: WATER RIGHTS Aug 8 2002
   Families Fight Coca-Cola in Kerala for Water
   Coca Cola Virudha Samara Samithy (Anti Coca-Cola Struggle Committee)
   organized a mass rally and public meeting at Plachimada, India on
   August 4, marking the 105th day of a campaign against the company. A
   spirited march proceded to the plant, accompanied by many from the
   surrounding communities, as well as numerous police. Speakers discussed
   the ongoing theft by Coca-Cola of water throughout the region, poor
   labor conditions inside the plant, and the complicity of Indian
   political parties in abetting multi-national corporations.
   This ongoing struggle against this plant in the state of Kerala was
   launched on April 22, with a symbolic blockade and an ongoing
   continuous picketing/dharna by women and children belonging to the
   Eravalar and Malasar communities. Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages Pvt.
   Ltd established the bottling plant, and subsequently sunk more than 60
   borewells on the premises, which is adjacent to a major irrigation
   canal, and several kilometers from numerous reservoirs and the
   Chitturpuzha River. Water in the area has both become depleted and
   polluted.
   This more than three month long campaign has included blockades of the
   plant, lawsuits both against and on behalf of the protestors,
   destruction of advertisements, and numerous rallies and marches.
   [ India IMC | CorpWatch India ]
   [1]http://www.indymedia.org/index.php3?newswire=[2]open

References

   1. http://www.indymedia.org/index.php3?newswire=open
   2. http://www.indymedia.org/index.php3?newswire=open