Bitch | Lab wrote:
>
> After bitching about this crap yesterday, the ridiculous boycotts of Coca
> Cola on behalf of workers in Columbia (but apparently, these college
> students can't et up the gumption to boycott coke on behalf of the workers
> here in the states, too? Fuck them.)
I must have missed whatever post this refers to.
But political activity has to start someplace; why not with solidarity (ridiculous or not) with someone in Colombia? In Guatemala organizers at Coca Cola were being killed; I wasn't aware of whatever events you speak of, but below is one thing I found googling Colombia.
Carrol
Colombia Indians aim to take on Coke with coca drink Tue Jan 3, 2006 1:32 PM GMT
By Jason Webb
INZA, Colombia (Reuters) - Colombian Indians are using the raw material of cocaine to make a soft drink they hope will displace in their area another, better known beverage with the same ingredient: Coca-Cola.
Coca Sek -- a fizzy, sweet yellow drink with a fruity, slightly herbal taste -- is being made using coca leaf by Nasa Indians living in the village of Calderas high in the green mountains of Cauca Province in southern Colombia.
While it will only become commercially available for the first time in the next few months in the southern Colombian city of Popayan, there has been plenty of initial buyer interest and the cooperative which makes the drink hopes eventually to export it.
The Indians, who have invested $13,000 (7,500 pounds) and aim to start producing a modest 20,000 bottles per month, hope that by selling a soft drink based on coca they will revive a key part of their culture by bringing it into the modern economy.
Coca has long been sacred to the Nasa, who chewed the bitter leaf for its properties as a mild stimulant and appetite suppressant and used it in their rituals. But coca is also used to make cocaine, and its traditional consumption, even though legal for Colombia's Indians, is declining under the impact of the government's U.S.-funded war on the narcotics industry.