Sunday, April 13, saw one of the biggest, most
exciting actions to date in the two-year old
Taco Bell boycott, as over 3,000 people joined
CIW members in a powerful protest to demand
that Taco Bell take responsibility for the sweatshop
conditions in the fields where its tomatoes
are picked. How did such a remarkable action
come about? |
Solidarity, that's how. The weekend began
on the 12th, when the CIW contingent joined
an estimated 30,000 people in a Saturday March
for Peace through DC's downtown streets. As
do most labor organizations in this country,
including the AFL-CIO, the CIW opposes the
war in Iraq as unnecessary, unwise, and unjustified
-- and we were far from alone in that opinion
on Saturday in DC!
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The march was part of a day of activities
organized by the Latin American Solidarity
Coalition, a conference examining issues affecting
Latin America and the Latino community here
in the US, with a particular focus on the
possible consequences of the proposed Free
Trade Area of the Americas for poor rural
and working communities.
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In the evening of the 12th, Lucas Benitez
of the CIW addressed the conference, describing
in a moving speech a "chain of solidarity"
that ties together small farmers from Mexico,
Guatemala and Haiti, farmworkers here in the
US, and US family farmers, all of whom are
forced to struggle just to survive by the
giants of corporate farming that have come
to dominate agricultural production in the
hemisphere.
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The evening ended with a little warm-up performance
by JG & HavikenHayes for the conference
crowd...
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... and then it was time for the march. Sunday
greeted the marchers with beautiful weather
-- there are few cities on the face of this
earth more beautiful than Washington, DC,
in the Spring, by the way...
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The march was organized as a "March of
Shame," pausing from time to time along
a lengthy route at landmarks symbolic of exploitation
of Latin America, including on its route the
Taco Bell restaurant on 14th & U in recognition
of the Taco Bell boycott.
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The CIW, of course, traveled to DC with a
van load of banners...
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protest art...
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... and spirit to make the Taco Bell stop
a raucous, joyful experience!
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Once we arrived at Taco Bell, the CIW contingent
went quickly into action...
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Banners took up their positions in front of
the restaurant...
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... a restaurant that, of course, had a hearty
contingent of DC police standing guard, once
again unnecessarily (when will they learn
that the Taco Bell boycott isn't about violence
or vandalism -- the message, "End Sweatshops
in the Fields," is powerful enough on
its own).
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Once the banners were in place and the press
team was busy with radio, tv, and newspaper
interviews,...
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... it was time for some music to move the
marchers minds and bodies to the
boycott message so tightly captured in the
track "Hunger Days" (download
it here)...
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In his inimitable style, JG of Over
the Counter Intelligence got the
crowd to sing the hook, "Yo no quiero
Taco Bell"...
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... and an incredible crowd it was, in case
we hadn't mentioned that fact recently...
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And of course, HavikenHayes had to add his
own style to the mix, here helping JG wrap
up the song with the support of his own senior
posse of loyal fans... All in all, an unforgettable
day, one made possible by the Latin American
Solidarity Coalition and by people from across
the country who truly believe, in the words
of the sign above, "A better world is
possible!"
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