Skip Navigation | HOME | UK Indymedia | Editorial Guidelines | Mission Statement | About Us | Contact | Help | Support Us

West Country Features | UK Features | West Country Newswire | UK Newswire |

Farmers and Activists blockade Sainsbury's HQ

sid | 30.11.2004 17:38 | Bio-technology | Social Struggles | London

Farmers and GM activists blockaded Sainsburys HQ yesterday afternoon over the stores failure to phase out GM feed to the cows which produce it’s milk, and in protest over the low price paid to dairy farmers.

After their written attempts to arrange a meeting with Sainsbury’s failed, Folk from the Fair Price for GM Free-Milk Alliance tried to enter the offices in London to speak to management about the issues, but security who were on guard outside stopped them, and jammed the only working door to the large lobby area.

There was then a prolonged attempt to get the rotating door working again, with a bundle of bodies cheerfully pushing on the glass to Welsh cries of ‘one, two three… heave!’. The opposing be suited tug of door team on the inside was looking the weaker, until the lock was engaged. After this the group blockaded the entrance instead. The obstruction held, first by shier weight of numbers, and then through enterprising person with a chain. Meanwhile a plain cloths protester climbed up the inside of the large lobby (which all the 7 or so floors of office space look onto) and explained to the assembled employees what the group was upset about. Two women also climbed the outside of the building and hung banners, while leafleting and a loudhailer got the message across to the incredibly supportive crowd of passing pedestrians. After two hours the store agreed to a future comprehensive meeting between senior staff and Alliance members, and everyone went home for tea.

Sainsbury’s suppliers now pay most farmers less for their milk than it costs to produce. 40 dairy farmers are going under every week in Britain at the moment because of the supermarkets priceing policies, it's a quiet national crisis. But it goes hand in hand with the international crisis of biotechnology. Farmers want to avoid GM crops, but the poor payment they currently receive forces many of them to keep using the fractionally cheaper GM contaminated imports. The continuing threat of GM, and the corporate aquisition and gentrification of the countryside, could be stopped if farmers got a fair fraction of the price paid for their milk, and the supermarkets were obliged to keep their 3 year old promise to phase out GM feed.


sid

Download this article in pdf format >>

Email this article to someone >>

Submit an addition or make a quick comment on this article >>

Comments

Display the following 4 comments

  1. hmmmh — cow friend
  2. Christmas Greetings — elf
  3. Mooooooo — A Dairy Cow
  4. please go to corpwatch — rjeh

Publish

Publish your news

Do you need help with publishing?

Kollektives

Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World

Other UK IMCs
Bristol/South West
London
Northern Indymedia
Scotland

Server Appeal

West Country Topics

Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
Indymedia
Migration
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Workers' Movements
Zapatista

West Country Actions 2007

West Country Actions 2006

April 2006 No Borders Days of Action
Art and Activism Caravan 2006
Climate Camp 2006
French CPE uprising 2006
G8 Russia 2006
Lebanon War 2006
March 18 Anti War Protest
Mayday 2006
Oaxaca Uprising
Refugee Week 2006
Rossport Solidarity
Transnational Day of Action Against Migration Controls
WSF 2006

West Country Actions 2005

DSEi 2005
G8 2005
WTO Hong Kong 2005

West Country Actions 2004

European Social Forum
FBI Server Seizure
May Day 2004
Venezuela

West Country Actions 2003

Bush 2003
DSEi 2003
Evian G8
May Day 2003
No War F15
Saloniki Prisoner Support
Thessaloniki EU
WSIS 2003

Languages

english

IMCs


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech