Uni bans SABMiller beers

Students at the University of Edinburgh have banned the sale of all SABMiller beers on campus in protest at the brewer’s perceived treatment of poor countries.

The move follows extensive campaigning from the ActionAid student group, Activista Edinburgh.

ActionAid’s research alleges the multinational beer giant avoids paying millions in tax by shifting profits out of Africa and into tax havens like Switzerland, depriving the world’s poorest countries of tax revenue that could be used to invest in public services.

Meg Doherty from Activista Edinburgh said: “We are absolutely thrilled the union has voted to ban SABMiller within all university bars – it is amazing to see how students can come together and collectively campaign on issues of tax justice, to create sustainable change at a local level, while also having an impact on a huge corperation like SABMiller.

“At a time when there is so much economic injustice at home and around the world, this shows that students feel very passionately about this issue.

“I really hope that this ban will increase the pressure on the company to change the way it does business in developing countries.”

Chris Jordan, ActionAid’s tax justice campaigner, added: “Edinburgh University students have sent a powerful message to Grolsch owner SABMiller, that tax avoidance by multinational companies is no longer acceptable.

“An estimated 250,000 additional African children could get an education if SABMiller stopped dodging its tax in poor countries, so the company needs to have a serious rethink about the way it does business. Bending the rules is no longer acceptable.”