Topology - McLibel lyrics

Dave Morris, defendant: The McDonald's campaign has picked on a company that's so much in the public eye, that seems to symbolise a whole system a whole way of life, a whole you know, ah, ma** production, ma** society um, everything the same – um, you know, junk food, crap jobs. . . and to have a leafleting, an educational campaign against McDonald's is putting the alternative point of view. Mike Love, Head of Communications, Mcdonald's UK:We have over a million customers a day in the UK who enjoy coming to McDonald's and trust us. We believe that to repay that trust we have to establish that these allegations are untrue. Helen Steel, defendant: For me, it just sort of really stuck in the throat to apologise to McDonalds. I didn't think that I'd done anything that deserved an apology. I thought it was them that should be apologising to us - well, not us specifically, but to society - for the damage that they do to society and the environment. Even though you know, we were being told it was, like, a virtually impossible battle, me and Dave decided to stick around and fight it anyway, come what may. Dave Morris: After the writs were served, we had two hours of free legal aid which effectively meant being told you've got no chance. Helen Steel: We just had no idea of, of the procedure - what we had to say or when we had to say it, um, you know, who spoke in what order. Dave Morris: We were just treated like, you know, "what are these people doing in my courtroom?" - that's the attitude we got. I mean the first hearing, um, we asked the judge to explain the procedures and he said "if you don't know the procedures you should be represented," and we said "well there's no legal aid; what're we meant to do?" Helen Steel: We just had no idea of of the procedure - what we had to say, or when we had to say it um, you know who spoke in what order. Paul Preston, UK President, McDonalds: Hard work doesn't frighten youth today, not at all; they want to be part of something that's victorious! Something they can see as. . . as the shining light! Dave Morris: The kind of conditions that McDonald's ah, have helped to pioneer, um, "McJobs" are becoming more and more normal. Dave Morris, defendant: It's not a personal battle between me and Helen and McDonald's. This is um, about the public's right to know what the most powerful organisations in the world are really doing. Jeremy Corbyn, MP: We have this enormous corporation, McDonald's, which is global, in every sense of the word, and to me are acting in a sort of appalling manner against people who've raised perfectly legitimate questions. And I'm just concerned that we have this sort of ma**ive corporation that nobody dares speak out against. Dave Morris: Fundamentally, they exist for that one purpose: making profits for their shareholders. Helen Steel, defendant: They're all, um, really important issues: the way workers are treated in the workplace, the way the environment is treated, the way animals are exploited the kind of food that's being promoted to, um, more and more people, um, and I think it's vital that people feel able to talk about all these issues without the fear of some multinational company breathing down their necks threatening a libel case. Dave Morris: They told us basically you're bashing your head against a brick wall. Well, whenever we come up against brick walls, we like to knock them down. Dave Morris: Obviously, we're exhausted and stressed, we face bankruptcy, you know, but that is not going to deter us because that's so trivial compared to the need to stand up to the people that are dominating our planet.