Hot Line: Robin Hood

Date: Mon, 2 Nov 1998 10:18:11 -0400 (AST)
From: "David M. Wimberly" <ag487@chebucto.ns.ca>
To: Sustainable-Maritimes <sust-mar@chebucto.ns.ca>
Precedence: bulk
Return-Path: <sust-mar-mml-owner@chebucto.ns.ca>

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Here is an shortened form of the article on the protest to give some idea
of the issues. Of course the problems are much deeper than presented here.

     _________________________________________________________________
   Saturday, October 31, 1998
   
   Sobeys `Hood'-winked
   
   Group says grocer wants too much of the food pie
   
   By ANDREA MacDONALD -- The Daily News
   
   The sheriff of Nottingham missed his big chance yesterday when a gang
   dressed as Robin Hood played an early Halloween trick on a Halifax
   supermarket.
   
   Customers at the Windsor Street Sobeys store looked on quizzically as
   about 15 costumed "shoppers" pulled corn flakes, tomatoes, and
   shredded wheat from store shelves and dumped them into a donation bin
   for the Metro Food Bank Society.
   
   A Sobeys employee said later that the food would return to store
   shelves. Calling themselves the Merry People's Equal Redistribution
   Front, the twentysomething activists were trying to send the store's
   Stellarton-based owners a message.
   
   They fear the grocery giant's recent bid to take over IGA stores will
   give the company a stranglehold in the food market.
   
   The acquisition would make Sobeys the second-largest grocery chain in
   Canada, they added.
   
   "By taking on the classic role of Robin Hood," said group member
   Melody Leach, "we hope to convey our message of taking from the rich
   and giving to the poor in a playful and familiar way."
   
   Decked out in felt and cardboard hats capped with feathers, they
   perused the aisles for food and handed out leaflets to surprised
   shoppers.
   
   At about 6 p.m., they stationed themselves at the front of the crowded
   store and read out a proclamation that outlined their concerns over
   monopolies.
   
   "Go home," heckled a silver-haired man in navy clothes.
   
   Another shopper countered that the group's concerns were valid.
   
   "In one sense, I can see their point," said Madeline Shea of Halifax.
   "They're gobbling up the competition and it's not a far-fetched thing
   to think (eventually) they're going to set the prices. As far as I'm
   concerned, the grocery stores do revolving prices right now."
   
     _________________________________________________________________


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