Killer Coke exposed at GAA Aussie Rules
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worker & community struggles and protests |
news report 
Sunday November 05, 2006 18:27
by Boycott Killer Coke campaign - Colombia Solidarity
A large number of 30 - 40 activists leafletted todays GAA compromise rules match in Croke Park that was sponsored by Coca Cola. Thousands of leaflets were distributed to GAA fans exposing the human rights abuses of Coke in Colombia and India.
During the match a boycott Killer Coke banner was dropped from the Hogan stand and remained in place for a full quater until security intervened. Special thanks to the Gardai who unwittingly handed the campaign two free tickets!
Comments (19 of 19)
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Given that over 82,000 attended, could the boycott be claimed to have benn a success?
It was a very successful action - and given that the best part of 82,000 people saw the boycott coca cola banner I think it was a great success. Also on another note having more than 30 people leafletting for an action like this is certainly the largest amount we've had involved to date in leafletting for this campaign so it shows that it is growing and spreading. In particular thanks are due to the OSF and LY activists who turned up in large numbers to support this.
I was there and I didn't see anyone handing out leaflets or the banner.
What a redundant comment to make.
The only thing redundant was the protest. Completely ineffective in that it did not persuade one single person not to go to the game. And if I didn't see any leaflets or the banner persumably tens of thousands of others did not either.
Where is it stated that the purpose of the action was to persuade people not to go into the game?
Did the banner read "Boycott International Rules Matches" or "Boycott Coke"?
Is your position in any way logical? ("Since I didn't see it, loads of people didn't see it.")
If you payed any attention to the initial comments and looked at the pictures - you would realise that members of the campaign were at the game - how on earth would a boycott coca cola banner be unfurled in side the grounds and photographed - if the campaign was boycotting the match?
And how on earth could you interpret boycott coca cola (a soft drink) to mean boycott the GAA? Many of the members Colombia Solidarity are proud GAA fans and supporters and that's why we don't want our organisation to be associated with human rights abuses in Colombia through tainted Coke sponsorship.
Well done to all involved. Sorry I couldn't be there. Solidarity
"Killer Coke" me arse, suit you Trinity heads to boycot the real "Killer Coke" Cocaine which is on the increase in and around TCD.
Instead of advising trinity students to boycott cocaine you should clean up your own house and try getting your PD/FF/IBEC/Lilies buddies to boycott cocaine - I accept it is hopeless to urge the likes of you to discourage the murder of Colombian trade unionists by joining in the killer coke boycott.
The real "Killer Coke" is snorted not drank by millions of consumers, I would sooner see Coca Cola sponsor the Aussie Rules rather that Fosters Aussie brew
Alcohol and drug abuse are the real killers in modern Irish society.
Workers in South America have been victimised for their trade union membership but these are isolated incidents and Coca Cola is a major employer in South America.
I would sooner see the patrons of Croke Park drink rather than snort the real "Killer Coke"
Great action.
Good idea for leafletters to where footy shirts.
Looks like "observer" didn't have much powers of observation.
Looks like the game didn't have much to do with "compromise" or "rules".
Your campaign added a touch of human beauty to an ugly day.
Coke- run by transnational capitalists
..and coke run by insurgent capitalists. ..needs to be addressed by the movement.
They have a lot of similarities, don't mind using the odd death squad here and there, the U.S. military has a history of moving thm both around. A history of links with th Nazis (see Fanta!)
Check out David Rovics anti-Coke song.
Sorry couldn't make it, working night shifts etc.
Thanx again
Well done on an impressive action.
Click the links below to read about the Venezuelan Coca-Cola workers who shut down operations in response to Coca-Cola refusing to pay them up to US$2.3 million they say they are owed in pension payments.
According to BBC News, Nixon Lopez (Venezuelan workers’ leaders) said, “This blockade is just the prelude to Coca-Cola being nationalised and turned over to the Venezuelan state”.
http://venezuelanalysis.com/news.php?newsno=2114
http://www.greenleft.org.au/2006/689/35806
Perhaps Boycott Killer Coke could send a message of solidarity to the striking workers?
Aidan kennedy is obviously winding up. "Coca-cola" employ a large number of people in South America" and shooting a few dead who join the union is neither here nor there. We should be thankful for the jobs. This cannot be serious, unless Ireland has lost all sense of humanity since the British left in 1922.
I wrote to the GAA about this, put it on the Hogan Stand site, and asked people up here in the North not to buy the jersies. It was little enough so I am overjoyed that such a great protest took place outside the match. I particularly like the banner inside the ground. As we sell out to corporate giants, it is nice to see us strike back.
I met one of the Columbian Trade Unionists in Belfast, and what Coca-Cola are doing in S.America is a war crime. Perhaps George Bush will hang the chief executive of the company.
Presume you drink Pepsi ha ha, The murders in South America are regretable and should not be excused but it may have been the fact that some of the Union members engaged in Marxist Leninst politics which sought to overthrow their state which was the cause of their murder rather than their individual union membership.
South America as you know has a history of one party undemocratic left wing and right wing Governments and both sides operate death squads to murder their opponents.
Be thankful that you live in a democratic country where all shades of opinion are respected even the tripe which can be printed here sometimes.
The real "Killer Coke" in modern Ireland is Cocaine and not Coca Cola, and I think your concern could be put to better use combatting the twin evil of alcohol and drug abuse rather than abuse a soft drink.
Thanks for clearing that up, Aidan. We know now that you approve of the murder of trade unionists in Coke plants in Colombia. There’s no other conclusion we can draw from your outrageous claim that the union members involved were killed because they were “engaged in Marxist Leninist politics which sought to overthrow their state”. This is the same claim used by far-right terrorists in Colombia every time they murder trade unionists: they always label them “guerrillas” or “subversives” to justify their foul killings.
I suppose all the 2100 trade unionists killed in Colombia since 1992 were involved in subversive activities, Aidan. And spare us the lecture about South American politics – you clearly know nothing whatsoever about the subject and would be better off keeping your ignorant tripe to yourself.
Clearly, since you have no problem with trade unionists being killed as long as you can tell yourself that they were all dirty commies, there’s no reason for you to boycott Coke. People who believe in human rights and democracy, unlike you, will take a different view of the matter.
http://www.soundclick.com/pro/view/01/default.cfm?bandi...=song
Congrats to you all on your sucessful action, all the way from Americay.
I had to respond to someone who commented that Coke was a major employer of South Africa. If you were to know your history, you would know that Nelson Mandella and the ANC had asked Coke (and Shell Oil ironically) to not participate in the Apartheid country of that time. Coke and Shell both refused. I have not used Coke or Shell Oil since that time.
The issue of their using Death Squads in Bagota Columbia is well known to any true Trade Union activist. A rare commodity unfortunately, here in the US.
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