Saturday, May 22, 2010 by: Ethan A. Huff, staff writer
http://www.naturalnews.com/028844_Coca-Cola_Colombia.html
(NaturalNews) Coca-Cola: to many, it is simply the all-American
cola that everyone grew up drinking. Originally created in the late
1800s as a medicine, Coca-Cola eventually evolved into one of the
world's most popular soft drinks. Besides being a very unhealthy
beverage, Coca-Cola has another dirty secret for which few people
are aware; the Coca-Cola Company has been involved in a series of
kidnappings involving union leaders and organizers at its Colombia
bottling facilities. Many of those kidnapped have been severely
tortured and even murdered by company thugs.
As shocking and unbelievable as all of this sounds, there is a
trail of documented evidence against Coca-Cola for its crimes
against union officials. In fact, back in 2001, the United
Steelworkers of America and the International Labor Rights Fund,
filed a joint lawsuit on behalf of SINALTRAINAL to address the
problems in Colombia.
Javier Correa, President of the National Union of Food Industry
Workers, and William Mendoza, President of the Barrancabermeja
location in Colombia, have joined together with Ray Rogers,
Director of the Campaign to Stop Killer Coke, to bring light to the
issue and push for an end to the atrocities.
How did it all start?
Most people recognize that unions are formed to protect workers
from unfair treatment and abuse by employers. Though some do not
operate as intended, the general idea of unions is to ensure that
workers are receiving fair pay for their labor and that they are
not being grossly extorted by those for whom they work.
U.S. laws have been designed to protect American workers who form
labor unions from being threatened or silenced by the companies for
whom they work, and while they are not perfect, their intent was
for the best interests of American workers.
When workers at Coca-Cola bottling plants in Colombia began to step
up and organize unions, the Coca-Cola Company allegedly began to
contract with paramilitary security forces to deal with leaders and
organizers, something they would not legally be able to do in the
U.S. Even today, these forces are using extreme tactics to silence
anyone who would dare attempt to organize workers to form a union.
These tactics include violent detention efforts, torture and even
murder.
Internal Pentagon records that were eventually required to be made
public revealed that Colombian troops connected with Coca-Cola's
paramilitary forces were also being trained at the U.S. Army's
School of the Americas (SOA) in Fort Benning, Georgia, to torture
and murder those who conduct "union organizing and recruiting",
distribute "propaganda in favor of workers", and "sympathize with
demonstrators or strikes."
Is this an isolated incident?
This is not the first time, or the first country, in which
Coca-Cola has been responsible for severe human rights abuses. Back
in the 1970s and 1980s, the company was responsible for similar
behavior in Guatemala, where eight workers in Guatemala City were
murdered or otherwise killed for trying to keep their union
alive.
Thanks to massive international protests against Coca-Cola
following campaigns that brought the truth to light, the
multi-national giant was forced to concede and the Guatemalan union
survived. But at the time, even the government of Guatemala was
unwilling to address the issue; it took the efforts of concerned
citizens around the world to win the battle against Coca-Cola and
achieve some sort of justice.
The Coca-Cola Company has also been accused of similar human rights
abuses in other countries today, including in developing countries
like India and China where it has plants. Because the company is so
large and powerful, it exerts considerable sway on governments
worldwide that turn a blind eye to its abuses.
What is being done to stop Coca-Cola?
The Campaign to Stop Killer Coke has been working for years to
bring awareness of these atrocities to light, but unfortunately not
much has been resolved in Colombia. And the fact that certain
sensitive documents reveal that the U.S. government is playing a
role in protecting Coca-Cola adds fuel to the fire. Fortunately,
the campaign has been able to successfully initiate some positive
steps towards ending Coca-Cola's Colombian tyranny.
In 2006, the University of Michigan, New York University, and a
handful of other colleges and universities in North American and
Europe cut ties with Coca-Cola because the company would not agree
to an independent, third-party audit of its human rights, labor and
environmental abuses in both Colombia and India.
Also in 2006, as the World Cup was coming to London with Coca-Cola
as one of its primary sponsors, "War on Want" issued a report
detailing some of Coca-Cola's abuses around the world. These
included:
-Massive drilling efforts in India that exhausted local water
supplies and wells, leaving Indian farmers with no water to
irrigate their crops.
-Ecosystem contamination in El Salvador and India due to plant
waste discharge.
-The human rights abuses taking place in Colombia, as well as in
Pakistan, Turkey, Russia, Peru, Chile, Guatemala and
Nicaragua.
Demonstrators obstructed the torch relay at the 2006 winter
Olympics, exposing many to the truth about Coca-Cola, and held
protests at the 2010 winter Olympics in Vancouver as well. Since
Coca-Cola is the exclusive non-alcoholic beverage provider to the
Olympic Games through 2020, the Games are a primary target for
demonstrators.
The Coca-Cola Case, a new documentary
A new documentary called The Coca-Cola Case, which
highlights the human rights abuses of the Coca-Cola company, was
recently screened in a few Canadian theaters. Hundreds of people,
including many students, viewed the movie which, hopefully will
make its way into the U.S.
Directed by German Gutierrez and Carmen Garcia, the film tracks
labor-rights lawyers Daniel Kovalik and Terry Collingworth, as well
as Ray Rogers from the Campaign to Stop Killer Coke, in their
efforts to hold the Coca-Cola company accountable for its
atrocities. Part of the film highlights the 2001 lawsuit hinged
upon the Alien Tort Claims Act, which allows foreigners to sue
American companies in American courts for violating "the law of
nations or a treaty of the United States."
This film has the potential to ignite a firestorm of pressure
against the Coca-Cola Company and force the company to change its
ways.
The Campaign to Stop Killer Coke resources
The Campaign to Stop Killer Coke also has a variety of useful
resources on its website, including informational flyers, articles
and special reports. The group also issues a periodic newsletter to
keep interested parties aware of current events that pertain to
campaign efforts.
The Campaign's offensive tactics against Coca-Cola are having an
impact. Considering that Coca-Cola is one of the most powerful
multi-national corporations in the world, it is impressive that
numerous institutions of higher learning have already banned
Coca-Cola products, and many more are taking steps to ban them as
well. As awareness continues to increase, a point of critical mass
will be achieved for which Coca-Cola will have to acknowledge and
address the issue.
It is also important to note that the Coca-Cola Company owns
numerous
other beverage brands, including the healthy juice brand,
Odwalla.
To learn more about the Campaign to Stop Killer Coke and to get
involved in the efforts to stop the human rights abuses of the
Coca-Cola Company, please visit www.killercoke.com.
