Day 278 - 11 Jul 96 - Page 43
1
2 Just on the point about, I mean, I think I have
3 probably covered this this morning, why I want to see a
4 world without multinationals, that I do not start from the
5 point of 'I want to get rid of multinationals so what can I
6 say about them to get rid of them', I start with the point,
7 'What is wrong with the way the world is being run? What
8 is wrong with what these multinational companies are doing
9 to the environment to the workers that are employed by
10 them, to society at large through influence on diet'.
11
12 For example, we have seen in "Behind The Arches" about
13 how McDonald's are proud of how they have influenced
14 people's diets and changed them, and I look at all those
15 things and I think that that is what is wrong with these
16 multinationals, and the way that society is run now by
17 companies which have a lot of influence over our lives and
18 it is for that reason that I want to create a society, a
19 world, without multinationals. It starts from that way
20 round. It does not start with 'Let's get rid of them, what
21 can we invent?'.
22
23 Yes. Mr. Rampton asked me about, he supposed I would
24 say that the cow and the person in the burger represented
25 the beef industry, or whatever, crushing people and animals
26 and the environment, and I said, "Yes, that is what it
27 represents to me". And I just wanted to point out another
28 example of a similar thing, which is the IMF leaflet which
29 Mr. Rampton handed up yesterday. I cannot remember which
30 tab it is in, we did look at it. Mr. Rampton said about
31 the fact that -- I don't know whether you know where it
32 is. I have not got a reference for where it is.
33
34 MR. MORRIS: I don't think you got a reference. It was just
35 handed out yesterday.
36
37 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Yes, I have that.
38
39 MS. STEEL: There is one in the bundles but I can't specifically
40 remember where it is. But if you look at the front cover
41 of it it does have a picture of a hand, as Mr. Rampton
42 described, putting out a hand and saying "IMF" and this is
43 the hand of the IMF to somebody and then the IMF grabs hold
44 of the person and crushes them. And it is exactly the same
45 type of graphic. It is obviously not meant to literally
46 mean that the IMF is scooping people up in its hands and,
47 you know, crushing them, throttling them, to death, it is
48 -- whatever the word is, I am sorry I am really tired. It
49 is metaphorical, that these big organisations are crushing
50 people. You know, in the case of the IMF obviously loans
51 were made to the rulers of the Third World countries and it
52 ends up being the people who are living in those countries
53 who are virtually bled dry because the food that they are
54 growing is exported in order to repay the debt. And that
55 is the depiction of the IMF crushing people.
56
57 Can I just add another thing about the
58 interrogatories? I just wanted to make the point that
59 before this case and before those interrogatories were
60 served on us I had never seen an interrogatory. I did not
