The information infrastructure of the Chiapas movement is strong and growing. The English language lists and sites still contain LATAM cultural overtones. Formal announcements of organized efforts intermingle with informal, rambling, suggested strategies such as the one below. These informal postings often become the formal actions. Forwarded with identities removed from the NCDM list: Khwe friends: Nestle, in the form of Nescafe, is certainly a great exploiter of the indiginous growers and workers in the Chiapas highlands and certainly elsewhere. Mayan men women and children in Chiapas earning 75 cents a day usually can't afford to drink their own coffee The discussion of a national/global boycott of multi-national corporations and the various products and services they provide US consumers is, I believe, extremely valid. They say when you want to catch a serpent, one beats the brush, and the neoliberal serpent's brush is his virtual deathgrip on our pocketbooks. its time we turned the tables on them and send the message of ya basta through our purchasing power. Over my writing desk, I have hung a printout of of all the names of the Chiapas massacre 45, to not forget. But, also in my daily living, and that includes how and what I consume, I've chosen to not buy Coca-Cola,(complicity of murders of Guatemalan union resistors) do my banking at BankBoston,(investments in real estate deals which displace indiginous populations) or consume Nestles products.(they rip off workers in virtual slave labor economy) There are others, for other reasons. Perhaps we should consider formalizing a master list of products, corporations, banks, Universities, etc, who by their mercenary actions contribute to the brutal oppression and bloodshed in not just Chiapas, or Mexico, but all of Central and South America. In case anybody missed it, try and get a copy of today's (April 14) NY Times. Pg A15 is a full-page spread on the Occidental Oil project in northeast Columbia and its devestating effect on the U'wa, a native community of 5,000 people who have vowed to leap to their death if a planned pipeline desecrates their mountain. Sponsored by a coalition of pro-Amazonian human rights and environmentalist organizations, it meets the enemy head-on, on their own turf, in the NY Times and tosses an intriguing bit of counter-propanganda down. The interesting part of this ad is this: it informs potential investors of the inherant problems they may face if they become involved with Occidnental Oil. In other words,the intense political risks associated with a genocidal operation against indiginous people may not be worth the investment in terms of public relations. In this age of political correctness, remember apartheid in South Africa, and what happened after all those corporate giants and investors (Harvard University!!) were exposed in their connections with that dirty business. Think about this. If its really all about money, and percieved public opinion, perhaps the time has come to beat the brush for the serpent. We need a list of boycottable items and tangible, not just generally political, reasons, why. Also, I'd be interested to know how the cyber log-jamming of Mexico banks etc. went on Friday. Any noticable effects? In lak-ech, wuniish, laughing crow and gentle breeze
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