Global Village supports boycott coke campaign

Issued : Friday 10 March, 2006

A meeting of Derwent District Woodcraft agreed in January to request that Global Village 2006 Steering Committee declare that Coca-Cola products are not welcome at the GV2006 site.

This would include two elements: GV2006 organisers would not supply any Coca-Cola products to villages or through its various cafes and other outlets, and all attending the camp would be notified why this decision has been taken and *asked* not to bring their own Coke products to the camp.

Why Boycott Coca Cola

The International Boycott of Coca Cola started on the 22 July 2003. It was called by SINALTRAINAL (Colombian Food and Drinks Workers' Union). It is supported by the World Social Forum, and by the CUT and the CGTD (principle trade union federations in Colombia), and numerous social organisations around the world.

Coca Cola stand accused of complicity in the assassination of 8 Sinaltrainal trade union leaders in Colombia since 1990. Many other leaders have been imprisoned, tortured, forcibly displaced and exiled. Of course, Coca Cola deny any responsibility for the murders, pointing out that 100s of union leaders are killed every year in Colombia. However, many of Sinaltrainal's victims were killed inside Coca Cola plants while negotiating collective agreements. Coca Cola management were reported in the national press as meeting and contracting members of the AUC death squads to "sort out their labour problems".

So why the boycott? Sinaltrainal have exhausted all the legal avenues in Colombia, where their applications to the courts have been manipulated and rejected. However, in the USA, in a court case brought in solidarity with Sinaltrainal by the United Steel Workers Union, a judge has ruled that there is enough evidence for a case to continue against Coca Cola's Colombian subsidiaries. However, the multinational refuses to cooperate with the union, and the violent repression continues. Coca Cola are also suing the union for libel. The boycott and international campaign are powerful but dangerous weapons, the workers in Colombia know that they will bear the brunt of the repression for highlighting these facts. They deserve your solidarity.

"We ask Coca Cola to stop killing, and you to stop drinking Coke"
Carlos Julia, Sinaltrainal

SINALTRAINAL leaders murdered by death-squads in cahoots with Coca-Cola's Colombian managers:

Avelino Achicano Erazo, 1990, Pasto;

Jose Eleasar Manco David, 1994, Carepa;

Luis Enrique Giraldo Arango, 1994, Carepa;

Luis Enrique Gomez Granado, 1995, Carepa;

Isidro Segundo Gil Gil, 1996, Carepa;

Guillermo Gomez Maigul, 1998, Pasto;

Oscar Dario Soto Polo, 2001, Monteria;

Adolfo de Jesus Munera Lopez, 2002, Baranquilla.