Day 307 - 27 Nov 96 - Page 40
1 document.
2
3 Then the other one, which is really the thrust throughout,
4 about the word "we", "McDonald's have billions of pounds to
5 play with. We just have each other". This is just,
6 basically, a ridiculous argument by McDonald's, because
7 "we" can refer to anybody who is a supporter of the
8 McLibel Support Campaign, London Greenpeace, anybody who
9 supports, anybody who wants to identify themselves either
10 with the campaign against McDonald's or, for that matter,
11 ordinary people standing up for their beliefs and their
12 rights.
13
14 The use of the word "we" in this context does not mean that
15 myself and Mr. Morris wrote it. I mean, not that I have
16 ever been to a football match, actually, but you only have
17 to hear a crowd of football fans chanting "We are the
18 champions" or "We are the best", whatever, to know that
19 just because you shout "we" something does not mean that
20 you are the player, you are the one in the game. It just
21 means that you are identifying with the people who are in
22 battle.
23
24 Further on on that page there is a reference to it having
25 to be inferred that myself and Mr. Morris were the ultimate
26 source of information appearing in the McLibel file. I
27 mean, apart from, obviously, the point I made before about
28 inferences, that you cannot infer things, the other thing
29 about being an ultimate source is that, obviously, by the
30 time information gets passed on it can get changed. We,
31 therefore, cannot be responsible for what somebody did, you
32 know, ten steps down the line or five steps down the line.
33
34 I mean, I do not know whether or not there are any examples
35 of inaccurate reports in the files, either in terms of, you
36 know, leaflets that have been published elsewhere about the
37 case or in terms of press articles. I am sure I have seen
38 press articles that are incorrect, usually incorrect, about
39 myself and Mr. Morris rather than about McDonald's. I
40 mean, I have not had time to read them all, but that is
41 just a general point, that if there were mistakes in there
42 that does not mean it is my fault or Mr. Morris's fault,
43 just because information may or may not have originally
44 come from us, you know, five stages down the line.
45
46 Page 12, McDonald's have pleaded that each of the items in
47 the media and early day motion files are, basically, down
48 to our responsibility, and they say their case is that:
49 "As part of the McLibel Support Campaign, the Defendants
50 and others (it is to be inferred) have sought and achieved
51 publicity through the written and broadcast media".
52 Obviously, I make the same point about inference and the
53 fact that there is no evidence from the Plaintiffs to show
54 that we are responsible for each publication, each press
55 release or whatever, or leaflet.
56
57 But, in any event, even if we had been responsible for some
58 particular press releases, it does not follow that any
59 particular article that appears in the newspaper has been
60 instigated by us. Even if the McLibel Support Campaign had
