Why I boycott Coca-Cola

Earlier this year, due to a combination of badgering by my lovely workmate Jennie, and some research on my own part, I made the decision to boycott Coca-Cola and its products permanently. My investigations have found that Coca-Cola is a company that leads in the abuse of workers’ rights, assassinations, water privatization, and worker discrimination.

Whilst I expect to make very little impact on the company financially, I do hope my actions help inform others, and together we can bring about lasting change.

Below are some of the reasons I boycott Coke. You can find out more at www.killercoke.org

• Between 1989 and 2002, eight union leaders from their factories in Colombia were killed after protesting the company’s labor practices. Hundreds of other workers who have joined or considered joining the Colombian union SINALTRAINAL have been kidnapped, tortured, and detained by paramilitaries who intimidate workers to prevent them from unionizing.
• In Turkey, 14 truck drivers and their families were beaten severely by Turkish police hired by Coca-Cola, while protesting a layoff of 1,000 workers from a local factory in 2005.
• In India, Coca-Cola destroys local agriculture by privatizing the country’s water resources.
• In Plachimada, Kerala, Coca-Cola extracted 1.5 million liters of deep well water to use in their products. The groundwater was severely depleted, affecting thousands of communities with water shortages and destroying agricultural activity. As a result, the remaining water became contaminated with high chloride and bacteria levels, leading to scabs, eye problems, and stomach aches in the local population.
• Coca-Cola has caused Water shortages in Varanasi, Thane, and Tamil Nadu.
• Coca-Cola is guilty of reselling its plants’ industrial waste to farmers as fertilizers, despite its containing hazardous lead and cadmium.
• Coca-Cola is one of the most discriminatory employers in the world. In the year 2000, 2,000 African-American employees in the U.S. sued the company for race-based disparities in pay and promotions. In México, it fired a senior bottling manager for being gay.
• By regularly denying health insurance to employees and their families, Coca-Cola has failed to help stop the spread of AIDS in Africa. The company is one of the continent’s largest private employers, yet only partially covers expensive medicines, while not covering generic medicines at all.

Letter to Non-believers

from  Shane Claiborne.. you can see the letter in all its original Esquire-glory here

 

“To all my nonbelieving, sort-of-believing, and used-to-be-believing friends: I feel like I should begin with a confession. I am sorry that so often the biggest obstacle to God has been Christians. Christians who have had so much to say with our mouths and so little to show with our lives. I am sorry that so often we have forgotten the Christ of our Christianity.

Forgive us. Forgive us for the embarrassing things we have done in the name of God.

The other night I headed into downtown Philly for a stroll with some friends from out of town. We walked down to Penn’s Landing along the river, where there are street performers, artists, musicians. We passed a great magician who did some pretty sweet tricks like pour change out of his iPhone, and then there was a preacher. He wasn’t quite as captivating as the magician. He stood on a box, yelling into a microphone, and beside him was a coffin with a fake dead body inside. He talked about how we are all going to die and go to hell if we don’t know Jesus.

Some folks snickered. Some told him to shut the hell up. A couple of teenagers tried to steal the dead body in the coffin. All I could do was think to myself, I want to jump up on a box beside him and yell at the top of my lungs, “God is not a monster.” Maybe next time I will.

The more I have read the Bible and studied the life of Jesus, the more I have become convinced that Christianity spreads best not through force but through fascination. But over the past few decades our Christianity, at least here in the United States, has become less and less fascinating. We have given the atheists less and less to disbelieve. And the sort of Christianity many of us have seen on TV and heard on the radio looks less and less like Jesus.

At one point Gandhi was asked if he was a Christian, and he said, essentially, “I sure love Jesus, but the Christians seem so unlike their Christ.” A recent study showed that the top three perceptions of Christians in the U. S. among young non-Christians are that Christians are 1) antigay, 2) judgmental, and 3) hypocritical. So what we have here is a bit of an image crisis, and much of that reputation is well deserved. That’s the ugly stuff. And that’s why I begin by saying that I’m sorry.

Now for the good news.

I want to invite you to consider that maybe the televangelists and street preachers are wrong — and that God really is love. Maybe the fruits of the Spirit really are beautiful things like peace, patience, kindness, joy, love, goodness, and not the ugly things that have come to characterize religion, or politics, for that matter. (If there is anything I have learned from liberals and conservatives, it’s that you can have great answers and still be mean… and that just as important as being right is being nice.)

The Bible that I read says that God did not send Jesus to condemn the world but to save it… it was because “God so loved the world.” That is the God I know, and I long for others to know. I did not choose to devote my life to Jesus because I was scared to death of hell or because I wanted crowns in heaven… but because he is good. For those of you who are on a sincere spiritual journey, I hope that you do not reject Christ because of Christians. We have always been a messed-up bunch, and somehow God has survived the embarrassing things we do in His name. At the core of our “Gospel” is the message that Jesus came “not [for] the healthy… but the sick.” And if you choose Jesus, may it not be simply because of a fear of hell or hope for mansions in heaven.

Don’t get me wrong, I still believe in the afterlife, but too often all the church has done is promise the world that there is life after death and use it as a ticket to ignore the hells around us. I am convinced that the Christian Gospel has as much to do with this life as the next, and that the message of that Gospel is not just about going up when we die but about bringing God’s Kingdom down. It was Jesus who taught us to pray that God’s will be done “on earth as it is in heaven.” On earth.

One of Jesus’ most scandalous stories is the story of the Good Samaritan. As sentimental as we may have made it, the original story was about a man who gets beat up and left on the side of the road. A priest passes by. A Levite, the quintessential religious guy, also passes by on the other side (perhaps late for a meeting at church). And then comes the Samaritan… you can almost imagine a snicker in the Jewish crowd. Jews did not talk to Samaritans, or even walk through Samaria. But the Samaritan stops and takes care of the guy in the ditch and is lifted up as the hero of the story. I’m sure some of the listeners were ticked. According to the religious elite, Samaritans did not keep the right rules, and they did not have sound doctrine… but Jesus shows that true faith has to work itself out in a way that is Good News to the most bruised and broken person lying in the ditch.

It is so simple, but the pious forget this lesson constantly. God may indeed be evident in a priest, but God is just as likely to be at work through a Samaritan or a prostitute. In fact the Scripture is brimful of God using folks like a lying prostitute named Rahab, an adulterous king named David… at one point God even speaks to a guy named Balaam through his donkey. Some say God spoke to Balaam through his ass and has been speaking through asses ever since. So if God should choose to use us, then we should be grateful but not think too highly of ourselves. And if upon meeting someone we think God could never use, we should think again.

After all, Jesus says to the religious elite who looked down on everybody else: “The tax collectors and prostitutes are entering the Kingdom ahead of you.” And we wonder what got him killed?

I have a friend in the UK who talks about “dirty theology” — that we have a God who is always using dirt to bring life and healing and redemption, a God who shows up in the most unlikely and scandalous ways. After all, the whole story begins with God reaching down from heaven, picking up some dirt, and breathing life into it. At one point, Jesus takes some mud, spits in it, and wipes it on a blind man’s eyes to heal him. (The priests and producers of anointing oil were not happy that day.)

In fact, the entire story of Jesus is about a God who did not just want to stay “out there” but who moves into the neighborhood, a neighborhood where folks said, “Nothing good could come.” It is this Jesus who was accused of being a glutton and drunkard and rabble-rouser for hanging out with all of society’s rejects, and who died on the imperial cross of Rome reserved for bandits and failed messiahs. This is why the triumph over the cross was a triumph over everything ugly we do to ourselves and to others. It is the final promise that love wins.

It is this Jesus who was born in a stank manger in the middle of a genocide. That is the God that we are just as likely to find in the streets as in the sanctuary, who can redeem revolutionaries and tax collectors, the oppressed and the oppressors… a God who is saving some of us from the ghettos of poverty, and some of us from the ghettos of wealth.

In closing, to those who have closed the door on religion — I was recently asked by a non-Christian friend if I thought he was going to hell. I said, “I hope not. It will be hard to enjoy heaven without you.” If those of us who believe in God do not believe God’s grace is big enough to save the whole world… well, we should at least pray that it is.

 

Your brother,

Shane”

 

 

Aid, not Troops, in Afghanistan

This letter from Sojourners is being issued by over twenty faith and moral leaders to President Obama, as he considers a new strategy in Afghanistan. Please read the letter, and if you agree with its content, add your name and Sojourners will send a copy to the White House.

 

Stop! Thief!

Yesterday, between 9.45 and 10am, thieves broke into my apartment and stole a number of valuable items, including everybody’s laptop (5 in total) and some jewellery. My laptop was among those taken. I had no insurance. On top of this, I lost all my photos, videos, poetry, and original music I have recorded (the thieves stole my backup hard drives too). Obviously I’m very angry and upset about the creative and sentimental loss more than anything.

The police are investigating the crime, and we are taking steps to ensure this doesn’t happen again.. re-fitting locks, updating/getting insurance etc.

No-one was home, so no-one was hurt, and that is a blessing. We are all in a state of shock at the moment, and while we are appreciating loving texts and emails from friends and family, we are asking these be kept to one or two, just so we don’t get barraged with love.

The best thing anyone can do now is pray. Pray that myself and the rest of the flatmates find peace in this situation, and don’t allow feelings of anger or fear to fester. Pray that the police do their job well and find the thieves and our belongings. Pray the thieves realise the error of their ways and turn themselves in, or at least hand in the items to the police, however unlikely that is.

Also, without downplaying the wrongness of the thieves’ actions, we must remember that crimes like this are so often the result of a society where groups of people have been hurt, marginalised and ignored. Let us all pray, hope for, and work towards a society where thievery and crime is no longer necessary, or consciously possible.

 

I am reminded of this quote:

“To bless the people who have oppressed our spirits, emotionally deprived us, or in other ways handicapped us, is the most extraordinary work any of us will ever do.” – Elizabeth O’Connor

Practically, I am accepting offers of beer and confectionery  =)
But in seriousness, PLEASE forward me all photos you might have of Asher, or me. I have lost all these.Another useful thing people can do is keep an eye out for computers/laptops that I can use in the meantime until I buy a new one (a long way off), or keep. I am involved in a number of volunteer community initiatives in my spare time that require a computer, and I don’t like sitting in my office till 10pm typing away

Love to you all

Will (and his flatmates)

People’s Coffee – Keepcup launch

People’s Coffee are launching their ‘Keepcups’ ‘ on Monday, the 23rd of November!

At last, a Fairtrade Coffee company with excellent coffee is providing a good alternative to paper disposable cups for takeaway coffees! People’s…  I think love you.

I am a coffee addict, and I often forget to bring my thermos mug with me to Cafes. The sheer amount of takeaway coffees I have subsequently bought and thrown away over the years is a secret source of shame for this supposed eco-justice hippy. And I am not the only one.. in Wellington, our love of great takeaway coffee is costing our environment dearly.

So at least now, if I’m hankering for a caffeine fix in town and I forget my Keepcup, I can always buy another one and give the first away as a gift to a friend! (I promise I will try not to do this too often..)

KeepCups seem pretty cool… not only are they sexy, but at the end of their life (approximately four years) they can be recycled or the components can be replaced. They are reusable, unbreakable (according to the website), and are produced using relatively low energy compared to similar products. Nice one!

People’s have got a poster up about the Keepcup at their Constable St and Garrett St cafes. I encourage you to go check em out!

St Catherines Tree

From Richard Rohr’s daily meditations.. so profound:

“St. Catherine of Siena in her Dialogues pictures the spiritual life as a large tree:
The trunk of the tree is love.
She says the core of the tree, that middle part that must be alive for the rest of the tree to be alive, is patience.
The roots of the tree are self-knowledge.
The many branches, reaching out into the air, are discernment.
(Note she recognizes much more subtlety is needed than mere black and white answers.)
In other words, says Catherine, love does not happen without patience, self-knowledge and discernment.
Today we have little encouragement toward honest self-knowledge or training in spiritual discernment from our churches. By nature, most of us are not very patient. All of which means, love is not going to be very common. We need St. Catherine’s tree again.”

Culture and Sustainability

Sustainability is the big buzzword in the development sector right now, and Canada, Australia and NZ in particular are exploring the ‘Four Pillars’ model of sustainability that sprang from a 2005 UN summit and has been taken up by various community and development sectors around the world.

Originally, the United Nations 2005 World Summit Outcome Document came up with three pillars for sustainability. It refers to the “interdependent and mutually reinforcing pillars” of sustainable development as economic development, social development, and environmental protection.

However..  Indigenous people have argued, through various international forums such as the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues and the Convention on Biological Diversity, that there are four pillars of sustainable development, the fourth being cultural.

This makes a whole lot of sense. This newer ‘four pillars’ model recognizes that a community’s vitality and quality of life is closely related to the vitality and quality of its cultural engagement, expression, dialogue, and celebration. It further recognizes that the contribution of culture to building lively cities and communities where people want to live, work, and visit, and plays a major role in supporting social and economic health.

The Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity (UNESCO, 2001) further elaborates the concept by stating that

“…cultural diversity is as necessary for humankind as biodiversity is for nature”;

it becomes  “one of the roots of development understood not simply in terms of economic growth, but also as a means to achieve a more satisfactory intellectual, emotional, moral and spiritual existence”.

If culture is the sum total of beliefs, values, institutions and practices whereby a society or group affirms its presence in the world and assures its reproduction and persistence through time. It can be seen as a form of capital, like economic and environmental capital, that we should seek to use sustainably, and increase as much as possible.

This is why cultural diversity is so important.. by learning more about others, not only are our minds and hearts expanded, we understand our own culture and identity better. When a society is comprised of groups of people with different experiences and backgrounds more innovative and creative ideas are a distinct result. It is only natural that people who have varying life experiences and perspectives would be able to come up with unique solutions to problems which may not arise from groups who think similarly; this is of great value to a society. We need to move beyond tolerance of the ‘other’ to recognition of their inherent value and that they have something to offer.

Culture informs all the other ‘pillars’ of sustainability.. it gives us fresh ideas, critical perspectives and models for living. Its up to us to minimise the negative impact that globalisation has on cultural diversity, and reinforce the good stuff.. sharing ideas, stories, languages, wisdom etc.

From now on, I have decided to ask myself the following questions…

What am I doing to understand others?

What am I doing in order to be understood?

Where will I take a stand in preserving, promoting and enjoying diversity?

Awakening

“In those days,
we finally chose
to walk like giants
& hold the world
in arms grown strong with love
& there may be many things we forget
in the days to come,
but this will not be one of them.”

- Storypeople

The Charter for Compassion

On February 28, 2008 Karen Armstrong won the TED Prize and made a wish: for help in creating, launching and propagating a Charter for Compassion. On November 12, 2009 the Charter was unveiled to the world.

The Charter for Compassion is a document which urges the peoples and religions of the world to embrace the core value of compassion. The charter is currently available in seven languages, and is being translated into more.

You can see the intro video below, or read the full Charter on its website, here.

The website itself is great.. a place for people to share stories about how acts of compassion – toward and from them -have changed their lives. Check it out!

Religion, conflict, and a Charter of Compassion

This article is one of the most eloquent and insightful explorations of faith, conflict and interfaith understanding that I have ever read. I applaud Karen Armstrong for her careful thought and proactive initiatives.

 

Here is one of my favourite quotes:

 

“Religion is a practical rather than a notional discipline. It is not a question of thinking or ‘believing’ things but of behaving consistently in a way that changes you at a profound level…
…In the New Testament, when Jesus was asking for “faith” (Greek: pistis, “trust, involvement, commitment”) he was not asking for a credulous acceptance of a set of doctrines. He was calling for action, seeking disciples who would give what they had to the poor, live rough, behave compassionately even to social outcasts, and devote their lives to the coming Kingdom when rich and poor, weak and powerful would live together in harmony. When the early Christians recited “creeds” they were not expressing “belief” so much as making this kind of commitment; the Latin credo derives from cor do: “I give my heart.”
- Karen Armstrong