Macalester Students in Minnesota have recently been protesting Coca-Cola over the death of union workers at a Coca-Cola bottling plant in Colombia. They recently voted to ban all Coke products on campus, following the lead of Carleton, University of Michigan, and NYU. They claim that Coke is working to disrupt unionized workers in Colombia.

Never of course do they consider the possibility that in addition to being extremely dangerous in Colombia, there are other elements in Colombia that do not want organized labor. Pleas of mercy from Coke fall on deaf ears of those who's main argument follows like this: Multinational Company implies evil practices. Never mind the fact that union officials from all over the world have claimed that these proposed boycotts are unsubstantiated. These protests are being sponsored by an organization called, Killer Coke (clearly an unbiased source).

I particularly enjoy the quote by a student at Macalester: "People tend to feel helpless when confronting these multinationals," Forman said. "But the truth is that they need us, we don't need them. ...No union leaders have been assassinated in Colombia since this campaign began. That to me is proof we are having an impact."

Let us take this logic to another subject to show the absurdity. Everyday since I have been born, the sun has set after I have woken up, thus this is proof that the sun setting is dependent on me waking up. I wonder if I can take advantage of this power over the sun. I will now call myself, Apollo Kollmann.

Anyways, I do not think these protestors have fully thought about the conclusions if they preceed in banning Coca-Cola to the fullest extent that they wish. Thousands of union workers are directly and indirectly employed by Coca-Cola in the United States, none who would have jobs if Coca-Cola products were truly banned (Click here for a list of products produced by Coke). Some of these union jobs were even created by Cesar Chavez (think California grapes). I can't believe he wouldn't turn in his grave if he heard that left protestors cost his union workers jobs.

-Trevor