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.

turning on the water works

It has recently been recently been reported that Coca-Cola is investing in water initiatives in Africa to expand supply. It's easy to be cynical about these altruistic moves. After all, they make billions of dollars, they can certainly afford to throw out a few million here and there if it makes them look good. A 15-nation study in Europe has shown that many people feel the same cynicism against corporations who don't seem genuine when they make these performances.

In general, I like to give corporations the benefit of the doubt as much as possible. I never believed that corporations were people, even though they reap all the benefits of being treated as an individual without any of the drawbacks. (See the excellent documentary The Corporation for this argument.) Whether a board of managers sit together in a room and say "We don't really care about people but let's pretend we do by making all these gestures" is not something I want to speculate. Mainly, I don't want to give the impression that corporations can't do anything good.

Of course, this doesn't excuse Coca-Cola or any other corporation for the ills they have committed. Certainly if all corporations made these gestures and others followed, our society would be a better place regardless of their sincerity.

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

boycott of the month: the coca-cola company

It seems that a group called the United Students Against Sweatshops are calling March 27th the "International Day of Action Against Coca-Cola", so why not make March your first boycott? Yes, this blog only started yesterday, so it'll only be a short boycott, but hey, don't worry, we'll boycott them again some time.

The Coca-Cola Company is responsible for many human rights violations around the world and have engaged in many anti-union activities. Moreover, they have been penetrating into schools with their beverages and marketing. Many universities have already removed Coca-Cola products from their campus as a way of protesting their activities. On December 2005, New York University became the largest private university to boycott Coca-Cola products. Here are some reasons to boycott Coca-Cola. Not that there are many other reasons that I suggest you look into (e.g. human rights violations in India, Turkey, etc.)

Colombia

Colombia is not the only country The Coca-Cola Company has committed atrocities in, but is perhaps one of the most widely known one. This has to do with a bottling company that the company uses in Colombia, which has been sued in a lawsuit for its crimes. According to some reports (and again, I'm not an expert, so do your own research), The Coca-Cola Company has been responsible for contracting paramilitary forces to silence, torture and kill trade union leaders in Colombia.

Health risks

Recent reports have shown that certain sodas contain a higher level of benzene, a carcinogen linked to leukemia, than water. While drinking water have to follow strict guidelines on benzene levels, sodas do not, and so companies are allowed to sell them around the world. A non-diet can of soda also contains 12 teaspoons of sugar, which can lead to many health risks associated with heart disease and diabetes. Kids who drink too much soda also tends to drink less milk, leading to risk of osteoporosis and kidney stones.

Bottled water

Bottled water has been almost ubiquitous in our communities now, and not just in the United States but in many other parts of the world (at least those I've been to). The general impression is that bottled water, because they come in pretty bottles and fancy labels, are cleaner and taste better than tap water. Not true! While tap water is regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), bottled water is regulated by the FDA (Food & Drug Administration), which applies EPA guidelines selectively. Moreover, while there's a huge staff of people overlooking tap water in the EPA, there is barely enough in the FDA to overlook bottled waters. As such, many bottled water companies often have much higher levels of toxic chemicals like arsenic and bacteria than regular tap water. On top of that, bottled water are harmful to the environment, increasing the amount of trash.

How to boycott

Remember that The Coca-Cola Company makes not just its flagship products. For a complete list of its products, check out its entire brand list. If you can't be bothered with the list, just take a good look whatever beverage you're buying, and it'll often tell you whether it's a Coca-Cola product. You are also do things such as sending petitions to The Coca-Cola Company board members or passing out flyers in your school, college and community.

By the way, I always encourage people also to do their own research and make up their own minds. If you can, talk to others who use Coca-Cola products, or even just sodas or bottled water in general, to educate them about the costs of these products. I posted a link of a speech by a union activist speaking out against the company that you can check out.

And finally, if you want to communicate with me, make corrections, suggestions, or if you think Coke is great, feel free to email me.

P.S. I was so disgusted in my research that I've upgraded The Coca-Cola Company to my permanent boycott list. Lucky them!

Further reading

United Students Against Sweatshops is leading a campaign this month to protest against Coca-Cola.

Killer Coke is a comprehensive website detailing the crimes that The Coca-Cola Company has committed.

St. Cloud Times has an op-ed piece on bottled water.

The Sierra Club has an informative brochure on the costs of bottled water.