Campaign to Stop Killer Coke Update

Updates, Articles, Web sites: February 10, 2005 Newsletter

Contents of This Newsletter

1. Boston Globe, "Labor leaders critical of Patrick"
2. Brattleboro Reformer, "Letter from Brazil… Globalization made simple: Things go better without Coke"
3. Michigan Daily Articles
• Michigan Daily, "Students create anti-Coke coalition,” Feb. 3
• Michigan Daily, "Killer Coke Coalition rallies at 'U',” Feb. 10
4. The Emory Wheel, "NYU to vote on banning Coca-Cola over alleged human rights abuses”
5. Campus Campaigns Against Killer Coke
• Daily Iowan (University of Iowa), "The real mission of Students Against Sweatshops,"
• Michigan State University's Amnesty's Human Rights Action Network
• Queens University (Canada) Against Killer Coke (QUAKC)
6. Press release from: 'Make TIAA-CREF Ethical' Coalition
7. J20-Stop Killer Coke (Washington, DC)
8. Concrete Online, "Time Is Right For Coke Boycott," University of East Anglia, UK
9. BBC on Coke/India Face the Facts
10. Make a Call to Promote Recycling (New York State)
11. Schwarzenegger vs. Coke: Banning Junk Food
12. Alternative beverages
13. Additional links to www.killercoke.org
14. Take Action Against Coke!
15. Please send photos, reports of events, etc.

1. Boston Globe, "Labor leaders critical of Patrick" by Frank Phillips, Feb. 8, 2005
Read Article

NOTE:
This article discusses Deval Patrick's run for governor of Massachusetts. Patrick is the former secretary, vice president and general counsel of The Coca-Cola Co. Although this Boston Globe article doesn't mention it, the Campaign has been given credit for having created the pressure leading to Patrick's resignation. And this article draws a link between the Campaign's action at the Equal Justice Works event and the resignation of Coke CEO Douglas Daft: "Patrick's resignation early last year shook Coca-Cola's board of directors and precipitated the pending departure of CEO Douglas N. Daft, who had called off the independent investigation in Colombia." Below is our report and link to our leaflet:

"On Oct. 23, 2003, the organization Equal Justice Works honored Deval Patrick, General Counsel of Coca-Cola, for his role as an "advocate for civil rights, equality, and fairness in the workplace." Members of the Campaign to Stop Killer Coke protested the decision to give Mr. Patrick the "Scales of Justice" Award and handed out leaflets about Coca-Cola's outrageous record of human rights violations in Colombia. Several attendees at the awards ceremony in Washington expressed their own unease and anger over the organization's choice of an honoree.

"According to a statement by Terry Collingsworth, Executive Director of the International Labor Rights Fund, Patrick's activities in his current position at Coca-Cola "nullify any basis" for the award. The campaign to expose Coke's complicity is founded on the assumption that public relations gimmickry is no substitute for corporate accountability, nor should an apologist for corporate crimes be honored by any organization that claims to promote human rights.
Read Leaflet

2. Brattleboro Reformer, "Letter from Brazil… Globalization made simple: Things go better without Coke" by By John Nirenberg, Feb. 5-6, 2005 (Report from the World Social Forum)
Read Article

3. Michigan Daily Articles
•Michigan Daily, "Students create anti-Coke coalition," by Talia Selitsky, Feb. 3, 2005
Read Article

•Michigan Daily, “Killer Coke Coalition rallies at 'U'," by Talia Selitsky, Feb. 10, 2005
Read Article

4. The Emory Wheel (Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia), "NYU to vote on banning Coca-Cola over alleged human rights abuses," by Seth Goldstein Feb. 4, 2005
Read Article

5. Campus Campaigns Against Killer Coke
• a. Daily Iowan (University of Iowa), "The real mission of Students Against Sweatshops," Letter from Grad student Alan Schultz, Feb. 1, 2005
Read Letter
UI Students Against Sweatshops Web site

• b-Michigan State University’s Amnesty’s Human Rights Action Network
MSU’s Amnesty’s Human Right Action Network Web site

• c- Queens University (Canada) Against Killer Coke (QUAKC)
QUAKC’s Web site

6. Press release from: 'Make TIAA-CREF Ethical' Coalition
Read the Press Release

7. J20-Stop Killer Coke (Washington, DC)
DC Chapter's profile
Chapter’s 1st Appearance

8. Concrete Online, “Time Is Right For Coke Boycott,” University of East Anglia, UK
Read Article

9. BBC on Coke/India Face the Facts
BBC Radio 4, "Face the Facts," Coca-Cola/India Update," John Waite, Feb. 1, 2004 (We just received an audio tape of this BBC piece from a friend. We are trying to find a digital version.
Read Transcript of Radio Show

10. In New York State, Make a Call to Promote Recycling:
If you live in New York, please make a call on behalf of the The Bigger Better Bottle Bill. At the moment, lobbyists on behalf of Coca-Cola and other beverage companies are waging an all-out battle to defeat an effort to improve New York's bottle deposit law -- the most effective means of recycling beverage containers. See http://www.newyork.sierraclub.org/tracker/a2517.html or send us an e-mail at stopkillercoke@aol.com for more information.

11. Schwarzenegger vs. Coke: Banning Junk Food
Editorial from the San Francisco Chronicle, Jan. 18, 2005

“Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the California Legislature should be able to agree on at least one thing: getting rid of junk food in the schools….

“’If you want to get rid of junk food, just pass a law that says you are not going to have any junk food in the schools…because it is destroying our kids,’ he said. Such a law should tell schools ‘you are going to have to sell vegetables and fresh milk and water, no more Coca-Cola.…

“He said attempts to eliminate these products would elicit protests from school officials who ‘will scream “We’re getting money from Coca-Cola for our sports programs.”’ They should be told, he said, ‘find the money somewhere else.’”

12. Alternative beverages: We are collecting alternatives to Coca-Cola and posting them to our website at www.killercoke.org. Some are sent to us by Campaign supporters. Keep them coming in and we’ll post them
• a-Mexican beverage company—Pascual Cooperative
• b-British Soft Drink Assn. (UK)
• c-Faygo Beverages (Detroit, Michigan, USA)
• d-Queens University Against Killer Cola’s Alternatives in Canada

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

Skambidt

canalsolidario.org

Alternatives Economiques

Press Action

Agencia Virajovem de Noticias

Boykot Coca-Cola Initiativet

JAE Project

14. Take Actions Against Coke!
a. Send an e-mail to Coke to protest their abuses in Colombia
Send an 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:
Since we announced the petition in our newsletter, over 100 signatures were added from all over the world.
Sign the Petition

15. 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.

In addition, we would still appreciate an e-mail to stopkillercoke@aol.com with your name and city-state/province-country for our database so that we can contact you when there are events in your area.