The Coca Cola Case
The Truth That Refreshes
It was Martin Luther King who once said that ‘injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.’ These are the words belted out over a megaphone as a group of supporters in the US take to the streets to speak out against Coca Cola’s shady business practices in countries such as Colombia. This is part of the Stop Killer Coke Campaign.
The South American country of Colombia is popular for all the wrong reasons. This documentary explores one more for the list: the country is now known as the labor union murder capital of the world.
Research shows that just recently, more than 470 workers’ leaders have been brutally murdered. Usually the act is done by paramilitaries that have been hired by private companies who are seeking to destroy the unions. Among these unscrupulous corporate brands involved in the shedding of innocent blood is the Coca Cola Corporation—the soft drink giant best known for its amazing family-oriented commercials about love, friendship, and smiles while drinking a coke.
The Colombian government has been horribly remiss in bringing the cases to justice. Over 4,000 trade unionists have been killed since 1986 and only five of those cases have been successfully prosecuted.
One man, whose brother was shot nine times in 1996, says that as soon as the union was formed, the problems began. At the time the union was going through negotiations with the company and that was the reply they received to the letter of collective agreement that had been sent in just a few days before—the murder of Isidro Segundo Gil, the negotiator.
David Kovalik, Terry Collingsworth, and Ray Rogers got fed up of listening to the stories of crimes that were being swept under the carpet. So they sprang into action and embarked on an ambitious crusade against the soft drink giant.
They originally started with four complaints against Coca Cola involving violations and human rights abuses at a number of plants in Colombia – the most notable being the assassination of Isidro Gil. Also on the list are the unlawful imprisonment of three union leaders, the detention and torture of another leader, and the threatening and attempted assassination of a well-known leader named Juan Carlos Galvez. This man’s life has been threatened repeatedly and they have tried to kidnap his children, wife, and mother.
The cases raised the question of how legally accountable are major corporate brands like Coca Cola for the activities that take place in overseas bottling plants in places like Colombia?
The Coca-Cola Case takes them on an enthralling legal rollercoaster ride via the U.S. federal court and the Stop Killer Coke! Campaign.
Will Coca-Cola yield in the end? And on the verge of a settlement, what will the victims choose – cash or integrity? Watch this film and find out now.
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These documentories are worth watching! At least it helps us to decide whether to keep supporting these crooks with our money. We don’t even need to drink “Killer Coke”! We don’t!
We are responsible for making any corporate psycho richer and murderous, yet we do nothing about it because that’s how weak as a species are. They have the guns, we have the cardboards yelling justice which falls on deaf ears.
Its simply enough to boycott.
We should never have allowed these corporations to become as large and powerful as they have become. Power corrupts as we well know, and the only society that can survive is one that dilutes all power to prevent this kind of monster from engulfing the world.