McDonalds banned From Ennis?

by ollie - katalyzer Wed Feb 04, 2004 01:08

indy fuckin media....'why oh why oh why' are you SOOOOOOOOOO Dublin-orientated?

I mean, even Pat Kenny picked up on this story this morning, front page of the times today ,and NOBODY comments til me. I'm also living 'beyond the pale'

Ennis' opposition to smackdonald's drive-byes is an encouraging e.g. of local residents , health care workers and activists coming together to fight a corporation which they oppose. But where are the Food not bombs solidarity messages here? Where are the messages of support from those who advocate boycotts against major corporations? Where are the solidarity messages from those opposed to road/car prioritization (this is a drive trou on a busy junction proposal) ? Where are your 'common or garden' anti-capitalists?

Local ppl are opposing Smacd's on traffic AND health issues - this is already a promising step for all ppl who oppose the worst excesses of the neoliberal globalisation agenda, imo ,yet no one on indymedia seems to notice.

Something REAL is happening BEYOND THE PALE

http://www.snaptheFUCKoutofit.com

by David Wed Feb 04, 2004 09:47

Just to add to the voices.
The problem with this is thatthe decision will ultimately come down to the Town council (or on bord Pleanala if the TC give the "wrong" decision)
And the Town council operates for the benefit of the Chamber of Commerce who support McDonalds entry into the Ennis Market (according to a spokesperson on Newstalk106 yesterday)

If permisssion is granted I want to help launch an active campaign against the construction of this facility

by The Insider Wed Feb 04, 2004 12:04

I live across the road from the proposed McDonalds - many of us in the area have got objections in, so you're not alone.

Should be interesting how it goes, the publicity should help our cause.

by David Wed Feb 04, 2004 12:10

this is very encouraging. I want to still be able to say with pride in 5 years that Ennis doesn't have a McDonalds

by Sense - SSA (set the savages adrift) Wed Feb 04, 2004 15:09

The reason we don't engage with youse savages is because 1.) you're thick 2.) It was youse bastards who gave us Supermacs. We we were bad enough off with the 100's of Mickey D's around the city before you got into the game.

How many Supermacs are there in the 'city' of Ennis? Does anybody think that because Supermacs is Irish it provides better food that Mickey D's? I for one have eaten there on occasion and it rots your gut.

The Irish are the worst of the worst and will make a quick buck whatever way they can, watering down the 'beef' (anus and lips) in Supermacs is certainly not 'beyond the pale' for Supermacs.

Single standards for all.
No Anti-Americanism.
Join my campaign to saw the pale off from the rest, come out to Kildare with whatever tools you can find and SET THE SAVAGES ADRIFT.

by The Insider Wed Feb 04, 2004 20:08

Next county up.

I'd say the reason this thread is not frequented is because there isn't much opportunity for sectarian infighting.

As regards McDs, in The irish Times they say they are determined to push on and establish an outlet in Ennis - it may be that traffic kills the proposed outlet but there's still a long way to go.

I think we need to start pushing the other fast food outlets to clean up their act too - obviously a ban on fast food isn't going to happen, but Enzos, Supermacs et al should be pressurised into offering healthy alternatives besides the greasy shite.

by Dave Thu Feb 05, 2004 11:01

But what about the people of Ennis who want a McDonalds? Are they all wrong?

The food is tasty and reasonably priced. It's not too unhealthy if not eaten too regularly. They buy all Irish beef. They provide employment.

Opoose it all you want but I think it's harmless enough, and welcome to many.

by Sense Thu Feb 05, 2004 13:45

I know bleeding Supermacs is from Galway, the first non-Galway shop was in Ennis.

by inexrticably linked Thu Feb 05, 2004 20:55

The irish fast food industry is relatively small, McDonalds are global domination, our own fast food indusrty is nothing to be proud of but it is less of a threat, ther is no asthetic pleasure to be got in eating at supermac's it's only advantage is easy on the pocket and if you're very hungry, quick. macDonald's is like sleeping with the enemy

by The Insider Thu Feb 05, 2004 22:00

"But what about the people of Ennis who want a McDonalds? Are they all wrong?"
I don't see any Pro-McDonalds rallies in Ennis. So how do you figure the people of Ennis want a McDonalds?



"The food is tasty and reasonably priced."
Cigarettes have a tasty and refreshing taste, and calm you down.


"It's not too unhealthy if not eaten too regularly."
Neither is eating dog-vomit.

"They provide employment".
So do Drug Barons. Cigarette factories employ hundreds. Ryanair provide employment too - as long as you accept shit wages and no union representation. Just like McDs really!


"Opoose it all you want but I think it's harmless enough, and welcome to many".
Thanks, I will! But how do you know it is "welcome to many" - have you done a survey?

by Rasta4i's Fri Feb 06, 2004 01:22 vrinteract.tk

http://www.indymedia.org.uk/media/2003/07/274207.wmv


McDonald's V Food Not Bombs

For as long as we can remember man has gorged them selves with the fruits of the Earth and managing to live in some what a balance with nature.
Mans advances exceeded our wildest dreams making it possible for mass numbers of people to live in confined spaces, cities sky scrapers and so on.
Our upsession with food also advanced to frightening realities. Right to the point that it is not what you are eating and the goodness you are getting but were you are eating it.

Well in 1940 The McDonald brothers Dick and Mac built the first McDonald's and in 1954 Ray Kroc became the first franchisee appointed by Mac and Dick McDonald in San Bernardino, California. One year later Ray Kroc opened his first restaurant in Illinois (near Chicago), and the McDonald's Corporation was created. Nine years later he would then buy all rights to the McDonald's concept from the McDonald's brothers for $2.7 million. Kroc bought Hamburger University in 1961 it is in Elk Grove, near Chicago.
Ray Kroc made a $250,000 donation to the controversial 1972 presidential campaign of Richard Nixon, a donation which was perhaps a subject of investigation during the Watergate corruption scandal. The same year Assets exceeded $500 million and sales surpassed $1 billion. A new McDonald's restaurant was opening every day. New countries included- France, El Salvador, Ireland and Austria. In 1979 A 7 month strike in Dublin (Ireland) lead to recognition of the ITGWU union. In 1985, two union activists won a victory at a labour court after claiming victimisation and unfair dismissal.
Geoffrey Guiliano, a main Ronald McDonald actor, quit in 1982 and publicly apologised, stating "I brainwashed youngsters into doing wrong. I want to say sorry to children everywhere for selling out to concerns who make millions by murdering animals". 7,000th restaurant opened in Washington DC. McDonald's were responsible for food poisoning outbreak caused by E. Coli bacteria, which affected 47 people in Oregon and Michigan.
1984 was to see the Founder Ray Kroc die.
A McDonald's pamphlet which is distributed to health professionals in the UK states:
"There is a considerable amount of evidence to suggest that many of the diseases which are more common in the western, affluent world - diseases such as obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke, and some forms of cancer - are related to diet. The typical western diet is relatively low in dietary fibre or roughage and is high in fat, salt and sugar."
Food not Bombs is an organization that excepts free vegetarian food and gives it away to people instead of letting it go to waste. McDonald's is the couplet opposite to this because of the fact that they sell unhealthy food and destroy or bleach their waste products so nobody can consume it.

London Greenpeace (a radical group of civil rights and environmental campaigners, independent of Greenpeace International) launched a campaign 1985 intended to expose the reality behind the advertising mask of the fast food chains, including McDonald's. A year later was to see The first World Day of Action Against McDonald's and was held on 16th October (UN 'World Food Day').
In October1994, there is an demonstration at McDonald's European headquarters in London where sackfuls of the company's litter picked up off the streets are returned. 500 people attend the National March Against McDonald's through central London to protest against the company's exploitation of people, animals and the environment.
McDonald's threatened the owner of a UK sandwich bar called "McMunchies" with legal action for breach of trademark. A retired Scottish school-teacher called Ronald McDonald, and the chief of the McDonald clan in Scotland were both outraged at this further attempt by McDonald's to claim global dominion over the prefix "Mc" and the name "McDonald" which has been an Irish and Scottish family name for centuries.
McDonald's-free zones
The now war torn nations of Albania, Afghanistan and Burmahave managed to keep the infestation that is McDonal's off their soil Who knows maybe its the food stop on the so called Road map for peace. Most of Africa has also managed to stay McDonald's free but they have a toehold in South Africa but has made little impact on the rest of the continent.
In America, Woodstock in New York State. Thirty years after the festival that took its name, this town still doesn't look kindly on chain stores (the exception being Ben & Jerry's ice-cream).
Australia: After a prolonged campaign that kept McDonald's out of Katoomba in New South Wales, the corporation is rumoured to have abandoned plans to open in Byron Bay, the hippy surfer haven.
Finally in Bermuda. The island once had a branch of McDonald's on the US Navy base. Locals could visit on Wednesdays but when the US Navy withdrew, so did the restaurant.
Will the people of the world ever wake up to the fact that fast food culture is unhealthy for us and the environment and will never lead to any good for you and me and most importantly the Crocks who created this culture in the first place.



http://www.indymedia.org.uk/media/2003/10/279329.wmv


INTERNATIONAL DAY AGAINST MC'DONALDS VIDEO

Rasta4i's, 22.10.2003 17:06

The first store opened in Dublin 9/10 Grafton Street on 9th May 1977. The first McDonald's drive-thru restaurant in Europe opened January 1985 at the Nutgrove Shopping Center in Rathfarnham and in May 1996 the most westerly McDonald's restaurant in Europe opened in Tralee County Kerry.
Of the restaurants currently open in Ireland, 50% are owned and operated by franchisees.

Globalise Resistance McDonalds Video - video/x-ms-wmv 3.8M


Our World is not for Sale

Video: 1


INTERNATIONAL DAY AGAINST
MC DONALDS- CAPITALISM AND
EXPLOITATION OF WORKERS 16 October 03


The first store opened in Dublin 9/10 Grafton Street on 9th May 1977. The first McDonald's drive-thru restaurant in Europe opened January 1985 at the Nutgrove Shopping Center in Rathfarnham and in May 1996 the most westerly McDonald's restaurant in Europe opened in Tralee County Kerry.
Of the restaurants currently open in Ireland, 50% are owned and operated by franchisees.

Clearing land for crops and livestock destroys over 12,000 miles of Brazilian rainforest each year. This is an area larger than the country of Belgium. What are they doing about it? Nothing, a few daft ads on the goggle box showing two sweaty pigs running down a street with nothing else on their minds but a big jucey dollop of chemicals, animal BI-product and toped off with a BI-carbonated soda sugar drink.
As long as Mc'Donalds keep tossing burger pate and making loads of money at the expense of the ignernent unhealthy Irish consumers they will be happy and will continue to open more so called restraunts, destroying the worlds natural resources as they go.


Over the last period Globalise Resistance has organised and actively been a part of activity both locally and internationally. We mobilised hundreds of Irish people to protest the G8 in Genoa 2001, and again at Evian in 2003 . We helped to organise marches against the racist murder of Zhao Liu Tao in January 2002, against the police violence of Mayday 2002, and organised hundreds to go to the European Social Forum in Florence in November 2002. The ESF helped co ordinate the international day of action against War on February 15th, which was the biggest protest in human history.
There is enough wealth in the world for people not to have to starve and suffer. Another world is possible.


Globalise Resistance set up a stall out side Mc'Donalds on grafton street to educate the passers by about the damaging effects that fast food culture has on humans, animals and the enviornment.
There is no difference between Mc'Donalds and Burger King, Super Macks or any other fast food companies they all use BI-product, they all try their hardest to warp the minds of young people into thinking, it is the place to be and there is delicious food here. Not true.
They all produce extra-ordanary amounts of waste and have devastating, long term damaging effects on the enviornment.
People have to take responsibility for their actions and think of where your food comes from before consuming it. Parents need to make their children aware of the harm these companies are doing on our lives. Funny thing is, alott of parents of to day have grown up in the Mc'D's culture and are oblivious of the damage it is causing them and THEIR BABIES!!!!! "It makes me sick to think that a mother would stuff the mouths of their children with such chemicals. May they think twice about eating it again in the future".

WHAT'S WRONG WITH PROCESSED MEAT?

What's right about it... Some of the close up images are took of a bovine suffering from the effects of BSE 3 weeks after being diagnosed with the disease. You can clearly see the discoluration and blisters on the tongue, lips and feet of the animal.

What about all that beef that gets sent to the slaughter that may have had traces of BSE or what about all the growth hormones, tranquilizers and worm does the animal had before the slaughter. Not only that but the meat would have been treated whit bacteria, cut up and separated, frozen at very low tempiture, then further treated with colourant to give it its pink like choler oh yes it is really a dull bayish brown colour, processed and packaged and sent off to the fast food restraunts and super market shelves for consumption by the uneducated masses.

WHO ARRIVED FIRST, THE BATTERY HEN OR THE EGG?

Well the battery hen of course. Genetically altered so it could produce the most foul. Bigger is better mmmmm a lovely tender extra large chicken breast. Or maybe an egg for breakfast. Well there are plenty to go around with battery hen houses in grate numbers in Ireland producing eggs 24 hours a day. Enough is enough..
Over 100 of the world’s leading food and drink companies have chosen to locate their European operations in Ireland. Some examples of these companies are: Northern Foods Unilever Coca-Cola, H J Heinz, Grand Metropolitan, CPC International, Cadbury-Schweppes, Pernod Ricard and Nutricia.

FURTHER MC'DONALDS ACTIONS

In July 03 Food not Bombs Ireland set up shop out side Mc'Donalds at the Town Hall in Bray to hand out free food to the people who were going in to the fast food restraunt. The manager wasn't happy and had the group removed by the police for obstructing busies. A few people were saved many were lost to the foul stench that emitted out the doors the building.
Mc'Donalds in Prague... Didn't stand a chance.

Mc'Donalds Geneve. Well the flag was taken from the boarded up window and burned.

It doesn't take much to realise that processed food is bad for you no matter what you ate or what company packaged it. It is unhealthy and all that waste packaging, where dose it go?
Fruits and Vegetables are wholesome, very good for you physically and mentally and there is no waste. There are so many varieties of fruit and vegetables out there you can't get bord of the selection and add all varieties of grains, herbs, spices, nuts and berries. When you add all the combinations together you get the taste that you only dreamed of when you slurped around the greasy ham burger tray thinking, that never filled me at all.
Fast food - Fruit and Veg, can't be faster. Throw em all in a pan with water add spices. Its done. Enjoy.


Rasta4i's

Comeing to a town near you soon!!

by ollie - katalyzer Fri Feb 06, 2004 04:27

On freedom: there has been a debate, perhaps forever, but since at least Machiavelli, on the nature of freedom. Issiah Berlin, in his classic work 'two concepts of freedom' outlined what he called positive and negative freedom.

In plain language, that's 'freedom to' and 'freedom from' . So we all have freedom to do things, but we also need freedom from things. Cars are a classic example - we get freedom to drive anywhere, at any time, but traffic stops us. Freedom to drive, but no freedom from traffic. Add to this the population's freedom from ashma, freedom from pollution, ozone depletion ,accidents and deaths etc ,and we see that the situation is complex. Society tries to balance our 'rights to stuff' with the negative effects this stuff can have on the population. Society tries to balance freedom from oppressions, sufferings, exploitation, pain etc, with our desire to do and have all the things we could possibly desire.

So the extra traffic on an already dangerous and busy junction which a drive-by, sorry trou, 90 seater burger joint would cause, that takes away from other drivers', other commuters' and residents' freedoms. This is exactly what is planned for Ennis. Local pensioners at the anti-SmacD meeting claimed that they counted 90 cars a minute, on average - on one of the roads leading into the roundabout already. The proposed McD drive trou would go from this road to another, 'bypassing' the roundabout, essentially adding another 2 dangerous entry point onto an already busy intersection. Exactly how safe is it to encourage ppl to eat their dinner in the car? How safe for other drivers and for pedestrians? Whatever about a snack , your dinner....I mean ,we have limits on Phone use in a car....

Likewise the proliferation of litter, loitering and rats* takes away from some freedoms. As does a heart-attack from a high sodium, high fat diet, as does pester power by kids over parents. So freedom is complex.

On 100% Irish: In The Yoke 2, pg 35, Lizzie Meagher, deputy editor of Food and Drink magazine, claims that 'livestock need only be in this country 3 days to receive an Irish passport. So pigs brought in from North Africa may legally be labelled 100% Irish on the shelves'. Funnily enough, Smack-ronald claims to use 100% Irish Pork....they don't claim that their chicken is Irish ,and we, as a nation import 1200 tonnes of chicken from Thailand yearly.

on 'sure they are only as bad as any of the rest o' dem'....its about proliferation ,innit. Society tries to curb things it sees as negative - cigarettes, nuclear power etc. Prohibitions backfire ,but proliferation of fast food in a country with a rising obesity problem is wrongheaded. Society in Ennis, right now, is saying - 'we have enough fast food burger joints thank you very much'. Its a lot harder to roll back sth that's already there, than to prevent sth from coming in. Also ,there is a worldwide, semi-effective campaign against the worst and most garish of Global MNCs ,e.g. Coke, MacD's, Monsanto etc, and we either choose to join in, and act as part of a movement we agree with, or we live a life of existential angst, solitary soldiers against the world, because sure, they're all as bad as each other....

Oh yea, loved that Classic comment above - 'so is dog puke'

*(cooked meat lying around, left over from burger joints at weekends, has been blamed for the increase of the rat population of the UK to now be greater than the human pop )

by Puppy Power Fri Feb 06, 2004 04:43

If the people of Ennis don't want a McDs in their town all they have to do is not buy their horrible gunk. State intervention is a bit too Stalinist for my liking. Just don't buy their crap.

by David Fri Feb 06, 2004 10:41

granting McDonalds a planning license against the will of the local residents and the people of the town.

by ollie - katalyzer Fri Feb 06, 2004 11:12

puppy power ,isn't that a bit simplistic? I mean ,after all I said above as regards freedom, to turn around and to make the most simplistic of positive freedom arguments makes it look like you haven't even read the piece I wrote!

people have a right to eat crap, and others 'can just avoid it' - u obviously _do not_ have kids ,do you?

And to claim that 'If the people of Ennis don't want a McDs in their town all they have to do is not buy their horrible gunk' is contradictory - Mcds would come to town whether 90% of ppl intended to use it or not . It would come to town, and , as it is a drive by , ppl who aren't in/from ennis could use it, thereby keeping it going.

And, of course, kids (ie those under the age of consent) could use it too, spending lunch/pocket money on dodgy food as it is planned for a spot v near a school and of course hospital....

yep, that's givin the ppl of ennis freedom all right.......

if however ,you are campaigning for the rights of dogs (and puppies ,I presume) to have an abundant supply of hot, cooked meat lying around the streets and environs (driveby, remember) of ennis, then I apologise ;-)

by Sense - SSA personal capacity Fri Feb 06, 2004 14:38

You said "And to claim that 'If the people of Ennis don't want a McDs in their town all they have to do is not buy their horrible gunk' is contradictory - Mcds would come to town whether 90% of ppl intended to use it or not . It would come to town, and , as it is a drive by , ppl who aren't in/from ennis could use it, thereby keeping it going."

Firstly it's hard to use Mickey D's in Ennis if you aren't in Ennis. Apart from this glaring error none of your arguments hold up. Do you think we should have consensus about what services are available? Do 100% have to use the service? If 10% of the population of Ennis want to have Mickey D's they should be treated with the respect due to all people who make choices for better or for worse. I, for example, fucking hate Goths, I can't explain it they're just sub-human. Close to where I live is a Goth style shop/hangout, now I want it banned as less than 1% of the community is served by this venture and for the rest of us (I’ve talked to my neighbours) it's a nuisance and an eyesore. I don't think it's a healthy thing to have, for me or for them, and I think it should be removed. It's been there five years.

It also seems to me 'Ollie' that you will latch onto any argument that furthers your point; you some how incorporate an outdated theory of freedom that misses power and then object to the Mickey D's on the grounds that traffic will be worse. What if it were on the main street in Ennis?

I'm no supporter of Mickey D's I just hate this pig headed style of argument that seeks to use intellectual terms of reference without backing it up. If you’re going to go on about Berlin's ideas of freedom do just don't lash them into another argument to give it credibility. If people want to eat Mickey D's in place of supermac's or Quick they shouldn't be forced to stop by the rabid anti-Americanism of you.

Fat Kid

by ollie - katalyzer Fri Feb 06, 2004 18:36

rambling madness - where could you start -

'I, for example, fucking hate Goths, I can't explain it they're just sub-human.'...'I don't think it's a healthy thing to have' (a nearby goth shop)

well, that's convinced me......Looking at Goths does make you more likely to have a heart attack....

'it's hard to use Mickey D's in Ennis if you aren't in Ennis'

its is a proposed drive _trou_ - I did mention this, but sometimes refered to it as drive by, drive bye, making puckin punny references to drive -by killings and driving past (Ennis)...I thought that was clear enough, but maybe not....

On Berlin - that basic concept of freedom is still taught in Degree level political theory courses in every major university in the western world, as a major advancment in classical political theory, one of the few in the 20th century. After all ,Machiavelli ,Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau are the underpinnings of the basic fields of thought in modern political theory - e.g. Locke and neo-liberalism.
Berlin clarified Machiavelli's ideas. And Clegg (1990) rewrites Machiavelli as a 'pre modern post modernist' because of his notion of a sort of relational power between the poeple and the leaders (in the discourses, not so much in the Prince)

A discusion on power would have to bring , for e.g. corporate lobby and spending abilities, state incentives ,and , of course, the structure of the global (food) economy etc - it is a bigger area ,undoubtedly, but questions of freedom are still important. And they are both 'different and related' - obvious e.g. 'pester power'

In general, the freedom to do x is also the power to do x .To talk about power , we would have to clarify which (following Lukes 1974)dimension of power ,1st, 2nd, 3rd or whether we were in fact talking about relational power (the post-modernist position). I don't think this is the place to go into that type of discussion. However, I do think most ppl think, in common sense terms, in a 2 , and here on indymedia, sometimes a 3 dimensional sense, as regards power. This type of power is more sophisticated than the basic notion that we have freedom to do stuff - it takes into account imbalances as regards corporates ' abilities to rally against individuals.

the snap you used does depict exactly the difference between primitave notions of power and more complex ones

overall though ,you are that same 'set the savages adrift' guy ,I presume ,and are too flamey too bother conversing with, i reckon

by Paula Fri Feb 06, 2004 19:35

It is a well known scientific and documented fact that MacDonalds puts certain chemical ingredients into their unhealthy fast food products in order to bluff our bodie's stomachs into thinking that we are still hungry, and thus crave another big mac to fill our empty stomachs. Which is why most of Americans have turned into blobs.

Everyone has the right to become blobs if they so wish, but in light of the recent BSE discovery in American meat products, do we want to take the added risk of contracting CJD and Mad Cow disease. Bearing in mind the recent death of a NI DUP MacDonalds eating councillor from Mad Cow Disease.