Early one December morning in so-called “Kalamazoo, Michigan”, four humans dressed in black crept under the light of golden arches, posters and spray paint in hand. They set out to disrupt people’s genocide-flavored morning coffee. Rollers oozing wheat paste, they splattered signs which read, “McDonald’s supports genocide”, “Free Gaza River to Sea”, “Hungry for Freedom”, and other messages onto the driveway menus, windows, and the speaker box. They also sprayed the word “BOYCOTT” onto the wall of the building in black paint, and quickly made their exit.
It was a monday morning. People would soon need their coffee to help them facilitate capitalism better, and McDonald’s would profit. The goal was to disrupt that as much as possible. While people in Kalamazoo enjoy a morning crappucino, people in Gaza don’t even have basic access to water – clean or dirty, thanks to corporations such as McDonald’s which directly support the Israeli bombings in Palestine. While people here can enjoy an egg mcmuffin and hashbrowns for breakfast, people in Gaza go hungry — 9 in 10 Gazans cannot eat everyday. If they do find food, it is likely moldly, expired, or otherwise unfit for consumption. While McDonald’s is hungry for profit, the world is hungry for freedom. The hope was to make the ongoing horrors in Palestine all too apparent to those who are complicit by supporting such businesses that aid in their continuation.
This action was executed with simple tools: paint rollers, wheat paste, handmade posters, and spray paint — accessible items anyone can get their hands on. The planning was simple– a drop off/pick up spot was designated, posters were put up within two minutes, and they were out. They wore indistinguishable black clothes to be changed out of after the action was completed. Posters were designed to be eye catching and legible, with simple messages. No one involved was there to see the impact in effect during operating hours. If one were to perform such an action again they could have planned ahead of time to send someone not associated through the drive thru to document the disruption. Although no one involved saw it, wheat paste and spray paint are notoriously difficult to remove, and thus time was necessarily wasted cleaning up and taking everything down, rather than serving up hot McWarCrimes.
Actions like these can be very simple, cheap, and safe with good planning and research. They scouted the area for cameras and planned a discrete route with minimal exposure. They wore masks and covered faces. They stuck towards the back of the building that wasn’t visible from the road for the majority of the action, and only spent about two minutes in danger of being seen/connected with the posters and paint.
If others were to replicate this, there are other target businesses, corporations, and manufacterers worthy of disruption. Learn more at https://bdsmovement.net/Act-Now-Against-These-Companies-Profiting-From-Genocide
and
https://act.progressive.international/out-palestine/
Learn more about Palestine:
https://decolonizepalestine.com/
Learn more about legal support:
https://michigansolidaritybailfund.com/
Anonymous submission to Unsalted Counter Info.