Campaign to Stop Killer Coke Update

Contents of This Newsletter

1. Multinational Monitor, "The Ten Worst Corporations of 2004," Dec. 2004
2. Farmers Revolt Against Coke’s Human Rights Abuses
3. La Jornada (Mexico), "Enfrenta Coca-Cola campaña de repudio" (Coca-Cola faces a repudiation campaign), Jan. 15, by Jim Cason, David Brooks and Roberto Gonzalez
4. Michigan Daily, "SOLE shifts focus to 'U' contracts with Coca-Cola," by Carissa Miller, Jan. 21.
5. Texas Observer, "Have a Coke and a Death Squad," Jan. 21, 2005
6. The Heights, "A Matter of Morals," By Laura Mueller, Jan. 24, 2005 (Boston College)
7. St. Louis Genesis House
8. Polaris Institute: "Inside the Bottle"
9. World Social Forum
10. Links to www.killercoke.org
11. Take Actions Against Coke!
12. Please send photos, reports of events, etc. for the Campaign website

1. Multinational Monitor, "The Ten Worst Corporations of 2004," Dec. 2004
Russell Mokhiber and Robert Weissman name The Coca-Cola Company in their list of the ten worst corporations of 2004. Three other companies included in the list are Dow Chemical, GlaxoSmithKline and Wal-Mart.

Coke Director J. Pedro Reinhard is the Chief Financial Officer and Board Member of Dow Chemical. Campaign supporters in Canada are calling for the ouster of Reinhard from the board of the Royal Bank of Canada, on which he also sits.

Coke Director and Georgetown University professor Donald McHenry serves on the board of GlaxoSmithKline.

Former Coke CEO Douglas Daft, who stepped down in June under pressure, has just been appointed to the board of Wal-Mart.

Read about the 10 worst corporations.

2. Farmers Revolt Against Coke’s Human Rights Abuses
The February 2005 issue of The Ecologist reported on a Pennsylvania "farmers revolt." "One thriving farmers' market in Pennsylvania was recently offered a $20,000 sponsorship deal by Coca-Cola. Armed with a copy of last month's Ecologist, one of the market's organizers convinced its coordinating committee to reject the company's offer."

Read entire article in The Ecologist.

3. La Jornada (Mexico), "Enfrenta Coca-Cola campaña de repudio" (Coca-Cola faces a repudiation campaign), Jan. 15, by Jim Cason, David Brooks and Roberto Gonzalez
After this article was published in La Jornada, Mexico’s second most widely-read newspaper, our site received thousands of visits in the following days. In addition, dozens of Mexicans signed on for our newsletter. Welcome.

Article in Spanish
Article translated into English

4. Michigan Daily, "SOLE shifts focus to 'U' contracts with Coca-Cola," by Carissa Miller, Jan. 21.

Read Article

5. Texas Observer, "Have a Coke and a Death Squad," Jan. 21, 2005

Read article — Second item

6. The Heights, "A Matter of Morals," By Laura Mueller, Jan. 24, 2005 (Boston College)
On Tuesday, Jan. 25, Campaign Director Ray Rogers spoke at a teach-in sponsored by a coalition on the Boston College campus. The sponsoring groups included the Black Student Forum, Campus Ministry, Ecopledge, the Global Justice Project, the Organization of Latin American Affairs and the South Asian Students Association.

The goal of the coalition is to created greater awareness of the issues in the BC community and to remove all Coke products from the Boston College campus.

According to Boston Globe articles, former Coke General Counsel, Executive VP and Secretary Deval Patrick may be running for governor of Massachusetts. Ray made it clear in his speech that “no high official of The Coca-Cola Co. is fit to run for any political office or position of public trust.” He further said that Deval Patrick “got paid a lot of money to help cover-up Coke’s crimes and misdeeds and to keep his mouth shut. Massachusetts does not need a governor devoid of ethics and morality.”

Read Article

7. St. Louis Genesis House
In November, Campaign to Stop Killer Coke Director Ray Rogers addressed Green Party activists at Genesis House, a prominent meeting place in St. Louis. After the meeting, Genesis House Director Bill Charlton took up the issue of Coke’s human rights and environmental abuses with the board and they approved the removal of Coke, which is no longer being carried. Genesis House sells food and beverages in their deli/restaurant and did carry Coke products until the board’s decision was made.

8. Polaris Institute: "Inside the Bottle"
The Campaign has been working with Canada's Polaris Institute, which has been targeting Coca-Cola. Below is their description of a new publication of the Institute:

Across North America, the bottled water industry is exploding. Bottled water sales are now the fastest growing segment of the entire beverage industry. Over the past decade, the consumption of bottled water has more than doubled in the U.S. alone, in Canada; bottled water consumption now outpaces that of coffee, tea, apple juice or milk.

Inside the Bottle provides a vivid and disturbing portrayal of how four big companies Nestlé, PepsiCo, Coca-Cola and Danone — dominate the bottled water industry today. It examines key issues of public concern about their operations, including how they:

• pay little or next to nothing for the water they take from rural springs or public water systems;
• turn 'water' into 'water' through elaborate treatment processes;
• produce a product that is not necessarily safer than, nor as regulated as, tap water;
• package it in plastic bottles made of toxic chemicals that are environmentally destructive;
• market it to an unsuspecting public as 'pure, healthy, safe drinking water.'
• sell it at prices that are hundreds and even thousands of times more costly than ordinary tap water.

This book also identifies what people can do in their communities to:
• stimulate public awareness and debate about these issues.
• challenge and resist the more exploitive practices of the big-4 bottled water companies.
• promote the rebuilding of public tap water systems and services.
• develop alternative models of bottled water production that are locally controlled and ecologically sustainable.

The book can be ordered from the Polaris Institute's website at: Read about the book

9. World Social Forum Meeting on Coke
The Campaign to Stop Killer Coke is endorsing a meeting at the World Social Forum on Sat., Jan. 29 in Porto Alegre, Brazil.

International Campaign Against Coca-Cola

World Social Forum

Saturday, January 29
3:30 - 6:30 pm (15:30 - 18:30)
Room-Quarto E203, Porto Alegre, Brazil

Presentations from India, Colombia, United States, England, Canada Mexico and others

JOIN US as we build a unique, grassroots, international campaign that links HUMAN RIGHTS, ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE AND LABOR RIGHTS

Email: info@IndiaResource.org

COCA-COLA: DESTROYING LIVES, LIVELIHOODS AND COMMUNITIES UNTHINKABLE, UNDRINKABLE!

Sponsors include the Campaign to Stop Killer Coke (US), Coca-Cola Virudha Samara Samiti (India), Colombia Solidarity Campaign (UK), Global Resistance (International), India Resource Center (India, US), Indigenous Environmental Network (Americas), International Labor Rights Fund (US), Lok Samiti (India), Plachimada Solidarity Committee (India), Polaris Institute (Canada), Red de Solidaridad International, Red de Hermandad Europea, SINALTRAINAL (Colombia) and United Steelworkers of America (US)

10. Links to www.killercoke.org
Below are a few more sites that link to the Campaign site. We're including these links so that supporters can see how far the Campaign is spreading throughout the world.

Daz Nokia Foto Fun

Two Good Reasons

Green Party Black Caucus

Colombia Indymedia

New Internationalist

11. Take Actions Against Coke!
a. Send an e-mail to Coke to protest their abuses in Colombia
Send e-mail
b. Call Coca-Cola and tell them to stop their worldwide abuses at 1-800-GET-COKE.
c. Sign a Petition protesting Coke's abuses:
Sign the Petition

12. Please send photos, reports of events, etc. for the Campaign website
Please send photos, reports of events, and if you are in a school, union or organization that has banned Coke products, please send us the resolution or description of how the decision was made. We would like the Campaign website to be up-to-date and to share the information with all supporters via our newsletter.