eyesofgaia.com - Coca Cola?

Why Boycott Coca Cola?

Coca-Cola spends close to $3 billion a year on advertising. With that amount of money it's no wonder the company has managed to hold on to its wholesome reputation.

What most people don't know is their terrible records of violence, abuse and exploitation of their workers. Coke in its undiluted form is highly toxic to the environment and areas surrounding bottling plants are seriously contaminated.

In India they have dried up villagers wells and left them without water whilst contaminating the environment. Some states of India have now banned Coca Cola due to what happened.

In Columbia trade union leaders have been murdered and others wrongly imprisoned for speaking out against their working conditions.

In Guatemala there is a case against Coca Cola which involves a campaign of violence - including rape, murder, and attempted murder - against trade unionists and their families at the behest of the management of Coca-Cola bottling and processing plants.

In Turkey 105 workers at a Coca-Cola bottling plant in Istanbul joined a union and their jobs were terminated. During a demonstration the company ordered Turkish riot police to attack the workers who were by all accounts peacefully assembled, many with their spouses and children. Nearly two hundred of them were beaten badly and many required hospitalization. Lawsuits are pending.

In China based on undercover investigations at several Coke plants, Chinese press reported in December 2008 that Coke employees are "involved in the most dangerous, intense and tiresome labor, work the longest hours, but receive the lowest wages and face arrears and even cutbacks in their pay." One investigator claimed that Coke violated Chinese labor laws and reported that workers "often worked 12 hours per day for an entire month without a single day off."

In Mexico, the country with the highest per capita consumption of Coca-Cola it is a huge profit center for Coke to the detriment of the health of millions of children and adults who suffer an inordinate rate of obesity, diabetes and other serious maladies.

Coke have been pushing their addictive products on peasant populations who can ill afford them .

Coca-Cola has negotiated 27 water concessions from the Mexican government. Nineteen of the concessions are for the extraction of water from aquifers and from 15 different rivers, some of which belong to indigenous peoples. Eight concessions are for the right of Coke to dump its industrial waste into public waters.

In El Salvador in addition to abuse of workers, Coke has been involved in the exploitation of children by benefiting from hazardous child labor in sugar cane fields.

All the More Reason to Give Coke the Boot …

From a health perspective, drinking Coke or any soft drink is a disaster. Just one extra can of soda per day can add as much as 15 pounds to your weight over the course of a single year, not to mention increase your risk of diabetes by 85 percent.

From my perspective, there is absolutely NO REASON you or your kids should ever drink soda. If you were stranded in the middle of a desert with no other fluid available, then maybe, but other than that … none, nada, zip, zero. No excuses.

Now, when you add in Coca-Cola's alleged crimes against human rights, the environment and social responsibility, it makes it that much more important to boycott from your life. When you make a purchase you're using those dollars to lend support to the company behind the brand … and if it doesn't match up to your expectations, it's time to withdraw your support.

Coca-Cola, of course, is not unique in their shady dealings. It is rare to find a multinational corporation that is operating according to any level of moral or ethical scruples. Still, that doesn't excuse the behavior or make it any less atrocious.

So the next time you're thinking of making a purchase that will further support this corporate giant, you may want to think twice and instead put your money toward an organization that is more in line with your own value system.

For lots more information and videos see www.killercoke.org