Call on Coca-Cola UK to stand up for Tibet! |
PETITION to Coca-Cola UK
On 11 June, Free Tibet Campaign wrote a letter to Coca-Cola UK president Sanjay Guha, in an effort to persuade the British branch of the multinational beverage firm to take a stand on Tibet.
In sponsoring the Olympic Torch relay as it enters the Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR), Coke is tarnishing its own image by being seen to advocate the Chinese government's insistence that the torch is taken through the very streets in which peaceful protests were met with brutal crackdowns only months ago.
Coca Cola has been asked to recognise and acknowledge publicly that it is inappropriate to parade the torch through Lhasa at a time when Tibetans are mourning their dead and while thousands remain in prison. The company has also been warned about the very real possibility of further bloodshed during the torch relay - China’s governor in the TAR has stated categorically that the authorities “will deal with (protesters) severely... We will not be merciful".
The Torch is scheduled to arrive in Lhasa on 21 June. Please join us in appealing to Mr. Guha to stand up and call for an end to human rights abuses in Tibet by signing the e-mail petition to Coca-Cola UK.
Click here to send an e-mail to Coca-Cola UK. The text of the mail is already filled out. If your e-mail program does not open when you click the link above, please copy the text from the letter below and paste it into an e-mail to gbpressoffice@eur.ko.com
Alternatively, you can use Coke UK's automatic query system here.
Please copy us into the mail at mail@freetibet.org so that we can get a list of people who are participating in this e-petition, and let us know of any responses you receive.
- Alternatively, you can write your own letter to Coca-Cola UK at the address below:
Coca-Cola UK:
Anne Holmes, acting director of Free Tibet Campaign, said: “We believe that sponsoring this journey through a country which has been brutalised and cut off from the world should leave a bad taste in any company’s mouth.” So far Coca-Cola has failed to voice any such concerns, with Mr Isdell telling Tibetan groups that the company had no role in selecting the route and that “dropping out of the Torch Relay or using the event to put political pressure on China would erode the ability of the Olympic Games to make a contribution to lasting change in China”. Ms Holmes explained the decision to turn the focus on Coca-Cola UK: “We can but hope that someone within Coca-Cola takes the company’s commitments to human rights seriously. Coke is a signatory of the United Nations Global Compact, which clearly states that businesses ‘should support and respect the protection of international human rights within their sphere of influence’ and that they ‘should ensure that they are not complicit in human rights abuses’.” In the letter to Mr Guha, she wrote: “Coca-Cola may claim Tibet does not normally fall within its sphere of influence, but that claim will ring hollow if Coca-Cola’s brand is clearly associated with any Tibetan blood spilt during the Torch Relay’s tortuous progress through Tibetan areas.” A graphic designer and supporter of Tibet, who is outraged by Coca-Cola’s sponsorship of the Torch Relay in Tibet, donated his take on the message Coke is sending to the Tibetan people. The image, which shows the Tibetan flag burning in a Coca-Cola bottle, has the tag line: 'SHOOTING BOXING TORTURE. IT’S THE REAL THING IN TIBET.' Forwarding the image to Mr Guha, Ms Holmes warned: “If Coca-Cola does not publicly call for an end to the arbitrary detentions and beatings of men, women and children in Tibet - who are simply protesting for their basic human rights to be respected - if it does not denounce and demand an end to the media blackout in Tibet, and if it allows the Chinese government to hijack its brand, along with the Olympic rings and ideals, then we fear this image is how Coca-Cola’s sponsorship of the Torch Relay and the Games themselves will be remembered.”
| Text of the email
Dear Mr Guha, I am writing as a UK resident with an appeal to Coca-Cola Great Britain to break with the non-interventionist position of Coca Cola HQ in Atlanta by taking a stand on the brutal crushing of peaceful protest in Tibet. I appeal to you to do this by making a public statement, as a sponsor of the Olympic Torch Relay, that it would be distasteful for the Chinese government to parade the Torch through Lhasa and other parts of Tibet at a time when Tibetans are mourning their dead and thousands have been arbitrarily arrested and detained. If Coca-Cola does not do this and Tibetan blood is spilt during the Torch’s procession, you will be remembered (by the people of Tibet, by me and by many others) as the sponsors of shooting and torture in Tibet. Please speak out for Tibet and against the human rights abuses of the Tibetan people.
Yours sincerely, YOUR NAME HERE
Take Action!n Mr Sanjay Guha or Corporate Social Responsibility Manager |