Animal Rebellion deserve a medal. Very early this morning activists under the Animal Rebellion banner turned up at all four McDonald's UK distribution centres, set up blockades and shut them down, thereby preventing any potential deliveries to all 1300 McdDonald's restaurants in the UK.
It's no secret that McDonald's are one of the world's largest abusers of animals, directly responsible for the slaughter of billions of innocent individuals every year. The environmental destruction funded by this company is also well documented, with huge swathes of rainforest being destroyed to feed cattle destined for Big Macs and greenhouse gases created by the cattle a major contributor to climate change. Opposition to McDonald's has been gathering momentum for decades. You may remember the Mclibel trial during the 1990s when McDonald's sued Helen Steel and Dave Morris of London Greenpeace for handing out leaflets informing the public of the truth about McDonald's practices and the impact on animals, the environment, human health and human rights. It became the longest ever UK libel case and McDonald's threw everything they had at the two unemployed activists for many years but failed to suppress the truth. In fact, attempts to silence the activists only served to draw even more attention to the atrocities with campaigners all over the UK distributing leaflets every week and a huge amount of media coverage as a result of the many blockades, occupations, marches and protests by activistsall over the world. But thirty years later very little has changed. Despite McDonalds introducing a rather sorry handful of vegan options, they are still one of the world's largest players in the animal agriculture industry. In the current climate this kind of destruction on such a large-scale is simply unacceptable. Consuming such huge quantities of meat and dairy is quite simply unsustainable and so Animal Rebellion are demanding that the company commit to going 100% plant-based by 2025. As I write this, ten hours after the blockades began, they are still ongoing and activists plan on remaining in place for at least 24 hours, not only disrupting McDonald's entire UK network but also highlighting the frailty of the company's distribution chain and sending a clear message that these kinds of practices will no longer be tolerated. It turns out that those who threaten life on Earth are in many ways just as vulnerable as the ecosystems they destroy. Best of luck to all the brave activists involved. Update: I asked my vegan Twitter followers whether they'd eat at McDonalds... you can read the results here |