Tescos Can Eat My Banana

Today we were joined by a nationwide army of Ctrl.Alt.Shift volunteers, tooled up with Fairtrade bananas, with our sights set on Tesco stores around the country in a flashmob protest against the fact that the retail giants disgracefully still sell non-fair trade bananas.

The aim was to get as many heads down to their local Tesco store, once they arrived they synchronised their watches with the other Ctrl.Alt.Shifters and set an alarm for 1pm. When the alarms belled, everyone had to pull out their Ctrl.Alt.Shift-branded Fairtrade banana and speak into it like a phone (Dom Joly style), before passing them on to unsuspecting Tesco customers, leaving them baffled, holding a banana tagged with a load of facts about why non fair trade products are wrong and should be banned from supermarkets. Planned like a true military operation, our group of foot soldiers were determined to make an impact on the people in and around the shameless Tesco outlets.

Just to fill you in, non-fair trade bananas are grown by plantation workers in developing countries, often getting paid under $2 a day - that's half their standard living wage as a result of the supermarket price wars that drive the prices of bananas to a pittance, all to satisfy you, the consumer. In 2007 supermarkets such as Sainsbury's, Waitrose and Marks and Spencer all agreed to stop selling non-fair trade bananas, recognising that the sale of these products have direct implications on the poverty that the plantation workers suffer. However, the country's leading supermarket chain Tesco refused to follow suit and decided to continue to sell these products regardless of the conditions and measly pay that the workers receive.

The flashmobbers escaped the London demonstration without being tackled by Tesco but protests around the country didn't go down as smoothly, with Ctrl.Alt.Shift volunteers being escorted off the premises in Bristol, Brighton, Nottingham and Leeds by security. Other flashmobs took place in Liverpool, Glasgow, Exeter and Manchester. This was a nationwide campaign and a sign that the young people of this generation are not going to sit back while companies like Tesco are contributing to world poverty by exploiting world supply chains.

We all have a responsibility to stand up and declare that this is unacceptable, because we as consumers are the reason the prices are so low in the first place. If we have the power to drive the price down, then we also have the power to put pressure on big corporations like Tesco to change the way they are going on, and follow the path of Sainsbury’s and the rest who ban the sale of non-fair trade products in their stores, in turn ensuring the farmers across the world are getting a fair wage.

If you want to contribute to the overthrowing of unjust corporations such as Tesco, but you don't fancy running around and causing havoc in your local Metro, there are other things you can do to help. The next time you’re shopping and you don't see a Fairtrade option, simply ask for it. As soon as the managers of the stores start to recognize that these products are in demand they will stock them, and when people refuse to buy products that support unfair trade the shops will stop stocking them, it's that easy.

For more info and to see more pictures of our exploits log onto the official Ctrl.Alt.Shift group on Facebook.

Photos: Tekla Balfour