Skip to content or view mobile version

Home | Mobile | Editorial | Mission | Privacy | About | Contact | Help | Security | Support

A network of individuals, independent and alternative media activists and organisations, offering grassroots, non-corporate, non-commercial coverage of important social and political issues.

Tonight! Students Against Coke! at SOAS

Colombia Solidarity Campaign | 15.02.2006 13:26 | Globalisation | Repression | Workers' Movements | London

with Ray Rogers, Director of the Campaign to Stop Killer Coke

Transnational Resistance to Neoliberal Globalisation: Students Against Coke!

6pm Wednesday 15th February

G2 Lecture Theatre, Main Building, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), Thornhaugh Street, London WC1 (nearest tube Russell Square)

Speaker: Ray Rogers, Director, Campaign to Stop Killer Coke

plus

Dan Glass, UK Students Against Coke,
Tracey Moberly, artist and co-curator of Coke's Nazi Adverts exhibition
Andy Higginbottom, Colombia Solidarity Campaign

Chair: Dr. Sara Motta

Organised by SOAS Student Union and Colombia Solidarity Campaign

(Note: this event will be televised)

Coca-Cola is one of the world's most powerful and profitable corporations. Yet, despite repeated pleas for help, the corporation has not found the time or resources to insure the most basic safety of its workers or prevent massive environmental devastation in the communities where it does business.

 http://www.uksac.revolt.org/uksac%20-%20colombia%20-%20background.htm
Coca Cola in Colombia. SINALTRAINAL, the trade union that represents Coke workers in Colombia, have suffered the assassination of 8 of their leaders, killed by paramilitaries allegedly hired by Coca Cola management. The union
has also witnessed the imprisonment, forced displacement, torture and death threats against hundreds of workers at Coca Cola bottling plants throughout the country.


Coca Cola in India stands accused of draining and poisoning the water people need to survive. In Plachimada in Kerala, local people have held a 24 hour vigil since April 2001 outside a bottling factory which siphons off 1.5 million litres every day. Without water for their crops, thousands of poor farmers
have lost their livelihood.


Coca-Cola in Turkey fired 105 workers in May 2005. The day before Coca-Cola officials told workers that "if you don't quit the union, I will end your contract." On July 20th, while a sacked worker representative attempted to
reach a temporary resolution, Turkish riot police brutally beat up roughly 150 workers and their families with clubs. This occured inside the Coca-Cola compound and with the approval of Coke officials.

In the US: 20 universities and colleges have already boycotted Coke products including New York, Michigan and Rutgers. A massive campaign is building up. The Teamsters, the largest Coke union in the world, supports the campaign. This support was reaffirmed in January 2006.


The Campaign in the UK: This year the contracts that UK students have collectively with Coca Cola are up for renewal. Its failure to address human rights and environmental concerns leads us to believe that the only
incentive for Coca-Cola to change its behavior and act in good faith towards those affected is through us ending our student union contracts with them.




YOU Can Play an Important Part in the UK Students Campaign against Coke


Over the past two years the campaign against Coca-Cola in our Students Unions has been steadily growing and during the next few months we want it to explode! On the 28th - 30th March, at NUS Conference, students will vote
on whether we should continue to do business with Coca-Cola. We are adamant that contracts should not be renewed. Only strong ecomomic action will put critical pressure on Coca-Cola to make REAL operational change.


If your Student Union buys its beverages through NUSSL then:

* Coca Cola has an exclusive contract: your Student Union must purchase from Coke
* Your union cannot fully boycott Coca-Cola whilst it uses NUSSLs services
* NUSSL must follow NUS conference policy. Hence if students choose to hold the company to account by choosing to end contracts with Coca-Cola then Coke will no longer be sold or able to advertise in our student union.

NUSSL's Ethical and Environmental committee is currently "constructively engaging" with Coca-Cola, however nearly two years since this process was started, Coca-Cola has still not responded satisfactorily to the allegations made by the communities in India and Colombia. They recently published a document entitled 'Key Arguments for Constructive Engagement' which was both misleading and inaccurate. SINALTRAINAL requested that NUSSL respect their initiatives and the memory of the victims. The Colombia Solidarity Campaign argues for an alternative methodology to Constructive Engagement -one which engages with Social Movements from the Global South who are resisting the abuses of multinationals.

Our actions here can make a difference. We have already submitted a motion not to renew the Coke contracts. Get yourself or your delegates to NUS conference to support our motion.

Boycott Coca Cola products in your personal life and tell your friends why. Write to the corporation. Be a part of this growing international movement which is holding Coca-Cola to account.

For more information:

UK Students Against Coke web
 http://www.uksac.revolt.org/ e-mail:
 ukstudentsagainstcoke@gmail.com

Campaign to Stop Killer Coke web
 http://killercoke.org/ e-mail:
 stopkillercoke@aol.com

Colombia Solidarity Campaign web
 http://www.colombiasolidarity.org.uk/ e-mail:  Info@colombiasolidarity.org.uk


Take this leaflet, spread the word FAST and come on Wednesday.

UK Students Against Coke's response to Independent's article
We are writing in regards to the article 'Universities threaten to boycott Coca-Cola over Colombia record' (06/02/06). As you have chosen to write an article about the boycott having only talked to Coca-Cola and NUSSL, we would like to bring in a missing perspective, that of those who are suffering from Coke's actions and who are leading the International Campaign to hold Coca-Cola to account. Dear Editor,

We are writing in regards to the article 'Universities threaten to
boycott Coca-Cola over Colombia record' (06/02/06). As you have chosen to write an article about the boycott having only talked to Coca-Cola and NUSSL, we would like to bring in a missing perspective, that of those who are suffering from Coke's actions and who are leading the International Campaign to hold Coca-Cola to account.

Here we could talk about how communities in Indian villages are demanding that thebottling plants in drought areas be closed or the Turkish Coca-Cola workers who sufficient violent trade union repression. However here we will give the perspective from Colombia.

Over the past 15 years SINALTRAINAL, the trade union which represents the majority of Coca-Cola workers in Colombia, have had 8 members assassinated, 45 forced into hiding, 65 received death threats and 3 forced into exile. There is compelling evidence that right wing paramilitiries who carried out the above were working with, or for, plant managers.

For example, Coca-Cola workers allege that in 1996, the plant manager at Carepa publically said that orders had been given to the paramilitaries to carry out the task of destroying the union. On Dec. 5, 1996, paramilitaries enterered the Coke bottling plant in Carepa and killed Isidro Segundo Gil, a member of the union's executive board. An hour later they kidnapped another union leader and torched
the union's offices. The next day the paramilitaries returned,
summoned all the workers together and demanded that they sign prepared statements of resignation from the union, which those present say bore the bottler's letterhead.

Sinaltrainal has tried repeatedly to engage with Coca-Cola but the company refuses to talk to them. Hence they launched the boycott as a mechanism to hold Coca-Cola to account after the company failed to respond adequately while enjoying the benefits of cheaper, non-unionised labour.

One of SINALTRAINAL's demand is that Coca-Cola agrees to extend their human rights policy to cover their bottling plants. This would seem an obvious step for a company that claims to uphold human rights. However UK Students Against Coke believe that only strong economic action will force Coke, a corporation whose legal obligation is to its shareholders, to make real operational change.

The University of New York recently removed all Coke products from campus after a two year engagement period during which Coke manipulated and obstructed the process. Now that Coke are out, New York Univeristy have far greater leverage to force Coke to change their practices.

Sadly this has not been sufficient to force Coke to address the demands hence we are calling for the NUS to cease all economic relations with Coca-Cola until they do. We believe that if UK students vote for the boycott, Coke will be forced to negotiate a fair solution.

Bertie Russell, Univeristy of Leeds
Lara Coleman, Bristol
Dan Glass, Sussex
Tom McLachlan, Liverpool
Tom Dale, Oxford
Claire Hall, UK Students Against Coke

Colombia Solidarity Campaign

Upcoming Coverage
View and post events
Upcoming Events UK
24th October, London: 2015 London Anarchist Bookfair
2nd - 8th November: Wrexham, Wales, UK & Everywhere: Week of Action Against the North Wales Prison & the Prison Industrial Complex. Cymraeg: Wythnos o Weithredu yn Erbyn Carchar Gogledd Cymru

Ongoing UK
Every Tuesday 6pm-8pm, Yorkshire: Demo/vigil at NSA/NRO Menwith Hill US Spy Base More info: CAAB.

Every Tuesday, UK & worldwide: Counter Terror Tuesdays. Call the US Embassy nearest to you to protest Obama's Terror Tuesdays. More info here

Every day, London: Vigil for Julian Assange outside Ecuadorian Embassy

Parliament Sq Protest: see topic page
Ongoing Global
Rossport, Ireland: see topic page
Israel-Palestine: Israel Indymedia | Palestine Indymedia
Oaxaca: Chiapas Indymedia
Regions
All Regions
Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World
Other Local IMCs
Bristol/South West
Nottingham
Scotland
Social Media
You can follow @ukindymedia on indy.im and Twitter. We are working on a Twitter policy. We do not use Facebook, and advise you not to either.
Support Us
We need help paying the bills for hosting this site, please consider supporting us financially.
Other Media Projects
Schnews
Dissident Island Radio
Corporate Watch
Media Lens
VisionOnTV
Earth First! Action Update
Earth First! Action Reports
Topics
All Topics
Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista
Major Reports
NATO 2014
G8 2013
Workfare
2011 Census Resistance
Occupy Everywhere
August Riots
Dale Farm
J30 Strike
Flotilla to Gaza
Mayday 2010
Tar Sands
G20 London Summit
University Occupations for Gaza
Guantanamo
Indymedia Server Seizure
COP15 Climate Summit 2009
Carmel Agrexco
G8 Japan 2008
SHAC
Stop Sequani
Stop RWB
Climate Camp 2008
Oaxaca Uprising
Rossport Solidarity
Smash EDO
SOCPA
Past Major Reports
Encrypted Page
You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.
If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

Global IMC Network


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech