No Coke

Since 1989, eight union leaders have been assassinated at Coca-Cola bottling plants in Colombia. According to a statement from the Campaign to Stop Killer Coke in New York: �Hundreds of other Coke workers have been tortured, kidnapped and/or illegally detained by violent paramilitaries, often working closely with plant managements.� As more light is shed on these incidents, a coalition of students and labour activists seeking to end the violence is growing in both numbers and influence. To challenge the bloody repression of union activists in Colombia, this movement is hitting the Atlanta-based beverage company where it hurts: right on the profit margin.

Student governments on college campuses in the United States and abroad have passed resolutions urging their administrations to divest from Coca-Cola; schools such as Bard College (New York), Lake Forest College (Illinois), and Oberlin College (Ohio), among many others, have campus-wide bans on Coke products, meaning that no function of the school can enter into a contract with the company or sell the product on campus. There are already rumblings about bans in the works at the nation�s largest schools, such as the University of Michigan, New York University, and Rutgers University (New Jersey). One of Italy�s largest universities and three Irish colleges are onboard.

Source: This Article in Opendemocracy.org

Now, after Kinnie, Coke is my favourite drink. Reading something like this makes my stomach churn. Will I manage to get off my addiction? Not sure... but will definitely drink less. " I'd like to teach the world to sing..."