Noreen Navin
Fear of defamation was one of the excuses given by TVS to withdraw ARTV's Coca Cola Kills documentary, and the rest of the program, from Channel 31 on March 26. TVS also asserted that the documentary, which called for a boycott of Coca Cola, meant that the company could sue on the basis of potential lost sales.
But this has not stopped activists intent on uncovering the truth. The successful McLibel case in Britain showed the cost of taking on a committed activist group. In New Zealand, McDonald's threatened to sue the union Unite for organising strikes and pickets to protest against its treatment of workers, but backed off after a strenuous campaign by Unite.
Coca Cola has also tried to silence its critics. Lesley Gill, an anthropology professor at the American University who has twice been to Colombia to document the violence against trade unionists at Coca Cola plants, and whose research is used in the Coca Cola Kills documentary, said, "Coke has a long history of being a virulently anti-union company".
In 2001, the International Labor Rights Fund, a Washington-based solidarity organisation, and the United Steelworkers used the Alien Tort Claims Act to file a suit against Coke and its bottlers in Miami. In 2004, an investigation directed by New York City Councillor Hiram Monserrate documented 179 "major human rights violations" against Coke workers, along with numerous allegations that "paramilitary violence against workers was done with the knowledge of and likely under the direction of company managers".
It is the duty of a progressive media organisation to expose the dark side of corporations and governments alike, without fear of being sued. ARTV is calling on supporters to continue sending messages to <programs@tvs.org.au>, with copies to <info@artresistance.com.au>, requesting ARTV's reinstatement and an earlier broadcast time.
From Green Left Weekly, May 10, 2006.
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