Skip to content or view screen version

Boycott 'your M&S'

Leila K | 04.09.2004 12:41 | London

Report on the regular Thursday picket of Marks and Spencer, Marble Arch, London. Every week the Victory to the Intifada group demonstrates outside this store from 6 to 8pm to highlight M&S’ support for Israel.

The picket of Marks and Spencer, Oxford Street, London went well this week, despite the usual heckling from the Zionist counter-demonstration, organised by Betar, reaching a new level of hysteria and filth.

Although for the past two weeks, the police have chosen to put barriers around the Betar counter-picket, leaving us free to leaflet and discuss with members of the public, this week they were back to corralling us in as well. Apparently this was due to a complaint from River Island, which is next to M&S!?

The regular attenders from the Victory to the Intifada were joined by visitors, including people from Lebanon, Libya, France and Kashmir, some of whom are active in supporting the Palestinian struggle at home and were delighted to see us spreading the message in London. Speeches were made in English, Arabic and French and particularly highlighted the current situation in Zionist prisoners where 3,500 prisoners are on hunger strike in an attempt to obtain basic rights and humane conditions. A comrade from France also spoke about the solidarity work his group is engaged in, and the approaching anniversary of the massacres at Sabra and Shatila.

As well as the London picket, there are also weekly pickets in Manchester and regular demos in other cities, including Glasgow, Leicester, Canterbury and Durham and other parts of London, including Camden, Holloway and Brixton. M&S has just launched a poster campaign with the slogan ‘Your M&S’ – so why not find ‘yours’ and start an action in solidarity with the struggle of the people in Palestine?


Victory to the Intifada!

Leila K
- e-mail: victoryintifada@hotmail.com
- Homepage: http://www.revolutionarycommunist.com

Comments

Hide the following 6 comments

Why boycott M&S?

04.09.2004 13:04

Could you briefly say why we should boycott M&S? Thanks.

H. Ignoramous


Some background on M&S

04.09.2004 22:55

Check out these links for info on the connections between M&S and Israel

 http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Marks%20and%20Spencer
 http://www.inminds.co.uk/boycott-marks-and-spencer.html



And just in case you don’t care about people but are moved by the plight of ducks:

 http://www.willnewman-littlesister.co.uk/vivaducks.htm

Leila K


Moved by ..

05.09.2004 15:02


For people that are moved by the plight of both people and animals that die as a result of the fraudulent unscientific work done by Huntingdon life sciences (HLS) please contact Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty (SHAC) to obtain campaign material to show and handout outside your nearest M&S outlet. Here's why ...

BOC Gasses supply the deadly poison gas to HLS to end the lives of 2,500 animals per week at the Huntingdon animal experimentation hell hole HLS.

BOC’s Logistics’ arm is called GIST. They do all the freight deliveries for every single Marks and Spencers in the country. Please help spread the word nationwide that BOC and GIST are in it up to their necks with the animal killers at HLS.

We are asking M & S to review their involvement with BOC in light of their involvement with HLS. M & S have a strong ethical policy and any connections to companies involved in killing animals are certainly not ethical.


Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty Website: www.shac.net
Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty Email:  info@shac.net

People Against Cruelty to Animals - West Midlands Website:  http://www.vivisection.info/paca

People Against Cruelty to Animals - West Midlands


serious question

05.09.2004 16:34

Does one have to be a vegetarian to care about animal cruelty. I eat meat. Does this mean supporting groups like the one above make me hypocritical?

Red


vegetarianism...

05.09.2004 20:38

it's not so much that you have to be vegetarian to support movements such as SHAC, but in order to support them from a considered perspective you would probably have to think seriously about making your diet less cruel.

i would have thought that the reason you would be against vivisection would be something like this:
a) vivisection causes immense pain and suffering to animals
b) pain and suffering is bad
c) i) vivisection does not bring significant good welfare benefits AND/OR ii) if it does bring welfare benefits (to people) they are not justified by the amount of pain required to generate them
THEREFORE: d) vivisection is bad

but you can replace 'vivisection' with 'the meat/animal products industry' and get an equally true argument, right? i.e. meat is unnecessary to you, biologically, and causes immense pain to sentient creatures. so why not give it up? it's not like it's difficult...

btw. M&S is also definitely worth boycotting/stealing from on the basis of the whole occupied palestine thing. for a cool perspective on the links between social struggles, such as the occupation, and animal liberation check out Israeli Vegan Anarchist group One Struggle...  http://www.onestruggle.org/

Veg


Another Reason to Avoid M&S

06.09.2004 05:55

Hi all. I read recently in one of the many leftist papers that as well as the above mentioned issues M&S also have a reputation for fierce union busting and anti-worker activities. Does anyone have any more information on this aspect of their practices?

Thank you

Caz

Independent Left