I met Richard Reed the co-founder of Innocent Drinks at the Be The Change conference in London. He shook things up by his opening gambit 'capitalism has won' and to many this may sound like a prophetic statement. Months later we hear about the Coca Cola buy out of his company. This is not the first ethical company that has sold it's soul for expansion as Alex Renton describes in his Guardian blog: http://is.gd/NuCZ
So what's wrong with getting in bed with a corporate giant? In case you are not familiar with Coca-Cola's background and world-wide
reputation, you may find it interesting to have a bit of a read on the
subject. Mark Thomas's recent book, Belching Out
the Devil, provides an up-to-date and thoroughly researched account of
Coca-Cola's current activities in these areas. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Belching-Ou
Some of the main allegations against Coca Cola as outlined in Mark Thomas’s book are summarised below:
*Colombia - Allegations of intimidation and murder of trade unionists working for the Company.
*India - Coke forced to close two of four plants where operations put the local communities’ water in danger, after protests and legal challenges.
*Allegations of union busting in Turkey and Ireland.
*Allegations of Coke's sugar being produced with the help of child labour in El Salvador.
*In Mexico the courts found the company was in breach of anti-monopoly laws and that they intimidated some of the poorest shop owners.








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