[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
FNM Call to Action (12/14/97)Stop Coca-Cola in Madison WI...
P.O. Box 441395
Indianapolis, IN 46244
Phone/Fax +1 (317)216-4590
Email: PR@FreeNigeria.org
Website: http://www.FreeNigeria.org
Listserv: Maiser@listserv.butler.edu, text of message "SUBSCRIBE
FREENIGERIA"
Radio Station: Voice of Free Nigeria (VoFN) 11.645 kHz, every
Saturday at
1900Hrs GMT (8:OOpm Nigerian Time)
“Nigeria, Nazi Germany of the 90s”
-Ibrahim H. Muhammed
For immediate Release
(please distribute widely)
Urgent Action Needed to prevent the Madison Metropolitan
School District (MMSD)from entering into a US$1,500,000 marketing
contract with Coca-Cola
Contact Nasiru Ikharo at +1(317)216-4590 or PR@FreeNigeria.org
Sunday, December 14th, 1997
The board members of the Madison Metropolitan School District
(MMSD),
in the State of Wisconsin, U.S.A. are set to “evaluate” their
decision to allow a
US$1.5 million marketing contract with Coca-Cola tomorrow, Monday,
December
15th, 1997.
The Free Nigeria Movement, in support of the call made by the
“Ad Hoc
Committee to defend Madison Schools”, a coalition which includes
groups such
as “UW Alliance for Democracy”, “UW Greens”, and the “Madison
Student
Wisconsin Education Association” among others, strongly opposes this
marketing
contract , which is seen primarily as a method of projecting a
positive corporate
image for Coca-Cola in the Madison area, especially among the
children enrolled
in the district’s public schools. We ask you to get in touch and
request the board
to rescind the contract.
The hearing is scheduled to take place at 4:45pm, in Rm. 103,
MMSD
Building (545 W.Dayton). If you can afford to be present in order to
voice your
opposition, please do so, if your presence is not possible, please
call, fax or email
the members of the school board asking them to vote against
continuing with the
contract. Below are the names and contact information for the
members of the
board. Also, their individual positions on the issue are stated.
Please note that
608 is the area code for all phone and fax numbers.
President Juan Lopez: 249-9744, jlopez@madison.k12.wi.us (voted for
the contract)
V-President Deborah Lawson: 238-8186, dlawson@madison.k12.wi.us
(voted for the contract)
Carol Carstensen: 255-5931, ccarstensen@madison.k12.wi.us (voted
for the contract)
Ruth Robarts: 238-2273, rrobarts@madison.k12.wi.us (voted for the
contract)
Ray Allen: 829-2772, rallen@madison.k12.wi.us (voted against the
contract)
Calvin Williams: 233-1400 , cjwilliams@madison.k12.wi.us (voted
against the contract)
Mary Jan Rosenak: 241-3884, mrosenak@madison.k12.wi.us (voted
against the contract)
You can also get in touch with the board as a group through email
by sending a
message to comments@madison.k12.wi.us or a fax to (608)266-6253.
The Coca-Cola company is by no means a good corporate citizen as
evidenced
by their continued high profile endorsement and support of the
General Sanni Abacha
led illegal and morally repugnant military regime which is holding
over 100 million
Nigerian citizens hostage. It is ironic that in Madison , WI,
Coca-Cola is trying to portray
itself a s a supporter of children’s interests, while halfway
around the world they are
supporting a regime which has in one way or another contributed to
the deaths of
millions of children.
Coca-Cola is the main corporate sponsor of sporting and
cultural events
organized by the illegal Abacha-led military dictatorship. Its red
and white advertising
presence is used by the military as a propaganda tool to show that
even the most well
known global company endorses military rule in Nigeria. Since
November 17th, 1993
when the Abacha regime usurped the electoral mandates freely given
by the Nigerian
people to their duly elected representatives, Coca-Cola’s Africa
market share in Nigeria
has risen from 11% to over 20% today. In the same period of time,
Nigeria’s duly
elected President, Moshood Abiola has been detained without trial in
solitary
confinement at an unknown location, numerous political opponents of
the illegal regime
have been murdered in cold blood, including Nigeria’s first lady,
(Mrs.) Kudirat Abiola,
and the leading Nigerian environmental activist Ken Saro-Wiwa.
Thousands of others are in detention without trial, including
environmental,
human rights and democracy activists. By supporting the illegal
regime, Coke has
shown that their main interest is profit and not principle of any
sort.
The FNM President, Tunde Okorodudu, stated that “...the
school board should
take the moral high ground and stop selling our children to
corporations.” He added that
“...Coca-Cola should also stop putting profit over principle and
human rights.” Mukhtar
Dan’Iyan, the Movement’s Secretary-General stated that “Coke is
using the same tactics
Pepsi used when confronted with grassroots pressure for its
divestment from Burma...
instead of doing the right thing, they targeted the minds of young
children.” Prince Ayo
Ajisebutu, the National Treasurer of the FNM stated when commenting
about the issue
that “The board should not allow Coca-Cola to buy the children of
one community while
supporting a regime which oppresses the children of another
(Nigeria).”
Long Live Freedom, Long live the Free Nigeria Movement, Long
live the Free Nigeria
Movement!!!
On behalf of the Free Nigeria Movement
Nasiru Ikharo
National Information Secretary, FNM
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ad Hoc Committee
to Defend Madison Schools
For Immediate Release
12/15/97
Contact: Matt Nelson 286-9837
Ben Manski 262-9036
"WE WANT OUR SCHOOLS BACK!"
Coke Deal Leaves Students, Teachers With Bitter Aftertaste
Teachers, students, and community members angry over the recently
signed
Madison Metropolitan School District (MMSD) CokeTM deal will appear
at 6pm
tonight before the School Board at the Doyle Administration Building
(545
W. Dayton) to demand an immediate withdrawal of MMSD from the CokeTM
contract. The recent revelation that the CokeTM contract had been
signed
unaltered in the face of four months of public protest has led many
Madisonians to conclude that action is necessary at the meeting
tonight.
Said Judy Gump, a teacher at Madison Memorial High School, "I am
disappointed that the District didn't use this delay to reassess
whether we
really wanted this contract, especially with the outpouring of
negative
opinion after the initial vote. This would have been a great
opportunity
to democratize the process - I feel as if the students, the staff,
and the
public has been cheated out of their right to participate for a
second
time."
Over 600 people have signed a petition against the CokeTM deal.
The recently signed contract includes numerous provisions that
received
widespread criticism, such as exclusive marketing rights for CokeTM
in the
Madison schools, below-minimum wage student internships with Coke
inc.
promoting CokeTM products, an insulting CokeTM "teacher of the year
award",
and promotional IBMinc.. "multimedia education" CokeTM promotion
kits.
These provisions were lambasted not only by students, teachers, and
community activists, but also be members of the School Board, who
assured
the public that they would be removed from the contract.
Said Geoff Goodman, a 1997 West High School graduate, "I hope that
the
trend of privatization and corporate takeover is stopped before it
consumes
our schools. I'm going to do all I can to get the contract
canceled."
Coca Cola corporation is under a global boycott because of its
active
support of the Abacha military dictatorship in Nigeria. Many
corporations
have pulled out of Nigeria due to the impossibility of doing
business there
without financially supporting the crimes of the Abacha regime,
which
include cultural genocide, intense political repression, ecological
devastation, and the murder of thousands of dissidents and other
innocent
people. The Free Nigeria Movements calls CokeTM , "the internal
propaganda
arm of the illegal Nigerian military junta," which still holds the
democratically elected President of Nigeria, Mushood Abiola, under
house
arrest.
"Juan Jose Lopez has made clear which side he stands on. He stands
with
the corporations. He stands against students and teachers, and
against the
community. It's time for him to resign and admit that he has failed
the
people of Madison," said Ben Manski, local democracy activist.
# # #
- - - - - -
Benjamin Manski - 608-262-9036
http://www.sit.wisc.edu/~democrac
http://www.corporations.org/democracy/index.html