activism update: what's been going on

As I wandered the hallways of my school I noticed that there were actually more Pepsi machines than Coke machines. I don't know if that means they're phasing out the Coke machines or what, but I never noticed the ratio and placement of these various vending machines. I did manage to get the student rep for my school to bring up the Coke banning issue in the next hearing.

On the more global "international day against Coke", there's been more disappointing news. Actually, no news, which is perhaps why it's disappointing. To date (April 4th), the Students Against Sweatshops haven't updated their website regarding the boycott so I'm not really sure what went down. Perhaps they're still gathering their own information. I was contacted once by a member from that group who tried to put me in touch with a student from Columbia, but she didn't contact me.

So, lessons learned? Well, that students are busy people and it's difficult, but not impossible, to get any kind of action going. Most social changes wouldn't have occurred if people (students or not) inconvenienced themselves to speak out against some issue. Sometimes I wonder whether our relatively easy access to information makes us lazy to take action.

I'm still trying to decide which company to boycott for April. That announcement would be coming up in the days ahead. Stay tuned.

activism report: amy goodman interviews anti-coke activist ray rogers

Amy Goodman, host of Democracy Now, talks to anti-Coke activist Ray Rogers in this 2004 interview. In it, they talk about some of the details of the allegations, including the specific incidents that ties Coca-Cola to the crimes.

Below is the introduction to the interview. I encourage everyone to check this out in full. You can download the audio or stream the video of this interview from the website.

"On the morning of December 5, 1996, two men on a motorcycle arrived at a Coca-Cola bottling plant in Antioquia, Colombia, where according to eyewitnesses they breezed past a guardhouse at the factory's front gate and onto plant grounds. The men approached Isidro Gil, head of the plant's union of bottling employees, and in plain sight of his co-workers shot him ten times, mortally wounding him. Just one hour later, another top union officer was kidnapped from his home, and that evening the union's offices were ransacked and burned to the ground. Two days later, after gunmen with the Colombian paramilitary group A.U.C. threatened further violence against employees, plant managers distributed union resignation forms to workers. All of them signed the forms.

"In July of 2001, the union representing Colombia's Coca-Cola employees filed suit in a federal court in Florida, alleging Coke contracted with paramilitary death squads to torture, kidnap, and murder union leaders at its bottling plants. Though the lawsuit was initially thrown out, charges of collusion with Colombian paramilitaries continue to dog the company. An amended version of the lawsuit was filed this month with the same federal court in Miami, and at Coke's annual shareholders' meeting in Wilmington, Deleware last Wednesday, Coke Chairman and CEO Douglas Daft went on the defensive, telling investors that his company had no role in the killings."

- From Democracy Now

activism report: baby steps

The student senate president hasn't gotten back to me yet. I did email the Killer Coke group, who did email me back. We'll be communicating a bit soon I think. I also emailed Coca-Cola's corporate responsibility people on their website asking to see if they'd comment on the protests. I'll keep you updated if they respond.

Finally, I created a group of Facebook. Not sure how much good that'll do but you never know. I saw a "Fuck Coke" group in Purdue University, who did manage to get Coke off their campus, so maybe it'll work.

By the way, after some research last night, I found out that there was a town hall meeting regarding the banning of Coca-Cola on June 2006 but no concrete resolution seemed to have materialized from that.

The fight continues.

activism report: more schools join coca-cola ban

Manchester University has joined the growing list of schools banning Coca-Cola from their campus. Earlier this year, NYU became the largest private university in the United States to join the protest.

In addition, union workers have protested Coca-Cola's sponsorship of the NCAA, and have asked that it sever ties with the corporation.

Here is the entire list of colleges and high schools that are already banning Coca-Cola.

activism report: firing the first shot at coca-cola

Okay I must be crazy. I normally don't do this type of thing, but I'm motivated now. I wrote a letter to the student senate at Teachers College, Columbia University regarding a ban of all Coca-Cola products on campus. Someone wrote back saying that they can't do anything because the senate doesn't control who the school contracts with. I replied asking them if the senate can just raise the issue with the administration, and the person suggested I write to the president of the student senate. So I did. I also wrote to the Killer Coke group asking them for advice on how to start a campaign.

Anyway, this could fall flat on its face, or it could go somewhere. I think I'm going to enlist more students' help. My only concern is that I'll not have time to follow through with a lot of this so please keep pushing me.

Here is my letter to the president:

Dear XX:

I am writing with regards to the Coca-Cola vending machines and Coca-Cola products sold on the Teachers College campus. In the past few years, in response to allegations of human rights violations in Colombia, India, Turkey, and Guatemala, many institutions such as New York University, Rutgers University, The University of Michigan, Harvard University, Hofstra University, the Union Theological Seminary, CUNY, and the AAA (American Anthropological Association) have issued bans of Coca-Cola products on their campuses in protest. In NYU, for example, it was action initiated by their student senate that ultimately led to the ban. I would like to implore this student senate to follow similar action as a signal to Coca-Cola that Teachers College will not stand for its human rights abuses.

I understand that this process is arduous and time-consuming, and hope that the student senate will take the proper steps in putting this into action. Please email me if you have any questions or advice to help make this happen.

For further reading, please check out:

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/06_04/b3968078.htm

http://www.sbindependent.org/node/1594

http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=511674

http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=510774

http://www.killercoke.org/

For a full list of institutions that have banned Coca-Cola:

http://www.killercoke.org/active-in-campaign.htm

Sincerely yours,

Aaron