Protesters put the drain on Coca-Cola

by: Conner Jay

Bristol: Early morning on 4 March an alliance of anti-capitalist activists and human rights campaigners, formed a successful blockade of Coca-Cola’s distribution centre and full service vending depot in Longwell Green, Bristol.

The protest has prevented lorries from leaving the depot and disrupted the shipments intended to come into the site, causing believed shortages throughout the region. The protesters were taking direct action against the multinational company to highlight Coca-Cola’s abuses of human rights, labour rights and the environment, especially in South America and India.

Arriving at 4.30am, eight people formed a circle on the ground outside the gates of the distribution centre, locking themselves together with their arms contained in metal pipes (lock-ons). Each of the eight also wore a large label with the name of the eight South American trade unionists that have been assassinated for resisting the casualisation of the workforce and their campaigning for decent working conditions within the Coca-Cola industry. A protest organiser explained that the eight linked activists represented the eight murders Coca-Cola has been implicated in.

Anti-Coca-Cola activist claim that there is compelling evidence that paramilitary violence against the workers in Columbia was carried out with the knowledge, and possibly under the direction, of the Coca-Cola managers there. This is supported by the finding of the New York City Fact-Finding Delegation on Coca-Cola in Columbia in January 2004, which claims that the company bears responsibility for the human rights crisis affecting its workforce.

This morning's action also drew attention to what the group said were Coca-Cola’s crimes in other parts of the world - such as India where the company is accused of causing severe water shortages in communities across the country, polluting groundwater and soil around its bottling facilities, distributing its toxic waste as fertilizer to farmers, and selling drinks with levels of pesticide, including DDT, up to 30 times higher then EU standards. To date, there have been reports of a total of 179 major human rights violations of Coca-Cola’s workers, including nine murders.

Related websites

http://www.killercoke.org
http://sinaltrainal.org
http://www.cokewatch.org
http://www.indiaresource.org