Attached is a letter and flyer sent by student leaders at Ohio State University to 156 Ohio political leaders, including state legislators, Gov. Ted Strickland and members of Congress. The letter is asking political leaders to support their efforts to have the university end its business relationship with The Coca-Cola Co. and to remove all Coke machines and products from the OSU campus.
OSU is believed to have the largest single university contract in the nation. That contract expires in June. It has been reported that in an exclusive contract arrangement, OSU has received $30 million over the past 10 years. It was also reported in 1999 that Coke received $29 million in revenues in just the first year of the contract. In addition, Coke benefits from free advertising and promotion of its brand name throughout the campus and at sports and other events.
At least 48 colleges and universities, including large universities such as Rutgers and New York University and smaller campuses like Oberlin College and Smith College, have kicked Coca-Cola products off their campuses because of widespread labor, human rights and environmental abuses, including complicity in the systematic intimidation, kidnapping, torture and murder of union leaders at its bottling plants in Colombia.
Included with the letters is a DVD containing three videos. The first video (Part 1 of 5: http://youtube.com/watch?v=B5JXmDApzp4) on the DVD is a 48-minute documentary broadcast nationally in England in November. The film exposes Coke's shameful collaboration with Colombian paramilitary death squads, overexploitation and pollution of scarce water resources in India, and racially discriminatory employment practices in the United States. Footage from El Salvador shows how Coke also pollutes their water and benefits from the labor of children who cut sugar cane in what can only be described as outdoor sweatshops.
Another video (http://youtube.com/watch?v=QwY881wQtKU) contains harsh statements in a news broadcast by New York City Council Member Hiram Monserrate who led a fact-finding delegation to Colombia. The delegation issued a scathing report finding "Coca-Cola is complicit in human rights abuses of its workers in Colombia" and "bears responsibility for the campaign of terror leveled at its workers."
Thursday evening, Coke representatives will be debating student leaders at OSU. Coke refuses to debate Campaign to Stop Killer Coke Director Ray Rogers who spoke at OSU in January. In his address, Mr. Rogers stated, "The World of Coca-Cola is a world full of lies, deception, immorality, corruption and widespread labor, human right and environmental abuses.
"When people hear the name Coca-Cola, they should think of a company that has inflicted great hardship and despair upon many people and communities throughout the world.
"When we see Coke's products and ads, we should think of crimes and misconduct so unthinkable that all of Coke's beverages become undrinkable!
OSU is believed to have the largest single university contract in the nation. That contract expires in June. It has been reported that in an exclusive contract arrangement, OSU has received $30 million over the past 10 years. It was also reported in 1999 that Coke received $29 million in revenues in just the first year of the contract. In addition, Coke benefits from free advertising and promotion of its brand name throughout the campus and at sports and other events.
At least 48 colleges and universities, including large universities such as Rutgers and New York University and smaller campuses like Oberlin College and Smith College, have kicked Coca-Cola products off their campuses because of widespread labor, human rights and environmental abuses, including complicity in the systematic intimidation, kidnapping, torture and murder of union leaders at its bottling plants in Colombia.
Included with the letters is a DVD containing three videos. The first video (Part 1 of 5: http://youtube.com/watch?v=B5JXmDApzp4) on the DVD is a 48-minute documentary broadcast nationally in England in November. The film exposes Coke's shameful collaboration with Colombian paramilitary death squads, overexploitation and pollution of scarce water resources in India, and racially discriminatory employment practices in the United States. Footage from El Salvador shows how Coke also pollutes their water and benefits from the labor of children who cut sugar cane in what can only be described as outdoor sweatshops.
Another video (http://youtube.com/watch?v=QwY881wQtKU) contains harsh statements in a news broadcast by New York City Council Member Hiram Monserrate who led a fact-finding delegation to Colombia. The delegation issued a scathing report finding "Coca-Cola is complicit in human rights abuses of its workers in Colombia" and "bears responsibility for the campaign of terror leveled at its workers."
Thursday evening, Coke representatives will be debating student leaders at OSU. Coke refuses to debate Campaign to Stop Killer Coke Director Ray Rogers who spoke at OSU in January. In his address, Mr. Rogers stated, "The World of Coca-Cola is a world full of lies, deception, immorality, corruption and widespread labor, human right and environmental abuses.
"When people hear the name Coca-Cola, they should think of a company that has inflicted great hardship and despair upon many people and communities throughout the world.
"When we see Coke's products and ads, we should think of crimes and misconduct so unthinkable that all of Coke's beverages become undrinkable!