26 June 1997 Edition
McLibel two vindicated
Dave Morris, one of the London Greenpeace activists found guilty of libelling McDonalds, has called for sanctions against the junk food corporation.
``It's only thanks to our stance that the crimes of McDonalds have been exposed,'' he said after the judge had awarded £60,000 damages to the company.
``Why should we pay damages to them? The company must be devastated that, despite all the disparity and unfairness, the Judge still found as a fact that McDonald's `exploit children' through their advertising, that they are `culpably responsible' for cruelty to animals, and that the company pays low wages and is anti-union.
``The Judge also found that McDonald's food was `high in fat and saturated fat and animal products and sodium' and that `advertisements, promotions and booklets have pretended to a positive nutritional benefit which McDonald's food ..... did not match'.
``By standing up to the company's intimidation we turned the tables on McDonalds and the company found that all its dirty laundry was aired in public during the trial, exposing the truth behind its glossy image.
``All the legal cards were stacked against us - despite all of this, we still won significant and substantial parts of the judgement.''
Morris and his co-defendant Helen Steel are now preparing to take the British government to the European Court of Human Rights to overturn the British state's oppressive libel laws and to continue the fight to defend the public's right to criticise multinational corporations.
``It's only thanks to our stance that the crimes of McDonalds have been exposed,'' he said after the judge had awarded £60,000 damages to the company.
``Why should we pay damages to them? The company must be devastated that, despite all the disparity and unfairness, the Judge still found as a fact that McDonald's `exploit children' through their advertising, that they are `culpably responsible' for cruelty to animals, and that the company pays low wages and is anti-union.
``The Judge also found that McDonald's food was `high in fat and saturated fat and animal products and sodium' and that `advertisements, promotions and booklets have pretended to a positive nutritional benefit which McDonald's food ..... did not match'.
``By standing up to the company's intimidation we turned the tables on McDonalds and the company found that all its dirty laundry was aired in public during the trial, exposing the truth behind its glossy image.
``All the legal cards were stacked against us - despite all of this, we still won significant and substantial parts of the judgement.''
Morris and his co-defendant Helen Steel are now preparing to take the British government to the European Court of Human Rights to overturn the British state's oppressive libel laws and to continue the fight to defend the public's right to criticise multinational corporations.