To mark the 17th Worldwide Anti-McDonald’s Day (16 October), Tyneside activists protested outside the Northumberland St, McDonald’s at 12 noon. This is a protest against McDonald’s’ record of damage to the environment, promotion of junk food, and animal cruelty. They gave out free food and leaflets about what’s wrong with McDonald’s.

The baked potatoes given away also marked United Nations World Food Day (also today). The spuds have been grown on the under-threat, Nuns Moor allotments. This action used locally grown, organic food, that is healthy, doesn’t involve animal cruelty or factory & chemical processes in its production, and is for free, rather than for profit.

McDonald’s are being targeted because:

* They use cattle reared on ex-rainforest land and they are the world’s largest user of cattle - which produce methane, one of the main global warming gasses.
* They pay their workers low wages and understaffing leads to many accidents (particularly burns). They are also fiercely opposed to trade unions. Through all this the staff are expected to smile sweetly.
* They promote their food as nutritious, but in reality it is junk food, that is 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 and diabetes.
* 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.

In 1999 there were 425 protests in 345 towns in 23 different countries on Anti-McDonald’s Day. Over 3 million leaflets have now been handed out in the UK alone since 1990 (when the McDonald’s Corporation served libel writs aiming to suppress the London Greenpeace leafleting campaign) and it is now distributed worldwide.

For background information on McDonalds, please look at the extensive website at: www.mcspotlight.org

For information on great campaigns on Tyneside, look at www.tapp.cjb.net