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Reclaim The Streets distribute 20,000 copies of spoof FT's to commuters

28th September 2000

Whilst over 10,000 international anti-capitalist activists gathered in Prague for the World Bank and International Monetary Fund conference on September 26, British activists in London and Worthing were busy giving away copies of the Financial Crimes to rush hour commuters.

The pink paper spoof of the Financial Times was designed and produced by Reclaim the Streets and packed full of both humour and factually backed articles about the corruption of public life by corporations. The front page photograph was of a NATO picture of a bomber's target site over a train full of civilians just seconds away from being missile attacked by NATO planes during the recent Kosovo crisis.

Around 20,000 copies of the spoof newspaper were given out at London Bridge station, with several hundred more going to commuters outside Worthing's Central Station. Financial Crimes was so true to the original design that hundreds of suited businessmen specifically asked for the paper thinking they were getting a free copy of the FT. One Worthing activist commented: "Every time a major protest like this is staged anywhere in the world, people are denied a fair account of what is going on by the in-built bias of the mainstream national media against anyone challenging the status quo. But once people hear about the real issues at stake - which boils down to the rights of people and communties versus the profiteering of international bankers - it quickly becomes clear to them that the moral rights and wrongs are in fact the other way round to what they have been taught to assume. We put a lot of effort into informing people because as the authorities know only to well, information power and we want to see power in the hands of the public, not of governments, the multinationals and banks."