Meet the Robin Hood-style activists ‘shoplifting’ for food banks
Activists in Scotland are taking food off supermarket shelves and putting it straight in donation bins.
“Activists are ‘shoplifting’ from supermarket shelves and dumping the proceeds straight into the stores’ food bank bins in a ‘redistributive action’ to protest the cost of living and the climate crisis.
“Xander Cloudsley, 29, a community food co-ordinator and member of This Is Rigged, the campaign group behind the actions, said: ‘In my job, I’ve seen the lived reality of the cost of living crisis […] while corporate giants like Tesco are boasting astonishing profits year in and year out. I’m taking action because this disparity is sickening and profoundly unfair.’
“The protest comes as food bank usage – already prevalent following austerity – has surged alongside spiralling inflation ...
“The top three supermarkets – Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Asda – have taken advantage of increased food costs and doubled their profits to £3.32bn in 2021, up 97% on 2019. Unite’s general secretary Sharon Graham has called this ‘greedflation’ – something supermarket bosses deny ...
“The group’s ‘Robin Hood’ supermarket action was inspired by British farmers who took milk off supermarket shelves in 2015 to protest the low prices they were getting paid for their produce, and by the French energy workers who send cheap electricity to schools, hospitals and working class communities.”