Killer Coke Update | November 16, 2010
Contents of the Newsletter
- Stop Killer Coke Supports Shut Down SOA Activities
- Campaign Opposes Coke Director Cathie Black's Appointment for Chancellor of NYC School System
- Be Part of an International Day of Action Broadcast Worldwide Via www.justin.tv & Mirrored on LaborTech 2010
Stop Killer Coke Supports Shut Down SOA Activities
Friday, November 19 to Sunday, November 21
The Campaign to Stop Killer Coke will be participating in Shut Down the School of the Americas/School of the Assassins (SOA) events in Columbus, Georgia, during the weekend of November 19 to 21. Here is the 11" x 14" poster/flyer we will be distributing detailing the relationship between the SOA and the kidnapping, torture and murders of union leaders in the Coke bottling plants in Colombia and other abuses in Latin America. If attending, please look for our table and, if possible, help us distribute 10,000 of this poster/flyer:
Download the 11x14 Printable Flyer
Saturday, November 20, 2010; 5 pm
Film: "The Coca-Cola Case" and speakers
Columbus Convention Center Ballroom
Columbus, Georgia
Seating capacity is about 3,000
LET'S PACK THE PLACE!
Looking for volunteers during the Shut Down SOA activities to help organize a full-house. If you can help us distribute thousands of leaflets and posters, contact us at info@KillerCoke.org .
Read about the SOA Watch at www.soaw.org
Campaign Opposes Coke Director Cathie Black's Appointment for Chancellor of NYC School System
What makes Cathleen P. Black qualified to become the next Chancellor of the NYC Public Schools? According to The New York Times: "...Ms. Black has NO educational background, in keeping with Mr. Bloomberg's preference for executives from the business world." That in itself should make Ms. Black unqualified to run the largest public school system in the U.S.
But there's more. One of Ms. Black's jobs in the business world has been serving as a director and top policymaker of The Coca-Cola Co. since 1993, a company that has caused pain and heartbreak to millions of children worldwide. In that position, she has raked in millions of dollars in compensation.
Coke's plan has been to make all schools captive markets addicting young people to Coca-Cola's sugar-laden soft drinks, helping to fuel the obesity and diabetes epidemics in our country and throughout the world. "We know high school students will continue to drink Coca-Cola products for 50-60 years...we're trying to gain their business for the future," said a Coca-Cola Youth Market Representative.
Furthermore, The Coca-Cola Co., with Ms. Black as a top policymaker, has been complicit in labor, human rights and environmental abuses of workers and their families throughout the world. Ms. Black has voted time and time again at Coke's annual meetings against solving these problems.
She has voted against authorizing an independent investigation of the Company's crimes in Colombia — crimes such as the intimidation, kidnapping, torture and murder of union leaders in Coca-Cola's bottling plants. She voted against a resolution brought by the office of New York City's former Comptroller William Thompson calling for an independent delegation of inquiry to investigate human rights abuse allegations by its bottlers in Colombia.
And it gets worse — there is currently a lawsuit against Coke and its operations in Guatemala charging complicity in murder, attempted murder and rape as intimidation tactics against union leaders there.
Ms. Black also voted against resolutions which would put Coke on record in opposition to human rights abuses in China, a country in which Coke is rapidly expanding its business through the promotion of mass consumption of soft drinks to children as they continue to do in Mexico and elsewhere. There has also been reports that the Company uses prison labor in its operations (BBC) and workers have been exploited and beaten.
Coca-Cola continues to benefit from hazardous child labor in sugar cane fields in El Salvador, first documented by Human Rights Watch in 2004 and later highlighted in film footage taken in 2007 for a documentary that aired on prime time national television in Great Britain.
Over the past years, with Ms. Black in attendance, resolutions have been brought to the Coke shareholders meeting regarding environmental degradation and destroying the water sources of entire communities needed for drinking, irrigation and sanitation - and all resolutions brought by shareholders have been voted down unanimously by Ms. Black and the rest of Coke's board of directors. In India, El Salvador and Mexico, Coke has overexploited and polluted water sources forcing mothers and children to walk many miles a day to obtain decent drinking water.
Finally, The Coca-Cola Co. has been forced to settle two racial discrimination lawsuits in the past ten years brought by employees and job seekers.
Why has Ms. Black been silent on these issues?
It has been reported that Ms. Black will resign from Coke's board to avoid what will appear to be a conflict of interest. However, her history with The Coca-Cola Co. shows that her immoral focus on the bottom line at the expense of the lives of children and their families makes her unqualified for this position. She does not represent the ideals and values of someone that children should be looking to for guidance and serving as a model.
Ms. Black should not be appointed Chancellor of the NYC public school system. She is not a qualified educator and her history of turning a blind eye to labor, human rights, health and environmental abuses should not be rewarded.
Here is a flyer we produced some years ago aimed at Black's complicity in the labor and human rights abuses of SINALTRAINAL union leaders in Colombia:
Download the Campaign's flyer regarding Coca-Cola Co Director Cathie Blank-Side 1
Download the Campaign's flyer regarding Coca-Cola Co Director Cathie Blank-Side 2
For more information and documentation, go to KillerCoke.org.
"Activists Protest Cathie Black Becoming Next Schools Chancellor [in New York City]" By NY1 News, November 14, 2010
Read Article
"Parents, educators and civil rights advocates held a demonstration on the steps of Manhattan's Tweed Courthouse on Sunday against Cathie Black becoming the mayor's replacement for schools chancellor, saying that the publishing executive lacks proper experience in the educational field."
"Big School Problems Await New Chancellor" By Sharon Otterman, The New York Times, November 11, 2010
Read Article
" 'I have no illusion about this being an easy next three years — quite the opposite,' said Ms. Black, a publishing executive without political or education leadership experience. 'But what I ask for is your patience, as I get up to speed on the issues facing K-12 education.' "
"Schools Chancellor Pick to Quit Corporate Boards" By Sharon Otterman and Michael Barbaro, The New York Times, November 12, 2010
Read Article
"Ms. Black, who is the chairwoman of the compensation committee and a member of the public issues and diversity review committee of Coca-Cola, attended 10 meetings in 2009, for which she earned $195,000 in cash and stock. She has been a director there since 1993."
"Mayor Takes Idea of Education Outsider to New Level" By Elissa Gootman and Jennifer Medina, The New York Times, November 10, 2010
Read Article
"Ms. Black has freely acknowledged her 'limited exposure' to unions. She and her children are products of private schools, while Mr. Klein attended New York public schools. She sits on a charter school advisory board, but joined only a few months ago and so has yet to attend a meeting."
Be part of an International Day of Action broadcast worldwide via www.justin.tv at and mirrored on LaborTech 2010
International Day of Action to Stop Killer Coke's Labor & Human Rights Abuses, Saturday, December 11, 2010
On the International Day of Action, there will be 24 hours of programming on the "Stop Killer Coke" streaming channel. The programming will include interviews, protests, music and discussion throughout the world and it will be broadcast at the LaborTech 2010 conference being held at the University of San Francisco. The programming will be integrated with the conference and the channel will be embedded in other channels throughout the world.
Actions will take place around the world in solidarity with Coke workers and their families who have been systematically intimidated, kidnapped, tortured and murdered in many countries including Colombia and Guatemala (see "Coke's Crimes By Country" at KillerCoke.org).
As part of LaborTech.net, actions around the world will also be broadcast live on Labortech.net and on other portals. If you are going to have an event in solidarity with Coke workers on December 11, 2010 or want to upload an event you have had please contact LaborTech.net for information on how to do this.
We will have a schedule of streamed events and it will be broadcast on www.justin.tv at and mirrored on LaborTech.net and other sites around the world. Contact info@brightpathvideo.com or info@labortech.net for further info on how to stream your event on this international day of action.
Also, contact us at info@KillerCoke.org to inform us of your plans to participate.
