Oxford and Brookes protest against human rights abuses in Topshop's factories

Oxford and Brookes students stage Christmas protest outside Topshop

On the 4th of December, the Redress Fashion campaign called for a National Day of Action so that students and other consumers could show Topshop that they no longer find 72 hour working weeks, human rights abuses and wages below the poverty line acceptable. Oxford and Oxford Brookes unis were quick to respond, pulling together activists from both unis, as well as from Cheney and other schools based in Oxford.

Jingle bells, Topshop sells

Sweatshop-labour clothes

One Fairtrade line is mighty fine

But the rest are not like those!

If you care ‘bout what you wear

please don’t just stand by

If you stop please tell Topshop

To join the E.T.I.!

The protest was very well received by the public, with hundreds of petitions signed, ready for People & Planet activists in London to take them to Arcadia House the next day in their Santa’s sacks. We sang a version of Jingle Bells which follows below, and acted out a debate between the Sunday Times reporter who showed the human rights violations in Arcadia’s factories and our own Philip Green character.

The end of the 2 hour long mega-protest was great, with several Salvation Army brass band players supporting our protest by providing the accompaniment to our final version of jingle bells.