Annual CounterPunch Honor Roll: Nine Great Groups That Deserve Your Money
CounterPunch | November 16 — December 15, 2003
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These are turbulent, testing times. The Bush war machine rolls on. The Israeli occupation grinds forward with targeted assassinations, the demolition of Palestinian homes and the erection of Sharon's apartheid wall. On the homefront, John Ashcroft and his prosecutorial minions wage war on the Bill of Rights, while Gale Norton and her flacks at the Interior Department have jettisoned federal environmental laws in order to open the public estate to plunder by the big oil and timber companies. With Clinton-era elimination of many social welfare programs, the Bush recession has taken a ghastly toll on working class and poor Americans.
Yet, there is a growing international resistance to these incursions. Each year CounterPunch brings you a list of worthy and needy groups that are putting up a good fight against long odds, never losing their optimism that change can be wrought, from the ground up. These groups don't act like subsidiaries of the Democratic Party and aren't neutered by big foundations. So, of course, they mostly operate on a shoestring and greatly value each contribution. Give them what you can. We don't think you'll be disappointed in the results. All are federally tax exempt, non-profit charitable organizations.
Campaign To Stop Killer Coke
P.O. Box 1002, Cooper Station
New York, NY 10276-1002
The realization that U.S.-based multinational corporations like Coca-Cola can get away with murder prompted Corporate Campaign, Inc.(CCI), working closely with the International Labor Rights Fund (lLRF), to organize the worldwide Campaign to Stop Killer Coke. In July 2001, the ILRF co-sponsored a lawsuit on behalf of the Colombian union SINALTRAINAL and its members, charging that Coca-Cola bottlers "contracted with or otherwise directed paramilitary security forces that utilized extreme violence and murdered, tortured, unlawfully detained or otherwise silenced trade union leaders." While the litigation proceeds, the campaign is putting pressure on top policymakers and major shareholders of Coca-Cola, seeking to force the company to protect its workers, respect their rights, and provide compensation to the victims and survivors.
Targets of the campaign include billionaire investment guru Warren Buffett (Coca- Cola's largest stockholder); internet mogul Barry Diller, and Suntrust Banks. The chief architect and director of the campaign is CCI founder and veteran organizer Ray Rogers who pioneered "corporate campaign tactics" of confronting corporations with a divide- and-conquer strategy by pressuring board members and a corporation's financial underpinnings. In 1995 the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and conservative members of Congress sought unsuccessfully to outlaw Rogers' "corporate campaign tactics." Rogers and CCI have worked with labor unions and a variety of nonprofits, most notably the Pacifica Campaign to wrest control from the corporate interests that preyed upon the Pacifica Radio Network. For the Campaign to Stop Killer Coke, Rogers has recruited hundreds of professionals and union, student, and peace activists to volunteer, and his firm CCI has donated thousands of hours and resources to building the campaign. Make out your donations to "Campaign to Stop Killer Coke/ILRF."
FAIR USE NOTICE. This document contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. The Campaign to Stop Killer Coke is making this article available in our efforts to advance the understanding of corporate accountability, human rights, labor rights, social and environmental justice issues. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
