The 2006 SFA Days of Action - an idea born at this year's Encuentro in Immokalee - featured two days of consciousness and action that spanned 40 communities from Montana to Miami, from Austin to Boston. Actions were colorful and loud, from the Steel City (click here for audio coverage)... |
...to the nation's capitol. Several onlookers joined this powerful action in DC which succeeded in ruffling the feathers of the franchise owner and a McD's PR representative who were present.
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Indeed, these DC activists sent a clear signal to the Golden Arches. (See print and audio coverage.) |
These 7th graders at St. Luke's School in Manhattan wrote their own letters - 43 in total - to McDonald's CEO Jim Skinner, calling on McDonald's to work with the CIW to ensure real rights for farmworkers.
In an email to the CIW the students state, "We hope to dedicate our work for justice and human rights this year to the cause to which you have dedicated your lives."
Not to be outdone, the growing NYC Fair Food Alliance held their own action on Friday evening. Contact them to get involved in the NYC-area campaign. |
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CIW and SFA members made the 40-minute trek from Immokalee to Estero to join some of our newest allies - students from Florida Gulf Coast University - for a spirited protest... |
...and organized an impromptu human rights delegation to deliver this letter to a less than welcoming McD's manager. Indeed, this simple yet powerful gesture of support was repeated dozens of times throughout the Days of Action.
Click here to read one SFA member's inspirational reportback from a letter drop and other 1-2 Punch activities. |
This Central Michigan University student does his part to raise consciousness about the human rights crisis in the fields of Florida (Click here for coverage of the CMU action.).
One leaflet, conversation, person, and community at a time, the seed of consciousness is sown. It's not the quickest method, nor does it always looks as splashy as the commercials that a $1.5-billion-dollar-annual marketing machine like McDonald's can buy. But consciousness, once sown, inevitably takes root and grows... |
...a message certainly not lost on this Chicago resident, Hec One of the Welfare Poets. Unlike the patronizing caricatures of "urban" youth culture spread by McDonald's, the Welfare Poets represent the power that genuine people's music and art can have in social movements. The CIW, of course, is no stranger to these concepts. It also happens to know a thing or two about dressing up like a clown in order to make a serious point. (Check out the video "Ronaldo the Clown.") |
But talking to potential McDonald's consumers was only part of the day's activities for this Ronald look-alike. Click here for the exclusive report.
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As this Madison ally points out, low wages do indeed have a human cost. This cost, like the effects of McDonald's mass-volume, low-cost tomato purchasing practices, is borne on the backs of farmworkers. One of the more visceral manifestations of this is the often "crowded, squalid housing" farmworkers are forced to live in, such as many working for McDonald's supplier Ag-Mart. Click here and here for more on the connection between McDonald's and farmworker exploitation.
Are these dehumanizing conditions what McDonald's expects from its "SAFE-certified" growers?...
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...and is this the same "standards compliance" that Chipotle claims its suppliers fall under?
We ask, as these Madison protestors did, for how much longer will the fast-food industry - including Chipotle - cling to illusions of impunity in the face of such abuse?
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Click here to read the article "Immokalee Workers Tell Chipotle to Walk Its Talk.")
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Madison was not alone in calling on Chipotle to put into practice its own "Food With Integrity" manifesto, that is, if it's anything more than just another slick marketing slogan. Here, steadfast allies from Lawrence, Kansas call on Chipotle and its former owner McDonald's to take responsibility.
(For more info on how Chipotle fits into the Fair Food puzzle, click here.) |
Chipotle also felt the pressure in its own backyard, from members of Colorado University Coalition Against Sweatshop Abuses in Boulder...
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...to Denver residents representing Food Not Bombs, Coloradans for Immigrant Rights, Jovenes Unidos and other organizations who leafleted 4 separate Chipotle restaurants and collected hundreds of signatures on postcards that will soon be hand-delivered to Chipotle CEO Steve Ells.
Denver has seen the growth of a strong local Fair Food Alliance. Contact us for ideas and resources for starting such an alliance in your community.
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Speaking of pieces of the Fair Food puzzle, our allies in Miami organized this banner drop across from the headquarters of Burger King. These residents of the "305," despite the driving rain and wind and being spread thin by a recent occupation in response to the housing crisis in Liberty City, still came out to show their commitment to the CIW's campaign. |
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From the wind and rain of Miami, we go to the sunshine of central Texas. This Boot the Bell veteran had us wondering if McDonald's loyal (if somewhat difficult to identify) mascot Grimace had joined the struggle for fair food. |
Speaking of McDonald's mascots, this Boston-area ally from the Harvard Student Labor Action Movement puts their own spin on a symbol of corporate America to more accurately reflect the frighteningly harsh reality in McDonald's tomato supply chain.
Click here to download your own mask, flyers and other resources, and here to check out more action ideas to keep the heat on McDonald's.
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Scary Ronald masks and all, the Days of Action saw students and young people organizing powerful, creative actions to send a clear message of their commitment to this campaign in solidarity with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers. And we were not alone - most of the actions across the country also brought together people of faith, labor activists, and "families for fair food" such as the one represented by this young man.
In just a few short weeks, an idea hatched by 60 young organizers grew into 2 days of widespread, national actions that demonstrated some of the support the CIW can count on in this struggle. The Days of Action were but one step down the path toward the goal we know we will reach. As we chanted to close the Encuentro,
¡Ya cayó! ¡Ya cayó! ¡Ronaldo ya cayó!
(This chant, adapted from the popular movements of Oaxaca, gives us a moment to reflect on other recent developments in the world. We mourn and celebrate all those who have given everything to create another Oaxaca and another world, and take inspiration in the resilience, strength, and hope of those they left behind.)
Oaxaca Solidarity
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