Coca Cola glabal boycott being planned

[Guest guest]

No Water? Drink Coke!

 

By Naeem Mohaiemen, AlterNet

January 17, 2004

http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=17592

 

 

Several years ago, I was leafing through a health magazine and came across a

piece about Coca-Cola. According to the story, Coke, like many other soft

drinks, contains additives that eat away at tooth enamel. Ever since then,

I've avoided all soft drinks. This habit presents an etiquette problem

whenever I visit Bangladesh. Along with milky cups of tea, Coke-with-ice is

the most frequently offered drink to visitors. My refusal of Coke is often

seen an snobbishness, or some faddish " health consciousness. "

 

 

This subcontinental love affair with Coke may soon change drastically. If

campaigners assembled at this week's World Social Forum in Mumbai, India are

successful, Coca-Cola will soon be hit by a global boycott of unprecedented

scale and ferocity. Although the Indian Campaign to Hold Coke Accountable

has already been in motion for a year, the WSF meet is globalizing the

project. At issue are Coca-Cola's production practices in India, which are

draining out vast amounts of public groundwater, turning farming communities

into virtual deserts. Completing the cycle of abuse, the plants are also

pumping out toxic sludge as waste product. The controversy has been

aggravated by recent tests that showed levels of toxic substances in Indian

Coke, which are higher than FDA-approved standards for Coke-additives in the

US.

 

 

Organizers consider Coca-Cola to be one of the most abusive transnationals

(TNC) operating in India today. They are particularly irked by the way that

Coke, a huge foreign investor in India, has used its commercial clout to

bully the government into bending the rules regarding local ownership.

 

 

After a year of Indian protests, Coca-Cola's PR department simply said they

were the " target of a handful of extremist protesters. " For good measure,

the corporate website says, " Local communities have welcomed our business as

a good corporate neighbor. "

 

 

But at the end of the WSF, Coke may be facing an organized campaign that

cannot be easily dismissed. One of the key benefits of highlighting the Coke

case at the WSF meet is the opportunity to link up with similar cases

worldwide and turn the project into a global boycott. Since international

capital benefits from a borderless world, activists want to create a model

where their clout is also increased by the free flow of information between

world community groups. In the process they are linking up with campaigners

in Colombia, who have targeted Coke for very different abuses. At WSF, the

campaign has generated strong feedback from American and European

organizers, many of whom see the red-and-whites of Coke as a symbol for

businesses that work without accountability.

 

 

Draining Local Water

 

 

There are now several Indian communities that have lodged complaints against

Coca-Cola factories. The most celebrated of these is the Plachimada village

in Kerala state, home of one of Coca-Cola's biggest bottling plants in

India. This was one of the first villages to allege that the plant was

draining water from wells, drying up ponds and destroying the livelihood of

more than 2,000 farm families.

 

 

Researchers found that the plant had drilled 65 bore holes into the ground,

siphoning off a million gallons of water a day. In addition, they also found

that Coke was washing bottles with chemicals which were then released,

without treatment, into local ground water. British NGO Actionaid has

investigated the village and concluded that it was a thriving agricultural

community until the arrival of the bottling plant in 1998. Under pressure

from activists, 300 of whom were arrested during various protests, the local

panchayet announced that it would cancel the plant's operating license.

 

 

Coke has vigorously fought back against the allegations, submitting

scientific studies and appealing the panchayet's decision. The plant

manager, N Janadhanan, indignantly told the AP that, " The villagers are not

suffering and we are not exploiting the water resource. " But in admission of

the severe crisis, Coke now sends around water tankers each morning to

supply the villager's with minimum amounts of water. The company is

appealing the decision in Indian courts, with activists also determined to

press on with their demands.

 

 

Another dark spot is Mehdiganj (UP), where Coke built a bottling plant in

1995. Two tube wells draw hundreds of thousands of liters of ground water

each day. Geologists have estimated that the company's voracious consumption

may have lowered the groundwater level as much as 40 feet. The area's water

crisis was further aggravated by the World Bank-funded Golden Quadrangle

superhighway project, which shut off the water pipeline from a neighboring

area. The Coke plant's proximity to the holy city of Benares has created

further controversy. The factory's waste product was being disposed in a

nearby canal that emptied into the holy Ganges River.

 

 

Local Indians were enraged when they discovered that polluted waste was

being dumped into the Ganges. Until recently, there was no clear way to test

for Coke-related pollution in the vast Ganges. But in order to make way for

the superhighway, construction workers dislodged Coke's waste disposal

canal. The company then began disposing its waste products into neighboring

fields and mango groves. At this point, the level of toxic waste became

readily obvious to local residents. Although Coca-Cola officials claim they

use ecological filters, this was easily refuted by looking at

waste-submerged areas. In an area of 20 acres covered with factory waste,

grass, neem trees, wheat, paddy and chickpea crops had all been destroyed.

Health crises were also created by the stagnant waste, including a mosquito

epidemic and mysterious rashes on the bodies of local villagers.

 

 

Villages Fight Back

 

 

Fighting to stop the TNC giant, local villagers have organized groups with

slogans like " Coca-Cola Bhagao, Gaon Bachao " ( " Save the village, chase away

Coke " ). Dalits (the so-called " untouchable " caste) and indigenous peoples

are playing a key role in leading protests. Unlike past top-down activism,

these campaigns are primarily village-organized, with national globalization

activists bringing access to press and linkages with other affected

villages.

 

 

As a result of linking affected communities, the Mehdiganj-Perumatty

campaigns have been joined by Wada (Thane) and Sivaganga (Tamil Nadu) – also

sites of Coca-Cola factories. In a preemptive move, residents of Sivaganga

protested against plans to set up a factory near their village. A key aspect

of the organizing has been the training of local youth groups in non-violent

resistance. Although protestors may employ Gandhian tactics, the responses

are not always so gentle. At the Mehdiganj plant, police and gun-carrying

private security guards beat protestors.

 

 

The Indian campaigns have begun to get results, although not always in the

direct areas targeted. As a result of sustained anti-Coke campaigning, other

parts of the company's business practices have also come under inspection.

In April 2003, Coca-Cola was targeted for boycott to protest the U.S.-led

invasion of Iraq. As a result of that protest, Coke sales dropped 50 percent

in states such as Kerala, which was declared a " Coca-Cola and Pepsi-free

zone. "

 

 

Later, a local court found the Mehdiganj plant guilty of illegally occupying

a portion of village common property resources and evading payment of land

revenue. The court also noted that the plant was illegally receiving

subsidized electricity because the occupied land was classified as

" agricultural. " Recently, the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) ordered

its regional officer to investigate the Mehdiganj claims of toxic waste. In

Madurai, the CPCB also ordered the company to stop disposing its " sludge " in

agricultural fields because a " metal " element had been discovered in tests.

 

 

Finally, in a case that has generated even more negative publicity,

independent tests discovered traces of a pesticide in Coke bottles. A Joint

Parliamentary Committee is now investigating the case and the Indian

Parliament has already banned Coke from its cafeteria.

 

 

Coke's Clout

 

 

While activists have cheered on these apparent signs of progress, it would

be naïve to say they have " Coke on the run " (as one reporter claimed).

Atlanta-based Coca-Cola is a multi-billion dollar company, and although the

Indian protests are a major irritant, the company has the resources to dig

in for the long haul. Like BP and many other new-breed TNCs, they also have

the foresight to make a few strategic concessions in order to take the steam

out of the campaign.

 

 

In addition, Coca-Cola enjoys a favored relationship with the government,

and in the history of its interaction with the Indian state, it has always

maintained the upper hand. In 1977, Coke was ordered to increase Indian

ownership of its operations. Rather than giving in, the company left India.

It made the reasonable estimate that one day India would need the foreign

investment and ask them to return. Two decades later, as India opened its

doors to massive liberalization of the economy, Coca-Cola returned

triumphantly. It then rapidly began buying up all the local brands that had

sprung up in the intervening years.

 

 

Today Coke is one of the largest Foreign Direct Investors (FDI) in India,

rivaled only by other giants like GM, Ford, Pepsi, Hughes Electronics, and

until recently, Enron. The company's clout with the local government is

without parallel. In an unprecedented move, Coke was able to pressure the

government to reverse its own rules on Indian ownership of Coke operations.

Under the terms of the special dispensation, Coke would sell 49 percent of

the company to local shareholders, but retain 100 percent of voting rights.

This unheard of " compromise " was garnered by the direct intervention of US

Ambassador Blackwill and Commerce Assistant Secretary Lash.

 

 

Acknowledging the economic bargaining power and entrenched position of Coke

in India, organizers are using the WSF meet as a tool to turn their campaign

global. In this project, one of the templates is the Colombian campaign

against Coke. That campaign is spearheaded by Colombia trade union

SINALTRAIN, which brought a suit against Coke in the U.S. alleging that

their local bottler hired death squads to kill union organizers at bottling

plants. Colombian speakers have been traveling across the U.S. and Europe,

urging colleges and towns to boycott Coca-Cola.

 

 

Initiatives to remove Coke from college-owned cafeterias are being debated

at over 20 American universities, including Columbia, Hofstra, NYU, Fordham,

University of Vermont and UC Berkeley. Bard College and Lake Forest College

have already cancelled their contracts with Coke. The financial impact of

getting cut off from the nation's next generation of consumers is no trivial

matter to the company. At UC Berkeley alone, Coke pays $1 million per year

for a 10-year contract that gives it exclusive rights to sell its products

on campus.

 

 

In Ireland, the boycott has spread outside campuses into surrounding towns.

After University College Dublin removed Coke products from student union

stores, Irish businesses like John Hewitt Bar and Belfast Tourist Center

also removed Coke products. Finally in an audacious move that could, if

successful, really hurt Coke's pocketbook, Corporate Campaign announced a

campaign to force SunTrust Banks to divest its 130 million shares of

Coca-Cola stock.

 

 

J.P. Morgan analyst John Faucher, who follows Coca-Cola, was quoted

dismissing the boycotts: " I find it hard to believe this could turn into

anything that would have a significant impact on the company. " But the

organizers plan to use the WSF meet as a catalyst to disprove this orthodoxy

and shake Coke at its foundation. Their demands include shutdown of

offending plants, compensation to affected communities and provision of

clean drinking water.

 

 

But even if the activists were only able to enforce a change in Coke's

business practices, it would be a major victory against a powerful TNC. Amit

Srivastava of Global Resistance has been in Mumbai for weeks preparing for

the Coke campaign's meetings at the WSF. Explaining the objectives of the

campaign he said, " Of course, Coke is not the only one doing this. We are

also talking about Pepsi and Indian companies that engage in similar

practices. This is also about community rights over national resources

versus corporate and private control over the same. Coca-Cola is just one

example of many when corporate power is allowed to do what it wants freely. "

 

 

Sujani Reddy, who is helping with the media coverage of the campaign, framed

the issues in another manner: " The Coca-Cola campaign maps the processes of

globalization really well. The liberalization of the Indian economy has

created this global middle-class as a consumer class. Now, Coke as a product

has a symbolic value, associated with Americana and cosmopolitanism. So,

this moment is a perfect symbol for how the middle class' own consumption

has toxic elements in it. "

 

 

In a battle over big business, symbolism is a key leverage point for

activists. After the WSF meet ends, organizers plan to focus on campaigning

against Coke in its hometown of Atlanta, Georgia. If the campaign can

leverage Coke's own symbolism against itself, the giant corporation may find

itself with much more than a simple " PR problem " on its hands.

 

 

Naeem Mohaiemen (nmohaiemen) is editor of Shobak.org.

 

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