Photo: Nick Cobbing

News Shorts & Other Busyness

McLibel

Squall 9, Jan/Feb 1995, pg. 6.

Set to become the longest libel trial in British history, the McLibel trial started up again at the high Court in mid-January.

Dave Morris and Helen Steel are defending themselves in the High Court against the mighty resources of the $24 billion-a-year junk food giants - McDonald’s.

Having run for just over 6 months, the trial restarted in mid January and looks set to take another year. Both Dave and Helen are UB40s but find themselves far from unemployed as, without legal aid, they pitch themselves against McDonald’s top libel lawyers who are suing them for the distribution of material critical of the burger giant’s psychological manipulation of children, nutritional content of its food, environmental concern for the origin of its meat and the rights and conditions of its employees. It is a frontline protest, backed by a small McLibel support team, working full-time to defend the right to free speech and the ability of an ordinary person to criticise the invasion of their streets by a conglomerate.