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Ethical Corporation Conference 2004 "WHAT'S THE POINT OF CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY?"
On Tuesday 11 May, a greenwash business conference took place in north London under the name of 'What's the Point of Corporate Responsibility', organised by Ethical Corporation magazine. Seminars at this conference, which was attended by the likes of Shell, BP, Gap, McDonalds, Coca-Cola, Levi Strauss and Marks & Spencer, included discussion-topics such as "Why should Chief Executives take Corporate Responsibility seriously?", "Is Corporate Responsibility simply another management fad?" and "How smart companies are using CR for commercial objectives."
In the late afternoon around sixty demonstrators congregated outside the Marriott Hotel in Swiss Cottage, where the conference was taking place, and engaged in a festive protest whilst refusing to accept the absurd proposition that corporations actually want to be held accountable. The picket was called under the name of "Corporate Responsibility? You're Having A Laugh!". The protestors included The RoR Breakaway Revolutionary Jamming Affinity Band, activists of the Colombia Solidarity Campaign and London Rising Tide, and comedian Mark Thomas, who managed to avoid the £295 registration fee and blagg his way into one of the conference's seminars where he pressed the panel with questions from the floor.
There only 4 sambistas but we brought several spare instruments and lent em out to other protestors, gave on the job training and we got us a band.
Alright, definitely not the best musically when we attempted some of our usual rhythms, but people were beaming at us and telling us to keep drumming and thanking us. Fellow protestors in suits, who'd been inside the conference room, said we could be heard really loudly when we starting drumming and that the delegates all jumped and looked startled & said "the protesters are outside!" :)
When asked what the atmosphere was like inside the hotel Mark Thomas gleefully revealed, "As soon as they heard the drummers start the shiver of fear went through the audience!" Let's hope they hold on to that feeling.
When we weren't drumming the other protestors were shouting you must be having a ****ing laugh and then we all responded with mocking laughter.
People spoke and explained how Coca-Cola had contributed to the terror in Colombia as well as stealing and polluting vast quantities of water in India. BP has forced thousands of people off their own land in Colombia to make way for a pipeline and also refuses to let its workers there organise into unions.
Between speeches and "subvertising" chants (eg "Baby Gap - if they're old enough to wear 'em, they're old enough to make 'em"), together with the drumming and mocking, i think it would be true to say we must have disrupted them quite a bit.
Thanks to all those that turned up and well done!
Report and Photos
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