Don't drink 'killer Coke'
World campaign launched against soft-drink giant
By Susanne Kelly
Washington, D.C.
Colombian trade unionists and their worldwide
supporters launched the "Unthinkable, Undrinkable" Coca-Cola
campaign across the U.S. and the world on July 22 with news
conferences in Atlanta, Boston, San Francisco and Washing ton,
as well as in Britain, Colombia, India, Italy, France, Spain,
Germany, Switzer land, Belgium, Chile, Brazil, Australia and
Venezuela.
Labor and community activists held demonstrations outside
Coca-Cola offices in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago and New York.
SINALTRAINAL, the food and beverage workers' union in
Colombia, initiated the campaign. The union accuses the giant
transnational corporation Coca-Cola of collaborating with
Colombian paramilitaries in a horrific campaign of murder and
human rights violations against union activists.
Eight SINALTRAINAL activists have been assassinated since
1989. Sixty-seven workers have been displaced and 38 have
received serious death threats. There have also been raids of
union offices and homes of members, mass firings, kidnapping
and torture, jailing on trumped-up charges and violations of
union rights. SINALTRAINAL represents 2,300 food and beverage
workers in Colombia.
A number of North American unions have voiced support for
the campaign against Coca-Cola. The Communications Workers,
Longshore Workers on the West Coast, Plumbers and Fitters Local
393, Canadian Labor Council, Service Employees Local 73, South
Bay Labor Council, and the San Francisco Labor Council have all
passed resolutions in support of the campaign.
Teresa Gutierrez, a national coordinator of the
International Action Center (IAC), chaired the Washington news
conference. Gutierrez said, "Plan Colombia means billions of
U.S. dollars going to fund a war on the indigenous people,
Afro-Colombians, workers and peasants of Colombia, while
millions in the U.S. go hungry, homeless, jobless and without
health care."
Gutierrez said, "Don't drink Coca-Cola, Minute Maid or
Dasani water."
On July 9, the Bush government had released over $31 million
in additional funds to the Colombian military, despite ongoing
allegations of human rights violations in Colombia.
At the Washington news conference, union, community and
church activists announced their solidarity with the campaign
against Coca-Cola. Speakers included Baltimore City Council
member Kwame Abayomi, Chuck Kaufman of the Nicaragua Network,
Macrina Cardenas of the Mexico Solidarity Network, Henrick Voss
of the School of the Americas Watch, Berta Ceci of the IAC in
Philadelphia, Steelworkers Local 8751 President Steve Gillis
from Boston, AFSCME District Council 47 President Tom Cronin
from Philadelphia, Mike Gimbel of AFSCME District Council 37
and the New York Central Labor Council, and others.
A Colombian worker forced to flee Colombia for her life also
addressed the media.
Last December, the IAC sent a delegation to Bogotá,
Colombia, to attend the World Forum on Coca-Cola organized by
SINALTRAINAL. At this conference, worker after worker told of
threats, torture, arrests, thefts and more that they have been
subjected to.
LeiLani Dowell was a participant in the IAC delegation to
Bogotá and in a West Coast press conference on July 22.
Dowell said, "The paramilitaries that are murdering Colom bian
union organizers are being supported by the Colombian military,
which receives millions of dollars a year from the U.S.
government. Our goal with the Coca-Cola campaign is to raise
awareness about the role that the U.S. government and U.S.
corporations play in generating this terror campaign against
trade unionists in Colombia."
Confronted with this worldwide campaign, Coca-Cola was
forced to respond. The company, no surprise, issued a statement
denying all charges. In Atlanta, corporate headquarters of
transnational Coca-Cola, the Atlanta Journal Consti tution
reported that the Service Employees union, AFSCME and
SINALTRAINAL were part of this effort and that "news
conferences and demonstrations [were] held across the
country."
The Associated Press, reporting on the press conference in
San Francisco, quoted Hector Rincón, president of a food
industry union in Colombia: "The workers' movement has lost
some of its best leaders with these killings. Knowing there is
international support for us is very important."
The Bush government has presented Plan Colombia as a scheme
to help in the fight against drug trafficking. Groups like the
IAC argue that in reality Plan Colombia commits U.S. money and
troops to Colombian President Alvaro Uribe's right-wing
government and its efforts to crush any progressive social
movements in Colombia.
Violence against union activists continues in Colombia. On
July 15, Marco Tulio Díaz, president of the union of
retired oil workers, ASONAJUB, was murdered at his mother's
house and his brother was seriously wounded. Díaz had
been a devoted leader in his union and was always in solidarity
with the struggles of Colombian workers and community
activists.
Javier Correa, president of SINALTRAINAL, says, "We want
justice, we want people to know the truth about what is going
on in Colombia against Coke workers. Now that you know, will
you please help us?"
In Chicago on July 22, 100 people gathered for a rally in
front of the Coca-Cola distribution plant in Chicago's
predominantly Mexican neighborhood of Pilsen as part of the
campaign.
The Colombia Solidarity Committee, the Nicaragua Solidarity
Committee and the Mexico Solidarity Committee built the Chicago
action. The rally was addressed by Colombian Coca-Cola trade
unionist Luis Adolfo Cardona. Other speakers represented
Service Employees Local 73, Jobs with Justice, DePaul
University students and Chicago Day Laborers.
The rally received numerous honks of solidarity from workers
driving by. The march that followed brought residents out of
their homes to join in the chanting and to take leaflets that
explained the campaign against "killer Coke."
Nathalie Alsop and Beth Semmer contributed to this
article.
Reprinted from the Aug. 7, 2003, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
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