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Revolution Summer Pickets McDonald?s in Hillcrest, Draws Hostility
by MARK GABRISH CONLAN
Copyright ? 2003 by Mark Gabrish Conlan for Zenger?s Newsmagazine ? Used by permission
About 20 activists from Revolution Summer San Diego mounted an hour-long picket outside the Hillcrest McDonald?s on Saturday, August 2, highlighting the hamburger chain?s dependence on beef raised from destroyed rain forests in South America and the abusive treatment suffered by farm animals, as well as the overall waste in natural resources involved in growing feed for livestock instead of using farmland to grow food directly for people. But, while there were a few honks and waves of support from people passing by in cars, most of the pedestrians in the area were hostile to the action and at least one person said he?d made a point to eat a meal at McDonald?s just to stick it to the activists.
This individual approached the activists as they were breaking down their picket at 2 p.m. and said how much he?d enjoyed his McDonald?s meal and how he didn?t think there was a health risk involved in eating a high-cholesterol red-meat diet. He also said the activists were hypocritically ignoring the pain allegedly felt by plants when they are picked to be eaten. Action leader David Agranoff, comparing this person?s large size to his own considerably thinner appearance, fired back, ?People can look at you and they can look at me, and they can decide which one of us is eating a healthy diet.?
Activists stayed outside the McDonald?s for about an hour, chanting slogans associating the chain with the murder of farm animals and also saying that individuals who eat meat-heavy fast-food meals run greater risks of heart attacks and strokes than vegetarians or vegans. One man, waiting at the bus stop near the McDonald?s and dressed in blue-jean shorts and a plastic bathmat he had converted into a shirt using suspenders, said, ?Sure! I?d eat a hamburger!,? to protesters who tried to give him leaflets highlighting factory-farm abuses and promoting veganism.
An African-American man who drove out of the McDonald?s drive-through window in an SUV yelled to the activists how much he liked McDonald?s food and suggested they?d see things differently if they?d break down and eat red meat themselves.
A police car remained parked in the McDonald?s parking lot throughout the entire action, and the two police officers got out of the car and stood in the lot ready to take action in case the activists tried to enter the McDonald?s or vandalize it. But the one attempt by activists to enter was easily foiled by McDonald?s own staff and security people without the need for police intervention.
Two other police cars and two fire engines remained parked across the street during the action, but they were there not in connection to the action but in response to a fire in the Midnight adult bookstore across the street.
 e-mail:: mgconlan@earthlink.net
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did you change anyones mind?
rob gordon
I think it is clear demo's like these are going to end animal oppression sure. But i am sure we got some to think.
-David
David
e-mail:: countags@yahoo.com
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