The boycott is one of the international actions approved in each one of the three sessions of the Popular Public Hearings(APP) and it is necessary to clearly establish all operational elements.
The boycott is a means of sustained pressure and condemnation against the policies of the transnational company Coca Cola around the world so that the company repairs the damage caused, changes its policies and makes a commitment to respect the human rights of workers and populations. Our struggle is for peace with social justice and for the well-being of people and for this reason we embrace the struggle against the war, we contribute to the construction of a movement against capitalist globalisation, we participate in the fight against ALCA (Free Trade Area of the Americas) and we share the aspirations of the Continental Social Alliance, of the World Social Forum and all initiatives that enable peoples to achieve happiness, sovereignty and liberty.
The fight against capitalist globalisation is a struggle against the policies of transnational companies. The initiative we have been developing from different corners of the world against the transnational Coca Cola is part of the struggle against war and for the well-being of our peoples.
The ‘Hector Daniel Useche Beron Popular Public Hearing Against Impunity : SINALTRAINAL DEMANDS JUSTICE’ declared the International Boycott against Coca Cola and others for the following reasons:_-
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For the violation of the human rights of workers and communities.
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For the profits made on the back of assassinations, imprisonment, displacement, kidnapping, death threats and dismissals of trade union leaders in Colombia, Guatemala, Peru, Brazil, the United States, Venezuela, Palestine, Turkey, Iran and other parts of the world.
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For the contamination of water sources with the waste from their bottling plants.
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For racial discrimination against black communities and those suffering from AIDS in the United States and Africa._
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For using coca to make its products and its support of the criminal policies of the United States against communities whose culture and survival depends on coca leaves, especially in Bolivia, Peru and Colombia.
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For its unfettered use of the world’s water and the criminal theft of water sources from communities in India.
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For supporting the criminal oligarchy in Venezuela which is attacking the government and its plans to bring dignity into the lives of the people of our sister Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, as well as for its historic interference in the internal affairs of peoples.
The boycott will commence on 22 July 2003 and will initially be for one year. The Second World Social Forum declared 22 July 2003 as the international day against Coca Cola. The boycott will not only consist of NOT CONSUMING THE PRODUCTS OF THIS TRANSNATIONAL COCA COLA, but will also mark the start of a sustained campaign of condemnation, mobilisation and struggle against its policies. In order to realise the declared boycott, we will undertake the following plan of international action:
On 11 February 2003, a proposal for integral reparation was delivered to Coca Cola along with signatures and a political declaration from the three sessions of the APP. We are hoping that the transnational will organise the relevant meetings with SINALTRAINAL in order to come to an agreement which enables us to resolve the problems we have denounced.
On 22 July 2003, there will be a press conference in Rome, Chicago and Bogota in which the start of the boycott will be announced to the world. In countries where it is possible to have access to the press, we ask comrades to do the same simultaneously.
There will be demonstrations, meetings and mobilisations in each of the cities in which Coca Cola has plants. At the entrance to each bottling plant there will be a stall distributing a massive amount of literature denouncing Coca Cola_s activities. It has been suggested that in the different cities there should be memorial galleries.
URGENT ECONOMIC SUPPORT NEEDED – PLEASE CONTACT SINALTRAINAL
E-mail: sinalins@latinmail.com
