Coke boycott makes new progress

international | worker & community struggles and protests | news report Thursday February 02, 2006 16:36 by Dan - Colombia Solidarity Network

As US students vote to support the boycott campaign, Irish activists will be meeting to discuss the nest step

It’s now over two years since Irish universities gave the Coke boycott campaign its first big success, and the international campaign in solidarity with SINALTAINAL continues to pick up momentum. American universities have recently voted to ban Coke products from their shops, and the US business press is asking questions about Coke’s crimes in Colombia. Meanwhile, Irish activists will be meeting to see where the campaign can go from here.

In July 2003, the Colombian union SINALTRAINAL launched the call for an international boycott of Coca-Cola. SINALTRAINAL members in Coke’s Colombian plants had been the targets of a brutal anti-union campaign initiated by management. 8 union members have been murdered since the early nineties, and hundreds more threatened with violence.

In October of that year, UCD became the first university in the world to vote in favour of the Coke boycott. When opponents of the boycott organised a second referendum to overturn it, they were heavily defeated. Within months, students at Trinity and NCAD had also voted to ban Coke from their Student Union shops.

The student referendums attracted coverage in the national media, with one of Coke’s most senior Latin American representatives debating with a member of the solidarity campaign on the Pat Kenny radio show. Hundreds of students attended public meetings addressed by SINALTRAINAL leaders.

Demonstrating a bizarre sense of humour, somebody in the UCD administration arranged a ceremony to give Coke’s former CEO Donald Keogh an honorary degree on the first anniversary of the boycott referendum in 2004. It was cancelled after protests.

Since then, trade unions including the TUI and INTO have voted to support the boycott, as has USI. British unions have also given their support to the campaign, including UNISON, the biggest union in the UK.

The campaign has also made important progress in the United States. Students at New York University and the University of Michigan have recently voted to support the boycott. The negative publicity has been a major source of embarrassment to Coke, and has attracted attention in the US business press.

New York City’s chief accountant William Thompson, who is responsible for investing its pension funds, has recently called for an independent inquiry into the allegations against Coke, warning that "by failing to address this issue, Coca-Cola has fostered a negative image of itself and is now the subject of a boycott campaign, which poses a financial risk for its investors”.

There have even been daily protests in Italy wherever the Olympic flame has been carried. Coca-Cola is one of the major sponsors of the Olympics.

Coke has attempted to deflect criticism by setting up a $10m charity fund for victims of political violence in Colombia. If the charges brought against them by the boycott campaign had been totally groundless, they would not have felt any need to do this. But they have still refused to take responsibility for the crimes committed against their own workers, and the boycott will continue until they do.

Next weekend, the Irish boycott campaign will be meeting in Dublin to discuss the way ahead.

Where: Teachers Club, 36 Parnell Square, Dublin
When: Saturday February 11th 2pm
Who: everyone who is interested in the boycott of Coke

The meeting will cover:
- The history of the campaign in Ireland
- Update on Coke in Colombia
- The growth of the international boycott coke movement

The meeting will then open up to a general discussion of how to
progress the campaign in Ireland

For further information ring/ text 086 286 6631