Boycott of "Killer Coke" catches on
By
Lou Paulsen
Chicago
Published Mar 2, 2005 3:05 PM
"Hundreds of thousands--maybe
millions--have heard our message," said Tom Burke of the Colombia Action
Network. He was talking about the international boycott of "Killer Coke" for its
crimes against workers in Colombia.
Burke spoke here Feb. 26 to a
solidarity conference at De Paul University. De Paul students have forced the
administration to investigate whether Coca-Cola should be barred from the
campus.
Every Coke machine at De Paul is plastered with a sticker from
the Killer Coke campaign, showing the bodies of union activists floating in a
glass of blood.
Launched in 2003, the boycott is becoming widely known.
Death-squad survivor Luis Adolfo Cardona has now told his story at 100 campuses
and dozens of union halls.
The three biggest universities in Ireland and
the University of Edinburgh in Scotland have banned Coca-Cola. A march protested
Coca-Cola's sponsorship of the Sundance Film Festival. "The Daily Show with Jon
Stewart" mentioned the boycott. And the Service Employees, the biggest U.S.
union, endorsed the boycott at its 2004 convention.
Javier Correa,
president of the Colombian food and beverage workers' union SINALTRAINAL, told
the De Paul conference that Coke's crimes are "typical" of what the
transnational corporations do in Colombia. Death squads have murdered 21
SINALTRAINAL organizers, nine who were organizing Coca-Cola plants. They have
threatened dozens more with death, and terrorize their families.
The
government imprisons union activists Coke and other companies falsely charge
with "terrorism." And death squads target them for murder.
Although
Colombian President Alvaro Uribe claims he "demobilizes" the death squads, he
really gives them amnesty for their crimes and retains them in business.
"Demobilized" death-squad members set up in houses surrounding factories and
military bases, or encircling union headquarters like SINALTRAINAL's.
A
lawsuit against Coca-Cola and its bottlers is proceeding in Atlanta. Steel
Workers union lawyer Dan Kovalik represents Colombian unionists and their
families. Kovalik said the Colombian death squads account for more than half of
the murders of trade unionists in the entire world--over 4,500 since
1986.
Burke linked the boycott with opposition to "Plan Colombia,"
legislation begun under President Bill Clinton.
Information about the
boycott of Coca-Cola, Minute Maid, Fruitopia and Odwalla juice drinks, Dasani
and Evian water, and other Coca-Cola brands is available at www.killercoke.org
and at www.colombiaactionnetwork.org.
This article is copyright under a Creative Commons License.
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