Moreover, the employees of McDonald’s restaurants are getting paid very low salaries, working with no employment contracts and do not have the right to join trade unions. In addition, multinational companies suck the labour of peasants in “third countries,” who also work under slavery conditions for the production of grain, which is used to feed animals used for the production of meat for these companies. Also, McDonald’s are indirectly and partly responsible for the starvation of millions of people, if one takes into consideration that it takes seven tons of grain, with which a lot of people could have been fed, for the production of merely one ton of meat and its products.

A rough calculation of the above information brings about that each burger or “happy meal” we consume consists of: 1) the labour and the deprivation of freedom of children in Asia, 2) the labour of peasants in the “third world”, 3) the exploitation of the workers in the restaurants and 4) meat, which is genetically modified and of low quality. The sum derived of the above calculation is the following: as long as we consume what the multinational companies serve us, we contribute in the (ecological) destruction of the planet, the death of innocent people and children from starvation and the deprivation of freedom and dignified living conditions of innocent people and children. The equation stands not only for McDonald’s, but also for every multinational company. Here lies the essence of the whole system of capitalism: the wretchedness and constant exploitation of the majority of people in order for a few people to get wealthier and more powerful perpetuating the power relations between people.

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Anti-authoritarian Autonomous Action
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Demonstration at Ledras's McDonald's: Saturday 23/5/09. Meeting at Phaneromeni Square at 16.00