There was a time when Gail's was famed simply for its artisanal sourdough bread, cinnamon buns and speciality coffee - not to mention its signature pistachio, lemon and rose cakes.
asserted
Gail → be → bread
In recent times, however, the popular bakery chain has become infamous as the target of an increasingly angry backlash and protests.
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chain → become → backlash
These began with local residents living near proposed new stores standing up for small independent traders and against the gentrification Gail's was perceived to bring.
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Gail → begin → gentrification
But the company, with its Jewish roots, quickly also became the focus of activists with opposition escalating into anti-Israeli protests leading to acts of wanton vandalism.
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opposition → become → vandalism
This is despite campaigners against antisemitism insisting 'the association of the bakery with Jews, Israel and rapacious capitalism' is 'a classic trope'.
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association → insist → Jews
The opening of Gail's latest branch, in Brixton, south west London was met by the erection of billboards claiming the firm's arrival embodied 'the current wave of what can only be described as late-stage gentrification' in the area.
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what → meet → area
Then came the ones featuring loaves of bread strapped to bombs.
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ones → come → bombs
They urge locals to 'avoid Gail's' warning of 'a rising threat' while linking the firm to the 'genocidal state of Israel'.
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They → urge → Israel
Posters were put up nearby the new branch of Gail's in Brixton, which urged people to avoid the chain
The posters featured an image showing a loaf of Gail's bread wrapped by an explosive device
Graphic designer Marlo Swann McNair Plowden, 28, is one of the men behind the anti-Gail's campaign
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Plowden → put → campaign
Now the Daily Mail can reveal one of the men behind the campaign is a 'wokerati' graphic designer who hails from a wealthy upper middle class local family which has historic links to the British establishment.
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which → reveal → establishment
But Marlo Swann McNair Plowden, 28, appears to have cast aside his privileged roots to reinvent himself as a Left-wing activist.
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Plowden → appear → activist
After earning a first-class degree at Manchester Metropolitan University, Marlo set out on a mission to use his graphic skills to help persuade others to align with his political stance.
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Marlo → earn → stance
One description of his work explains: 'For Marlo, art and design serve as tools for examining the use of language, both visual and written, and its pivotal role in shaping belief systems.
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art → explain → systems
'When used effectively, they become essential in influencing collective action in today's society.'
Describing himself as an illustrator 'for positive social change', the activist who likes to be known simply as Marlo, has been behind previous London-wide anti-Israeli protests he calls 'infographic guerilla campaigns'.
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he → use → protests
He has attended pro-Palestinian marches and was photographed standing in front of a Workers Revolutionary Party and Young Socialists banner at one protest which called for a 'general strike' to stop government support for Israel.
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which → attend → Israel
Marlo has also taken part in a number of non-Israel-related anti-government marches, including a demonstration against the Rwanda scheme for migrants pushed by the previous Tory government.
And now he is one of the leading figures in an underground organisation called Strapline which was behind the latest Gail's protests.
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which → take → protests
In the Brixton protest, Strapline shared video footage on Instagram of the posters being pasted up close to Brixton Market and next to Brixton tube station.
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posters → share → station
Those posters, which urged people to avoid the chain, featured an image showing a loaf of Gail's bread wrapped by an explosive device.
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which → urge → device
The new Brixton outlet opened earlier this month.
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outlet → open → ?
Other Gail's branches have also been targeted by pro-Palestine activists.
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branches → target → activists
The company denies links to any country outside the UK
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company → deny → UK
The Gail's branch in Archway saw its windows smashed after it was subject to repeated attacks
Slogans on the posters said 'A rising threat' and 'Avoid Gail's', linking the firm to what activists describe as 'the genocidal state of Israel'.
Accompanying text on the poster also accuses the firm of sitting 'at the intersection of aggressive corporate expansion which harms local communities'.
The activists describe Gail's as embodying 'the current wave of what can only be described as late-stage gentrification in Brixton'.
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what → see → Brixton
In an Instagram post, they wrote: 'Maybe it's their extortionate prices, or their algorithmically-driven predatory growth model, or it could be the fact that Bain Capital, its owners, have significant investments in the State of Isr*el.
uncertain
Capital → write → Isr*el
'Or it could just be the fact that I'm bored of bland coffee shops dominating our urban landscape.
'
uncertain
I → dominate → landscape
Either way, late-stage gentrification has hit Brixton, or maybe it already had.
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it → hit → Brixton
It's easy to lose track.
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It → lose → track
After the posters were stuck up, Marlo's dad shared a picture of them on Facebook, congratulating him.
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dad → stick → him
He wrote: 'Looks like that Strapline has been at it again.'
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Strapline → write → it
Marlo, who has removed much of his social media presence since being approached by the Mail, spent his childhood in a £1.5million home less than a mile from the new bakery.
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who → remove → bakery
He comes from a family with strong links to the elite: his grandfather, the Honourable William Julius Lowthian Plowden, was an Eton and Cambridge-educated academic who served as a Conservative government advisor and Under Secretary in the Department of Industry.
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who → come → Industry
Born the son of a landed proprietor and banker in Strachur, Argyll, Lord Plowden was educated in Switzerland and Germany before returning to Britain to read economics at Pembroke College, Cambridge.
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Plowden → bear → College
Marlo also has family links to Palestine from this ancestor: Lord Plowden's first job, shortly before the outbreak of the Second World War, saw him working for commodity dealers on the extraction and sale of Palestinian potash from the Dead Sea.
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him → have → Sea
At the time these dealings were said by critics to have been operated through a colonial framework that systematically marginalised and economically exploited the local Arab population.
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that → say → population
Lord Plowden went on to play a key role in the war serving in the Ministry of Economic Warfare and later joined the Ministry of Aircraft Production, in which he remained until 1946.
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he → go → 1946
In his final year, he acted as its chief executive in succession to Air Chief Marshal Sir Wilfrid Freeman.
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he → act → Freeman
After a brief spell in the private sector, he was appointed chief planning officer to the Cabinet Office in March 1947 serving in the role for six years.
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he → appoint → years
Marlo's father shared a picture of the posters on Facebook and wrote: 'Looks like that Strapline has been at it again'
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Strapline → share → it
The posters were put up near Brixton station before the Gail's opened.
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Gail → put → station
They were swiftly taken down
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They → take → ?
Marlo, who has strong ties to the British establishment, has been behind previous London-wide anti-Israeli protests which he calls 'infographic guerilla campaigns'
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he → have → which
…and 27 more, not listed.
The Aporia
