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New Internationalist magazine. September '98
Star ratings (out of 5)
Politics: ***** The long arm of McDonald's seems to have no limit. Proposed transmissions of this excellent documentary on the libel case brought by the burger giant against two activists, ex-Post Office worker and single father Dave Morris and part-time bar worker Helen Steel, have been cancelled by both the BBC and Britain's Channel Four. Although there is nothing strictly libellous in Franny Armstrong's film, which consists of a dramatic reconstruction of the court case interlaced with interviews with the defendants, the stations have been threat-ened with legal action by McDonald's in the past and are keeping their heads down now. More reason why McLibel: Two Worlds Collide should be shown as widely as possible. For it is precisely about how corporations like McDonald's can censor free speech unless we stand up to them. Early on in the documentary Helen Steel relates how when she was a child, there was boy in her neighbourhood who would beat and bully all the other kids. One day she told her mother, who urged her to fight back. 'I did, and he didn't give me any more trouble after that.' Unfortunately it was not quite so easy with Big Mac. At one point Steel and Morris are described as 'modern day heroes'. Actually they come across as a pretty ordinary pair of unheroic, unassuming Londoners -~ but armed with a passion for justice. In spite of intense and exhausting legal pressure they solidly refused to retract the claims they had made in a leaflet called: What's Wrong with McDonald's? Helen admits to being a shy person who hates the limelight, and you can see that this is true. Dave says: 'I never imagined it would lead to this.' Indeed. How could anyone have anticipated the longest legal case in UK history with Steel and Morris defending themselves (they were refused legal aid) against a seven-strong team of McDonald's lawyers. And still they managed to outwit the professionals at times. Half of Steel and Morris's claims against McDonald's were upheld by the ludge. Yes, the company exploited and manipulated chil-dren through their advertising. Yes, they were culpably responsible for cruelty to animals. Yes, they deceptively advertised their food as nutriflous and paid their workers low wages. McDonald's claimed a victory. Well, if you believe that, you'll believe that burgers are good for you. At the end of the film David Morris holds up a placard saying. 'judge for yourselves'. If your TV channels let you. If they don't you can see this dramatic, inspiring, hard-hitting and heart-warming documentary on www.spanner.org/mclibel.
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