Co-founder Oliver Knowles said some people are using the crisis as ‘an opportunity to take’.
Political campaign group Led By Donkeys is using its platform to praise heroism amid the coronavirus outbreak and to call out those using it as “an opportunity to take”.
The group made its name protesting against Brexit, but is now posting billboards in towns across the UK which compare “heroes” and “zeroes”.
An example in Hereford contrasts a tweet from a care home worker who has just spent eight hours disinfecting her residents’ living space with the news that Sir Richard Branson forced his Virgin workers to take unpaid leave.
“At its heart the Led By Donkeys project has always been about political accountability and holding the powerful to account,” Led By Donkeys co-founder Oliver Knowles told the PA news agency.
“The point we’re making is at times of crisis, millions of people around the world step up and give more of themselves, while clearly others take away.
“We’re trying to praise those people who are doing really heroic stuff because they’re on the frontline or going the extra mile or helping a neighbour… Versus those who already have huge amounts of money and seem to see this as an opportunity to take more.
“More from the taxpayer, more from their staff – it’s essentially profiteering from the crisis and that’s appalling behaviour that needs calling out.”
A billboard in Christchurch, Dorset, shows two news reports – one on former footballers Gary Neville and Ryan Giggs freely opening their hotels to NHS staff and another on Sports Direct hiking the price of sports equipment by more than 50% in the wake of the pandemic.
“Constructive criticism, even during a time of crisis, is not only valid but it’s important,” Mr Knowles said.
“We want to take great care to not impede the response to the crisis, but it is important that nobody is off-limits.”
Led By Donkeys first went viral in early 2019 by plastering politicians’ past statements onto billboards in an effort to highlight hypocrisy.
Mr Knowles added that the group has been “overwhelmed” by the response to their new billboards, which have been widely shared on social media.
“We weren’t sure how these would do as this is a different issue to Brexit… but actually we’ve been really overwhelmed with the response,” he said.
“People have offered really great comments, not just to Led By Donkeys but to the heroes we’re praising as well.”
Mr Knowles said the group is taking care to ensure they are “playing by the rules” when putting up the billboards during the UK lockdown.
“We’re using proper billboard companies and they’re sending individual team members out to put up the boards to keep social distancing intact,” he said.
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Papua New Guinea’s Prime Minister James Marape accused Joe Biden of disparaging the South Pacific island nation by implying that an uncle of the U.S. president had been eaten by “cannibals” there during World War II.
Biden’s comments offended a key strategic ally as China moves to increase its influence in the region.
The president spoke at a Pennsylvania war memorial last week about his Army Air Corps aviator uncle Second Lt. Ambrose J. Finnegan Jr., whom he said was shot down over Papua New Guinea, which was a theater of heavy fighting.
“They never found the body because there used to be — there were a lot of cannibals for real in that part of New Guinea,” Biden said, referring to the country’s main island.
Marape said in a statement on Sunday that Biden “appeared to imply his uncle was eaten by cannibals.”
“President Biden’s remarks may have been a slip of the tongue; however, my country does not deserve to be labeled as such,” Marape said in a statement provided by his office to The Associated Press on Monday.
“World War II was not the doing of my people; however, they were needlessly dragged into a conflict that was not their doing,” Marape added.
The rift comes as Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese began a visit on Monday to Papua New Guinea, Australia’s nearest neighbor. Albanese and Marape will commemorate strong defense ties between the two countries by walking part of a pivotal battle ground known as the Kokoda Track later this week.
“I’m very confident that PNG has no stronger partner than Australia and our defense and security ties have never been stronger,” Albanese told reporters before departing Australia.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Friday Biden was speaking to the bravery of his uncle and the many U.S. service members that put their lives on the line.
“He takes this very seriously. His uncle, who served and protected this country, lost his life serving. And that should matter,” she said.
Biden's account that Finnegan's plane was shot down was not supported by military records. Finnegan was a passenger on a Douglas A-20 Havoc transport plane that crashed into the ocean after both engines failed on May 14, 1944, according to a Pentagon report.
One crew member survived but no trace was found of the plane or three other people on board, including Finnegan.
Marape’s statement was released on the same day he met China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Port Moresby to discuss building closer relations.
Marape also called on the U.S. to find its war dead in Papua New Guinea’s jungles and to clean up the wreckage of war.
“The remains of WWII lie scattered all over PNG, including the plane that carried President Biden’s uncle," Marape said.
“Perhaps, given President Biden’s comments and the strong reaction from PNG and other parts of the world, it is time for the USA to find as many remains of World War II in PNG as possible, including those of servicemen who lost their lives like Ambrose Finnegan,” he said.
“The theaters of war in PNG and Solomon Islands are many, and littered with the remains of WWII including human remains, plane wrecks, ship wrecks, tunnels and bombs. Our people daily live with the fear of being killed by detonated bombs of WWII,” Marape added.
FILE - Papua New Guinean Prime Minister James Marape, left, listens during a meeting with Pacific Islands Forum leaders during the U.S.-Pacific Islands Forum Summit in the East Room of the White House, Monday, Sept. 25, 2023, in Washington. Prime Minister Marape accused Joe Biden of disparaging the South Pacific island nation by implying that an uncle of the U.S. president had been eaten by “cannibals” there during World War II. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)
