Anti Arms Trade activists worked overnight to cover London's new Barclays Bikes with stickers stating the Banking giant's involvement in the global arms trade.
Almost 4000 of the stickers were placed on bikes all over the city last night. They were in the same shade of blue and in the same font that Barclays use and were so designed to blend in with the shameless advertising disgracing every single one of the bikes.
The messages were
INVESTS IN CLUSTER BOMBS. OFFERS LOANS FOR NEW LIMBS
£20M INVESTMENT IN BIKES. £7300M INVESTMENT IN BOMBS
FUNDING DEPLETED URANIUM BIRTH DEFECTS IN IRAQ
INVESTS £7.3 BILLION IN THE ARMS TRADE
A spokesperson for Transport for London (TfL) claimed that only around 100 bikes had been targeted but activists say this is a gross understatement, claiming to have distributed almost 4000 stickers.
The bikes, which were launched in August and operate on a pay-as-you-go scheme, are covered in Barclays branding. The new wider cycle lanes launched across London recently are called 'Barclays Cycle Superhighways' and are painted in Barclays trademark cyan. Campaigners feel that, though the bikes are a step in the right direction, Barclays have exploited the scheme to be one big advertising campaign. No other city worldwide with similar schemes has been fully sponsored by one company. It is hoped the stickers will raise awareness of Barclays position as the largest investor in the arms trade in the world.
Almost 4000 of the stickers were placed on bikes all over the city last night. They were in the same shade of blue and in the same font that Barclays use and were so designed to blend in with the shameless advertising disgracing every single one of the bikes.
The messages were
INVESTS IN CLUSTER BOMBS. OFFERS LOANS FOR NEW LIMBS
£20M INVESTMENT IN BIKES. £7300M INVESTMENT IN BOMBS
FUNDING DEPLETED URANIUM BIRTH DEFECTS IN IRAQ
INVESTS £7.3 BILLION IN THE ARMS TRADE
A spokesperson for Transport for London (TfL) claimed that only around 100 bikes had been targeted but activists say this is a gross understatement, claiming to have distributed almost 4000 stickers.
The bikes, which were launched in August and operate on a pay-as-you-go scheme, are covered in Barclays branding. The new wider cycle lanes launched across London recently are called 'Barclays Cycle Superhighways' and are painted in Barclays trademark cyan. Campaigners feel that, though the bikes are a step in the right direction, Barclays have exploited the scheme to be one big advertising campaign. No other city worldwide with similar schemes has been fully sponsored by one company. It is hoped the stickers will raise awareness of Barclays position as the largest investor in the arms trade in the world.
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The Independent Media Center is a global participatory network of journalists that report on political and social issues. It originated during the anti-WTO protests worldwide in 1999 and remains closely associated with the global justice movement, which criticizes neo-liberalism and its associated institutions. Indymedia uses an open publishing and democratic media process that allows anybody to contribute.
According to its homepage, Indymedia is a collective of independent media organizations and hundreds of journalists offering grassroots, non-corporate coverage. Indymedia is a democratic media outlet for the creation of radical, accurate, and passionate tellings of truth.Indymedia was founded as an alternative to government and corporate media, and seeks to facilitate people being able to publish their media as directly as possible.
According to its homepage, Indymedia is a collective of independent media organizations and hundreds of journalists offering grassroots, non-corporate coverage. Indymedia is a democratic media outlet for the creation of radical, accurate, and passionate tellings of truth.Indymedia was founded as an alternative to government and corporate media, and seeks to facilitate people being able to publish their media as directly as possible.
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