Anti-McDonald's protest takes root in southern town
Submitted by pirate on 4 March 2008 - 1:14pm
Wednesday March 05, 2008
By Jarrod Booker New Zealand Herald
A true grassroots protest has occurred on the proposed site of a McDonald's restaurant as residents of a small town fight to keep the fast-food giant out.
Consent has been given for the restaurant to be built on the site at Motueka, near Nelson, but a group calling itself Uniquely Motueka is standing in the way.
The group says McDonald's will add only unwanted health, trash and traffic problems to the town of about 7000.
The proposed restaurant site was dug up into a "community garden" on Sunday night with a variety of flowers and vegetables planted "to represent the diversity in the community that McDonald's never will", said Uniquely Motueka spokeswoman Tara Forde.
A 1000-signature petition against the restaurant has also been given to the local Tasman District Council.
"I don't think it's as easy as winning or losing," Ms Forde said.
"It's about showing McDonald's they are not welcome in a lot of small towns around New Zealand, and the tide is turning on their business as people become more socially aware."
Residents in the Auckland suburb of Balmoral are fighting a similar battle.
A McDonald's spokeswoman said the company was "relatively surprised" at the level of opposition in Motueka.
"But it's important to understand that generally people who oppose things will be the loudest.
"We feel that part of the community are supportive of us."
The Motueka McDonald's restaurant is due to be built by May. The Mayor of Tasman District, Richard Kempthorne, said it was "absolutely a done deal", and the matter could no longer be influenced by the council.
McDonald's--Even More Wicked Than You May Think
During privatization, I owned shares of Karlovarsky Porcelan, an internationally renowned producer of fine porcelains, and Michelske Pekarny, one of the largest bakery companies in the Czech Republic.
A firm named Porcela Plus eventually became the majority owner of both Karlovarsky Porcelan and Michelske Pekarny.
I decided to perform a little due diligence on Porcela Plus by visiting their office. The CEO of Porcela Plus shocked me. He was far too young to be the CEO of two such important companies as Karlovarsky Porcelan and Michelske Pekarny. Clearly, he was somebody’s puppet. I also discovered, unfortunately, that Porcela Plus was the exclusive, worldwide distributor for Karlovarsky Porcelan.
A SERIOUS PROBLEM
In most civilized countries, it is illegal for a down-channel company to be the controlling shareholder of an up-channel company. If Manufacturer A sells its goods to Distributor B, then Distributor B cannot be the controlling shareholder of Manufacturer A.
Illegal anywhere else—not in the Czech Republic. Manufacturer Karlovarsky Porcelan sold its goods to Distributor Porcela Plus *AND* Distributor Porcela Plus was the controlling shareholder of Manufacturer Karlovarsky Porcelan.
Where’s the problem? Porcela Plus, the controlling shareholder, tells Karlovarsky Porcelan to sell its goods to Porcela Plus at cost. Then, Porcela Plus distributes the goods for a huge profit. What do the shareholders of Karlovarsky Porcelan get? Squat.
Yes, Porcela Plus is a shareholder of Karlovarsky Porcelan, too, but they don’t care because they are making windfall profits through distribution.
MY KARLOVARSKY PORCELAN SHARES
I still have my Karlovarsky Porcelan shares. Like the thousands of other companies that were first listed on the Prague Stock Exchange, Karlovarsky Porcelan was taken off the market. The shares have been in limbo for more than a decade. Karlovarsky Porcelan shows a large loss every year (presumably because they still sell their goods at cost to Porcela Plus).
MICHELSKE PEKARNY SHARES
In short, I was told “Sell your Michelske Pekarny shares, or we’ll hurt your family.” Yup—that direct. Of course, I sold the shares. **Not** out of fear. It was simply a matter of weighing the choices.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Here are some highly relevant facts. No doubt, you can put the pieces together….
• Michelske Pekarny’s largest contract—they produce the hamburger buns for McDonald’s in this part of the world.
• The parents of Ray Kroc, who built the McDonald’s chain, were emigrants from Czechoslovakia.
• One of Kroc’s more famous quotes: “It requires a certain kind of mind to see beauty in a hamburger bun”.