Lead paint in Mattel toys

Just months after the massive product recall of pet food, another scandal hits the Chinese manufacturing market: lead paint in toys by Mattel. Over the weekend, a Chinese executive hanged himself after allegations of the lead contamination hit. The news report goes on to say that Chinese manufacturers are often under pressure to cut costs, and so they tend to substitute cheaper labors and parts to save. I think this is again a good indication of why the corporate structure the way it is designed is fundamentally hauled and need a serious reexamination before more people are hurt in a serious way.

In this particular incident, I wonder where you can place the blame. If the allegations are true, and I think the suicide seems to point to it being the case, then the manufacturers ought to burden most of the blame. However, I don't think that means the Mattel people, or whoever else manufacturers their products in China, are off the hook.

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

hell hath no fury than a petowner scorned

Last weekend, pet food suppliers issued a massive recall of dry and wet foods for dogs and cats, manufactured by Menu Foods, Inc. This came after 9 cats and 1 dog reportedly died from eating those foods. Many more may still be unreported as the investigation continues.

Today, two new pieces of information have turned up. One is that 7 animals died from testing by the food maker before the recall. This means that this manufacturer knowingly sold food that could kill your pet without issuing any warning, or without even deciding that perhaps they shouldn't be sold in the first place? Why? I don't know. Maybe they figure that a lawsuit would cost less than the opportunity cost of not selling tainted food. And oh yes, there will be lawsuits.

The other piece of information is that, as it turns out, both premium pet food and the cheap kind are made from the same stuff. Both brand name foods by Eukanuba, Iams and Purina and the generic food sold in Walmart and Kroger' s were recalled. Of course, this comes as no big surprise. Most generic products aren't substantially different. Even companies that sell the basic and premium version end up selling really similar products, except maybe giving the premium stuff better packaging.

Should we be outraged? Actually, no, not so much. If I don't have money, I buy generic brand. If you're rich and have some extra money, you can buy the same stuff for a bit more money. If taxes were like that, we'd be calling it progressive taxing. Of course, if the Bush administration controlled the pricing of pet food the way they did taxes, the premium brand would cost less, and you get a large rebate.

What do I feed my dog? I feed him Purina Nestle's Beneful, both dry and wet. I only like the wet because it's not the brown gunk that you see in cans. You actually see meat, greens, carrots, rice, barley, etc. And my dog likes it more than the brown gunk 'cause I tried it.

In all seriousness, if you have a pet who eats from these brands, or even if they don't eat from those brands, be aware of what has been recalled. Symptoms that have been reported were lethargy, vomiting, and loss of appetite. Please check with your vet if you see any of these symptoms. As a dog owner myself, I know how improtant pets are to many families. It makes me angry just thinking that a food maker would knowingly send out tainted food that would killed beloved pets just so they could make an extra buck. I mean, if they didn't know it and it was an accident, that's one thing. But to be that negligent and irresponsible shows an utter contempt for its consumers.

I pray for all the sick animals out there and that a big fat lawsuit gets slapped on these assholes. A website that has been tracking the number of deaths connected to this product is petconnection.com.

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.

the price of human suffering

It's an inevitable part of war that some people will die and others will profit. I get that. I might even accept that begrudgingly. Of course, the ideal is to have no war, and to resolve issues through diplomacy, but that's not going to happen until maybe some global catastrophe forces humanity to refocus its aggression on something else. Hey, there's the silver lining to the whole global warming thing.

While war profiteering may be unavoidable, what is particular sinister is when the war-makers are the same people making the war. People go to jail for more subtle crimes, like insider trading, but somehow, when it comes to war, it's possible to turn a blind eye. CNN recently reported how Halliburton - with notorious ties to VP Cheney (former CEO of Halliburton) - stock rose from $10.25 a share to around $35 a share since the war started. More recently, reports that Halliburton will split its corporate headquarters to Dubai has raised eyebrows about its possible motives with regards to tax or anti-bribery law evasion. Where's the unpatriotic war cry now?

Incidentally, BBC journalist Greg Palast reported that Condoleeza Rice has had secret meetings with the with former Secretary-General of OPEC before the invasion to make sure that the oil wells are not destroyed. Oil prices have risen as a result of the war, and who profits? Oh yeah, Halliburton and the other oil giants, to the tune of $2.3 trillion dollars.

Who suffers? The soldiers. The families of the soldiers. And of course, the Iraqi people, especially the children. And that's not including the recent estimate of 655,000 excess deaths of Iraqi civilians who have died as a result of disease, violence, and other calamities that are indirectly associated with the occupation.

All for what? (Warning: Graphic images.)

We shouldn't just be talking about ending the war. We should be talking about how many trillions in war reparations the United States government ought to be paying for its occupation of Iraq. Hey, why not just take the trillions the oil industry profited from the war?

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.

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.

corporation in the spotlight: mcdonald's

I've boycotted McDonald's for about five years now. Personally, it was because I was finding it expensive. I'm not a cheap person, but I usually throw out the fries and soda, not simply for healht reasons but simply because I can't finish them. But sadly, many people, especially kids and teens, devour those things in a single sitting, and parents don't always know that it's bad. Or, perhaps they know but they don't think it's serious enough.

What I actually wanted to share was the infamous McLibel trial, which is the perfect demonstration of how a few people can go against a global corporation as big as McDonald's. In fact, McD has became the very symbol of corporate imperialism and the spread of its fatty values to the rest of the world.

For those of you who don't know, back in 1990, McD has sued a group of activists in England who were passing out handouts that accused McD of a list of crimes and violations against the environment, children, its workers, its consumers, its cows. Most of the defendants issues a public apology, but two of them, David Morris and Helen Steel decided to go to court. They had no money for attorneys and had to defend themselves. But somehow, they managed to bring in epic volumes of witnesses and evidence that ended up making this into a public relations disaster for McD. In the process, they also found out how the UK government, particular its law enforcement, colluded with the company to spy on these two individuals. Even though the two lost, they continued to appeal the case. Ultimately, McD decided that they won't collect the fines from the two nor will they stop them from passing out pamphlets in the future.

The two have continued campaigning against McD, bringing awareness to the company's practices. They became part of a larger network of activitists and socially aware consumers around the world. For more information on their work, check out their website: McSpotlight.org.

Next corporation to shine on: Starbucks