nettime: www.macspotlight.org, new McLibal Trial website

["Eveline Lubbers" <evel@xs4all.nl> (by way of Pit Schultz <pit@contrib.de>)]

------- Forwarded Message Follows -------
Date:          Sun, 11 Feb 1996 12:40:30 -0500
From:          dbriars@world.std.com
To:            mclibel@europe.std.com
Subject:       **McSpotlight, our new  WWW site
Reply-to:      mclibel@europe.std.com

Subject: **McSpotlight, our new premier WWW site
Date: Feb 10, 1996
From: Albert Beale <worldpeace@gn.apc.org>

McLibel Support Campaign, c/o 5 Caledonian Road, London N1 9DX, UK
Tel/Fax +44-171-713 1269

PRESS RELEASE   12th February, 1996
"McSpotlight" Worldwide Web Site to be launched Feb 16th

Final nail in the coffin of McDonald's global censorship strategy

    http://www.mcspotlight.org/     (opens Feb 16)

McSpotlight, an on-line interactive library of information and
communication, makes freely and easily available across the globe
everything that McDonald's don't want the public to know.  It is the
most comprehensive source of information on a multinational
corporation ever assembled.

McSpotlight is the latest and the most dynamic tool of the
movement against McDonald's and all it stands for.  As one of the new
breed of Internet sites starting to make full use of the world's most
powerful and revolutionary communication system, McSpotlight combines
text, graphics, video and audio into a readily accessible and
interactive package that can be used by campaigners, journalists,
researchers, scientists, and surfers alike - not to mention all
McDonald's customers and employees who want to know the truth.

The McLibel Trial and the issues at its heart (diet and
ill-health, destruction of the environment, animal welfare,
exploitation of children through advertising and workers through
low pay) provide the focus for the site.  The McLibel Two (Helen
Steel & Dave Morris) have stood up and fought against McDonald's
attempts to bully and intimidate the company's critics into
silence.  The climate of fear that McDonald's tactics have created in
the past is fast being eroded, and the Internet will be the final nail
in the coffin of McDonald's attempts to suppress criticism.  They
cannot hide the truth any more!

The Launch of McSpotlight

Come and see the launch on 16th February of the Internet site that
will help crack the glossy image of the $26 billion a year corporation
once and for all:

10.30am - Leicester Square McDonald's, London W1.  The McLibel Two
will access McSpotlight for the first time on-line on a laptop
connected by mobile phone to the Internet, outside the McDonald's
store at Leicester Square (opposite Swiss Centre).  Photo
opportunities available.

12 noon to 2pm - Cyberia Cafe, 39 Whitfield Street, London  W1
(nearest tubes Tottenham Court Rd / Goodge St).  At a press
conference held at London's first Internet cafe, volunteers who
have helped compile the site, and the McLibel Two, will introduce
McSpotlight on a large monitor.  Journalists will be able to explore
the site themselves on any of the terminals around the cafe.

Video Press Release - available on request.

For information about McSpotlight and its launch, please contact:

Polly Lawrence, tel 0181-220 2318, fax 0181-444 1597, mobile
0374-140725.

E-mail: mcspotlight@globalnet.co.uk or the number above.

For more details about McSpotlight, please see further press
release attached.

Please note: the McLibel Support Campaign is supportive of, but
independent from, McSpotlight which is a project of the
McInformation Network based in 14 countries.

---------------------------------------------------------------------


 McSpotlight Press Release

Final nail in the coffin of McDonald's global censorship strategy


http://www.McSpotlight.org/

McSpotlight is the latest and most dynamic weapon in the fight
against McDonald's global domination.  As one of the first
Internet sites starting to make full use of the century's most
powerful communication system, it combines text, graphics, video
and audio into a readily accessible and interactive package that
can be used on a whole spectrum of levels by campaigners,
journalists, researchers, scientists, students, and surfers alike.
McDonald's own customers and employees may well find it impossible to
ever walk through the Golden Arches again after visiting McSpotlight.

The infamous McLibel Trial, and the issues at its heart (diet and
ill-health, destruction of the environment, animal welfare,
exploitation of children through advertising and workers through low
pay) provide the focus for the site, but it is not just McDonald's in
the McSpotlight.  As the most carefully manicured, defensive and
possibly the most arrogant corporation, they have been used as a
symbol for all transnational corporations maximising their profit at
the expense of people, animals and the environment.

Some of the highlights of McSpotlight are:

-  RealAudio interviews with the McLibel 2

-  the video clip linking McDonald's with rainforest destruction
(evidence in the trial)

-  the complete set of McLibel witness statements & scientific
reports used as evidence

-  "guided tours" for first-timers

-  autonomous pages for 26 countries (many run by key local
campaigners)

-  the Debating Room

-  the infamous "McQuiz"  (Sample question: "Why is it
environmentally friendly for McDonald's to produce mountains of
disposable packaging?"   Answer: "...otherwise you'd end up with
lots of vast, empty gravel pits all over the country." - Ed
Oakley, McDonald's Head of Purchasing for Northern Europe, in the
witness box.)

McSpotlight marks a watershed in the history of grassroots
activism.  Compiled by a huge team of volunteers working from 14
different countries, with support and contributions from not only the
McLibel Defendants and their colleagues, but also some of the world's
leading scientists and authorities on the issues (including Professor
Colin Campbell, author of the "China Study", the world's most
authoritative report on the links between diet and cancer), it shows
that power, influence and advertising budget are no longer the
restraining factors dictating how far a message can be heard.  The
equipment is easily available for anyone to rapidly and cheaply
disseminate information to the 70 million people with Internet access
worldwide.  As a form of campaigning, McSpotlight marks a development
from the established methods employed by protesters from the Jarrow
Marchers & Greenham Common to Brightlingsea & Newbury.

"The climate of fear that McDonald's past tactics have created is fast
being eroded, and the Internet will be the final nail in the coffin of
their attempts to suppress criticism.  The McLibel 2 have shown that
people will not be bullied and controlled for the profits of a few." 
- Franny Armstrong, McSpotlight UK volunteer.


A huge controversy is raging among the legal experts and political
authorities as to whether and how to regulate the Internet.  Up until
now, the main subject of concern and media hype has been the
dissemination of pornography, particularly to children. McSpotlight
will realign the debate to the fundamental issue: should the spread of
information about matters of great public concern be controlled, and
if so by whom?  This is of course particularly poignant in
McSpotlight's case as Freedom of Speech forms the core of the McLibel
Trial.

"It is vital that scientists and members of the public feel able
to discuss openly and freely such important issues as the links
between diet and disease and the targeting of children, without
fear of being sued by those with vested interests.  The Internet
is an ideal forum for such a debate."  - Dr Neal Barnard,
President of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine,
USA.

The McDonald's Corporation will be faced with an impossible
dilemma: should they attempt to close down this site, one of the
most comprehensive and damning collections of data ever assembled
about a single corporation, immediately after their disastrous attempt
to suppress the distribution of the McLibel leaflets? (1.5 million
copies of the leaflets have been handed out in the UK alone since the
writs were served 5 years ago, and thousands of people have pledged to
continue distributing them whatever the verdict in the trial.)  Once
information is released onto the Internet, can it ever be stopped?

"We have been defending the right to criticise multinational
corporations for over 5 years since McDonald's served the writs on us.
 The campaign is clearly unstoppable: McSpotlight now makes freely
available across the globe everything they don't want the public to
know - and in the kind of detail that all those who value the truth
will appreciate.  We're backing McSpotlight 100%." - The McLibel 2
(Helen Steel & Dave Morris).

---------------------------------------------------------------------


McSpotlight Launch - Friday February 16th 1995

Photo opportunity:  10.30 am - McLibel 2 activate the site from a
laptop connected to the Internet by a mobile phone.  Outside
McDonald's Leicester Square store, opposite the Swiss Centre, London
W1.

Press conference:  12noon-2pm - Cyberia Cybercafe, 39 Whitfield
Street, London W1.

Video Press Release:  Available on request.

UK Press Contact:

Polly Lawrence - Tel 0181-220 2318, Fax 0181-444 1597, Mobile
0374-140725, E-mail mcspotlight@globalnet.co.uk

----------------------------------------------------------------------

McSpotlight has been constructed by the McInformation Network, an
international network of volunteers working from 14 countries around
the world.  It is autonomous from, but supportive of, the McLibel 2
and the McLibel Support Campaign.




----------------------------------------------------------------------
U.S. McLibel Support Campaign                              Press
Office  PO Box 62                                        Phone/Fax
802-586-9628 Craftsbury VT 05826-0062                    Email
dbriars@world.std.com
----------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.interlog.com/eye/Misc/McLibel
http://student.uq.edu.au:80/~s002434/mcl.html
----------------------------------------------------------------------
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 ! * McDonald's in the McSpotlight - Fri 16th Feb 10:00am GMT  *
 ! Judge for yourself . . .         - http://www.McSpotlight.org/  
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