Gil Scott-Heron’s mellifluous music might well have been made for Sunday mornings.
A nerdish raking over the recent AGMs of big corporations certainly wasn’t.
And yet – bear with me here – there is, perhaps, a connection of sorts.
Because on Thursday, Nestlé hosted its Annual General Meeting in Lausanne. And as Lac Léman lapped the shores of that venerable Swiss city, Nestlé’s senior management may well have found its waters to be a good deal colder, deeper and indeed choppier than they they were expecting.
A group of investors called ShareAction had managed to get an item on the agenda for the AGM. And it wasn’t really to Nestlé’s liking.
I make no comment either way. You can make your own mind up, obvs.
ShareAction’s take on it all is here. And Nestlé Chairman Paul Bulcke’s response is posted below.
In the end, the resolution wasn’t passed. But perhaps that isn’t really the point.
Perhaps the point is this: in an age where the default is to expect government to fix our broken food systems (along with everything else), isn’t the Nestlé example a reminder that we all have a good deal more agency in this debate than we might like to believe?
Agency as shareholders. Agency as consumers.
It seems to me, then, that Scott-Heron was right.
The revolution will not be televised.
Because the revolution will not be one event. It won’t even be a series of events.
The revolution is you and me.
Right here, right now.
It’s you and me deciding how we’re going to spend our money. It’s you and me deciding how we’re going to invest our money. And it’s you and me deciding what we’re going to have for dinner tonight.
