New York University (NYU), the largest private university in the United States with over 50,000 students and 16,000 employees, becomes the 12th college or university in the US, and at least the 20th worldwide, to have taken strong economic action against The Coca-Cola Co. by banning the sale and marketing of Coke products on campus.
Coca Cola, which is particularly worried about the ban at what it refers to as a 'trend setting' university, has been accused by Colombian food and drink workers union SINALTRAINAL of colluding with paramilitaries to inflict systematic human rights abuses, including murders, on trade union activists over the last 16 years.
Ray Rogers, of the Campaign to Stop Killer Coke in the US said "This victory becomes even sweeter when one recognizes that Coca-Cola board member Barry Diller, chairman and chief executive officer of IAC/InterActiveCorp, is on the Board of Trustees of New York University"
Coca Cola is also facing allegations over its human rights record in India, Turkey, Pakistan, and Guatemala. In the UK, Oxford University is just one of the places where the Students Union has taken the step of banning Coca Cola in response to the campaign, calling on the National Union of Students to do likewise.
More on Coca Cola and Colombia can be found at www.colombiasolidarity.org.uk, and on Coca Cola and India at www.indiaresource.org.
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