Killer Coke Update | June 3, 2004

1. **IMPORTANT NOTICE**
&CEO Steven J. Heyer in New York City on Monday, June 7

The UJA-Federation will be presenting the Global Leadership Award to Steven J. Heyer, the President and COO of The Coca-Cola Co. on Monday, June 7th at the Grand Hyatt New York, Park Ave. at Grand Central Station. If you would like to join us to hand out Campaign literature, meet us at 5:30 pm at 42nd Street and Park Ave.

2. "'Killer Coke' Campaign Targets UJA Honoree on Colombia Rights," Forward

An article about the Campaign and the literature distribution at the UJA-Federation dinner appeared today in the Forward, the leading national Jewish weekly newspaper founded in 1897. The article was entitled, "'Killer Coke' Campaign Targets UJA Honoree on Colombia Rights," by Steven I. Weiss. We've already posted the article at on our site at KillerCoke.org.

3. University of California

The University of California Student Association (UCSA), the umbrella organization for all the student governments of the entire UC system, recently passed a resolution in solidarity with SINALTRAINAL and our campaign. See the resolution:
Read the resolution

4. Actions at UCSB (UC Santa Barbara)

"On May 20th, University of California, Santa Barbara, had an anti-Coke rally, and a die-in where 30 people 'died' in a public passing place next to a prop we made (consisting of a few hundred strung Coke cans, with two dead bodies hanging from a noose). We also had a silent march across campus where everyone wore black with anti-Coke bands around their mouths. While we walked someone beat a drum and read off the names of the murdered union leaders. A Coke representative strangely showed up and took pictures, but when confronted he ran away.

"In solidarity,
"Ashleigh"

5. Photos from Salem State College, Massachusetts

We received photos from Salem State College in Massachusetts. The college is involved in the Campaign and recently had a protest against Coca-Cola. The photos can be seen in our Protest Pics section at: https://www.killercoke.org/protests.php

Please send any photos you have of anti-Coke protests and activities. Send any photos that you may take this weekend at the G8 protest.

6. Alternatives to Coke

Many supporters have asked about alternatives to Coke beverages. A website from Coop America, The Responsible Shopper, evaluates the behavior of many of the largest corporations. The site shows the criticism and praise that each corporate has received. You can check on Coca-Cola, Pepsico and Cadbury Schweppes. Cadbury Schweppes seems to have the best record of the three and Coke clearly has the worst.

Local beverage companies are a good alternative, such as Faygo in the Mid-west. If you are aware of local beverage companies, please e-mail their names to us and we will post it in our newsletter.

7. G8 Protest, Georgia: CSKC Director Ray Rogers will speak

Below is a press release announcing that our Campaign Director Ray Rogers will be speaking at the G8 teach-in and the Coke protest on June 5 in Atlanta, Georgia, the city in which The Coca-Cola Co. is headquartered. If anyone expects to be participating in the G8 protests, please contact us at (212) 979-8320 or at info@KillerCoke.org.

For Immediate Release

CONTACT:
Frank Bove
Atlanta G8 Organizing Committee
770-934-5613
404-285-3822 (cell)
g8teachin@yahoo.com

Ray Rogers of Corporate Campaign, Inc. to speak
at the G8 teach-in and the Coke protest on June 5 in Atlanta

ATLANTA - Ray Rogers, director of the Campaign to Stop KillerCoke, will lead a protest against "Killer Coke" at Coca-Cola's World of Coke Pavilion in downtown Atlanta on Saturday, June 5, 2004 at 1 pm. The march on the World of Coke Pavilion is part of an all-day teach-in on "The G8 and Corporate Domination" being held from 9:30 am to 5 pm at the Urban Life Auditorium at Georgia State University. Rogers, a long-time labor activist, will also be a panel speaker at the teach-in.

The Campaign to Stop Killer Coke was launched a year ago by Corporate Campaign, Inc. and other labor and advocacy organizations to protest Coca-Cola's complicity in massive human rights violations at its bottling plants in Colombia, South America. Paramilitary forces, often in collaboration with Coke's managers, have committed at least 179 major human rights violations of Coca-Cola's workers, including eight murders. The Campaign to Stop Killer Coke is demanding that the Coca-Cola Company live up to its "code of business conduct" by investigating and putting a stop to this systematic intimidation, kidnapping, torture, and murder of union activists and their families.

At the Coca-Cola shareholders meeting on April 21, 2004, Rogers confronted Coca-Cola Chairman and CEO Douglas Daft, quoting from a lawsuit against the company filed on behalf of the union representing Coke's Colombian employees: "The lawsuit charges that Coca-Cola bottlers in Colombia contracted with, or otherwise directed, paramilitary security forces that utilize extreme violence and murdered, tortured, unlawfully detained or otherwise silenced trade union leaders." Rogers was then forcibly attacked and removed from the shareholders' meeting by Coke security. Subsequently, Rogers charged that the Coca-Cola Company, not he, was involved in disorderly conduct: "Certainly the shareholders did not have to be protected from me; but society has to be protected from companies like Coca-Cola."

Campaigns to terminate major contracts with Coca-Cola are ongoing at campuses across the country. The Campaign to Stop Killer Coke is also focusing on SunTrust Banks which shares numerous board members with Coke, owns 5% of its stock, and serves as a major source of credit for the company. Rogers' visit to Atlanta will help kick off an aggressive boycott and disinvestment campaign against SunTrust.

In addition, the campaign is highlighting other issues including the company's overexploitation and pollution of water sources in India and elsewhere, its unfair trade practices in Central America and other countries, failure to live up to promises to provide access to HIV/AIDS treatment for Coca-Cola workers in Africa, the company's longstanding opposition to bottle bills in the U.S., aggressive marketing of nutritionally worthless and damaging products to children that help fuel the childhood obesity and diabetes epidemics, Coke's long history of racial discrimination, and other matters. These issues relate to the broader themes of the G8, globalization and corporate domination that will be discussed at the June 5 teach-in.

The Atlanta G8 Organizing Committee is sponsoring the teach-in and the demonstration at the World of Coke Pavilion on June 5. "The teach-in will provide an opportunity for residents of Atlanta to learn more about the G8 before going to the Georgia Coast to protest the G8 summit", said Frank Bove, an organizer with the Committee. The teach-in at the Urban Life Auditorium (140 Decatur Street at the corner of Piedmont and Decatur) is free of charge. Registration is at 9:30 am and the panel discussion will be held from 10 am to 12:30 pm. The demonstration at the World of Coke Pavilion will be held from 1 pm to 2 pm. The teach-in will resume at 2:15 pm at the Urban Life Auditorium with workshops on the environment, militarism and war, human rights, worker rights, sweatshops, the debt crisis, and the impact of G8 policies on the HIV/AIDS crisis in Africa. For more information, contact g8teachin@yahoo.com or call Frank at 770-934-5613.

For information on all G8 events, go to the Atlanta Independent Media website. For more information about the Campaign to Stop Killer Coke, see the website. For more information about the lawsuit against Coca-Cola filed by the International Labor Rights Fund and United Steelworkers of America, see www.laborrights.org.

Press Contacts
Frank Bove
Atlanta G8 Organizing Committee
770-934-5613 404-285-3822 (cell)
g8teachin@yahoo.com