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Say 'no' to Coke, Pepsi: Plachimada declaration

PODUSEERY, India - The three day World Water Conference (WWC) ended in India on Friday with a demand for a boycott of the products of multi-nationals Coca-Cola and Pepsi Cola, raising the slogan of "Coke and Pepsi quit India".

On the concluding day of the WWC ,beside the Pepsi plant at Pudussery, the Plachimada declaration was adopted, calling upon the people to resist all "criminal attempts" to privatize and corporatize water.

"Only through these means we can ensure the fundamental and inalienable right to water for the people all over the world," the declaration said.

"Water is the basis of life. It is the gift of nature, it belongs to all living beings on earth. Water is not private property and it is a common resource for the sustenance of all," the declaration said.

The declaration, being described as the "magna carta" of water, was read out by social activist from Europe Mande Barolow, who said the water hunters and pirates should be driven out of the country. "Our water is not for sale, our lives are not for sale," she said.

The Pudussery panchayat president, K G Jayanthi, said the licence for the Pepsi plant was cancelled in May 2003 after the finding that they were extracting groundwater excessively.

(Asia Pulse/PTI)

Jan 27, 2004

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