A symbolic gesture but with a strong political and cultural value. In Naples, about 150 employees of the municipality promoted a petition aimed at the mayor Gaetano Manfredi, the junta and the city council, to ask that the automatic distributors present in the municipal offices are eliminated the Coca Cola brand products.
The request is part of the wake of the initiatives of the BDS international movement (boycott, divestment, penalties), born with the aim of exercising economic, cultural and political pressure against Israel, accused of systematic violations of human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories.
The petition, delivered to the councilor for welfare Luca Trapaniunderlines the need to symbolically affect companies considered complicit, directly or indirectly, of the support for Israeli employment.
Coca Cola is in fact one of the objectives of the BDS campaign and continuing to consume it means closing your eyes in front of what happens in Gaza. Why? Coca-Cola Israel manages a regional distribution and refrigeration center in the illegal colony of Atarot. In addition, its branch, Tabor Winery, produces wines from grapes from vineyards that are found on the land occupied in illegal colonies in the West Bank and in the Syrian Golan. The Israeli soldiers participating in the current genocide have often been photographed with coca-Cola cans, donated to them by various groups that allow the genocide. Local alternatives are ticking all over the world to replace Coca-Cola.
We are convinced – reads the text – that a simple and non -expensive action like this can give a clear and consistent message with the sensitivity already expressed by Naples, a city that has always been solidarity with the peoples fighting for their rights. And it could also push other public bodies and workplaces to do the same.
Not only Coca Cola
In the petition it also asked that during the next edition of Phamexpo 2025 at the Oltremare exhibition, there is no room for the stands of the Israeli multinational Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, giant of the pharmaceutical industry.
Boycott as a pressure tool
The boycott of products is not new in the history of human rights movements. In the case of Israel, the BDS movement invites citizens, public and private entities not to buy products and services of companies that profit from employment or that directly support the Israeli military apparatus. The goal is not to hit individual workers, but to push governments and multinationals to take a position.
As you can adhere to the boycott of Israel
Those who want to join consciously can choose several concrete actions:
Sources: ANSA / BDS
Because in Italy they are boycott Carrefour and what Palestine has to do with it
