A seguito di una bella conversazione intrattenuta con il gruppo di attivisti australiano NO McDonalds in The Dandenong Ranges (andate a visitare la loro pagina #burgeroff, stanno facendo una battaglia esemplare) abbiamo inviato questo riassunto, in inglese, di quanto accaduto. https://facebook/pages/NO-McDonalds-in-The-Dandenong-Ranges/220419864641673?hc_location=timeline La traduzione in inglese è a cura di @Alex Mclintock McDonald’s in Baragalla, Reggio Emilia, Italy. A small group of citizens stop the American multinational. The last few months have been difficult in Baragalla, a residential area in the city of Reggio Emilia. Since summer there have been rumours that the American fast food chain wished to open a new ‘restaurant’ in our neighbourhood; on a road with heavy traffic, visible from many people’s windows and very close to a major roundabout. The owners of the land had been negotiating for two years with the management of McDonald’s Italy, an agreement had been reached: Baragalla was to have a enormous McDrive (the fourth McDonald’s in the city). A group of local friends from the neighbourhood spontaneously decided to create a citizen’s group. In the meantime, two political parties became interested, firstly ‘Sinistra Ecologia Libertà’ (in Italian, Left, Ecology and Freedom) and later on Movimento 5 Stelle (5 star Movement). The city planner from the local government area, Alex Pratissoli confirmed that “permission for building had not been asked for”. The city planner could easily have phoned the land owner or spoken directly with McDonald’s Italy to discover if any plans had been made to construct a ‘restaurant’ on the property. We gathered hundreds of signatures in our petition, held dinners to raise awareness, meetings and contacted both the local and national press. For the local government area and the majority of the Partito Democratico (in Italian, Democratic Party), party with the majority in local government, we were just another ‘crazy committee that had made up a story’. However, the owner of the land stated “We had been negotiating for two years, the building work was due to start but the Committee made the whole thing go up in smoke”. Therefore, it was all true. As a consequence, the land owner has decided to seek compensation from the members of the Committee because they had brought a deal worth millions to a halt. We are calm as we know that due to our actions, as well as that of around a hundred citizens, we have our neighbourhood’s best interests at heart. Our area is already has a high volume of traffic, we wished to avoid the increase of air pollution and car emissions and even our area becoming even more full of cement (the building itself, the parking lot and the road leading up to the McDrive). Some of our members dislike McDonald’s for ideological reasons but these ideas were not imposed on the Committee. Our objectives were to preserve a neighbourhood that has already been let down by local government (lack of infrastructure, traffic congestion) and to keep it as liveable as possible. If the owner of the land decides to sue us we shall organize events to raise funds and will need the help of a good lawyer. We have received some criticism because of the possible jobs that have gone up in smoke. Working for McDonald’s is not a real employment opportunity but badly paid short shifts, that do not allow financial independence or the option of doing other part-time work (one can simply read about the dozens of complaints by trade unions). McDonald’s has the option of opening a new ‘restaurant’ somewhere else. We only hope that our Committee’s experience will make our local government area understand that it is vital to have a real dialogue with its citizens, even for the eventual opening of a McDrive. We will continue to support all battles that aim to maintain the preservation of our neighbourhood as well as, improve its quality of living. Baragalla has won. Cosimo Pederzoli (Translated from the Italian by Alexander McLintock)
Posted on: Tue, 16 Dec 2014 09:16:00 +0000
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