With the number of visitors dropping in to express solidarity with the Mehdiganj anti-Coke movement on hunger strike, the movement decided to have a special gathering on the 16th day of the strike.

Three members of a German documentary team are currently in Mehdiganj. This team has been documenting various examples of Coca Cola�s lack of ethics in its dealings globally. With the Football World Cup in Germany starting this summer, documentaries by this team being shown in Germany have added to Coke�s woes. Coke is one of the official sponsors of the World Cup. Germans have been especially upset by a contract that demands exclusive sales of Coke products in the vicinity of the stadium and there is enormous pressure to cancel the contract. In this context, the documentaries about Coke have been bad for the corporation.

A team of students from IIT Kanpur led by Prof Varman are also visiting the area, scoping research on environmental aspects around the plant site.

In addition, scouts of an American documentary group are also visiting Mehdiganj to put together stories and details about the struggle and the impact on the lives of people in Mehdiganj as a result of the activities of Coke.

As the protest continues in front of the Coke plant premises, the company is feeling enormous pressure to stop the campaign. After initially denying that any sustained protest even existed, a Coke manager from Delhi had already visited the community � the first such visit in the company�s recent history � to attempt to stop the protest. Now, the company is putting pressure on the campaign.

They have pressured the owner of the land on which the hunger strike continues to have the protesters evicted. The owner has respectfully declined. The strikers were taking electricity from the home of a neighbour � electricity for running portable fans and such at the site of the hunger strike. The company has since pressurized this neighbour to stop giving the strikers electricity.

Meanwhile, large banners hang from the plant site inviting the strikers to visit the plant. The strikers decided to take up the offer and 5 members of the community that is on hunger strike along with Madhu � a scientist and a volunteer with AID � and the members of the German team visited the gates of the plant asking to be shown around.

The managers of the plant denied request to the Germans possibly because they did not want the conditions inside the plant to be described in Germany in the days leading to the Coke co-sponsored World Cup. In addition, they said that only five people from the rest of the group could enter and only without cameras or mobile phones.

The group protested saying that Coke was always welcome to the community meetings without any restrictions and they came with half a dozen cameras taking pictures and recording the event. But now, they had so many restrictions. The group declined the invitation saying that the company should list all of these constraints on its invitation banner.

Meanwhile, citizen groups in Varanasi have decided to protest at the office of the District Collector tomorrow, in support of the hunger strike in Mehdiganj. It is unfortunate, they present, that the district administration has not found the will to visit the community to listen to its concerns while it shows up at the slightest murmur from the Coke plant. A democracy where policy makers cannot find ways to listen to the concerns of people has clearly lost its direction.

compiled by Sanat Mohanty based on an account by Nandlal Prasad, affectionately called Master

Related Links
Pepsi & Coke Facing Ban, Consumer Boycott
Community Groups demand Coke, Pepsi Stop Exploitation
Anti Coke Padayatra in Andhra Pradesh
Communities in Ballia, Kaladera want Coke Out
Economics of Externalities