Julia Gabriel:
"Como trabajadores y mujeres, tenemos que luchar por nuestros derechos y contra la violencia tanto en la labor como en la casa"
"As women and as workers, we have to fight for our rights and against violence both in the fields and in our own homes"
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back to breaking
news page
Victory, sweet, sweet victory! Tour
crew members and Memphis allies pose
in front of the University of Memphis
restaurant formerly-known-as-Taco
Bell, a Boot the Bell victory
that resulted in the replacement of
the offending fast-food chain with a
local pizzeria!
From the looks of
things, the workers at the new restaurant
look pretty happy about the change themselves.
The CIW sends out our heartfelt thanks
and congratulations to all the U of
Memphis students and community members
who worked on the campaign for nearly
two years.
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Before leving Memphis, the tour crew
was hosted by the Mid-South Peace and
Justice Center at a pot-luck dinner.
Apparently, some local artists with
a band by the name of "Bury the
Living" put together a track in
honor of the boycott -- soon we're going
to have enough songs to put out a cd!
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The road home took the crew through
Alabama, along a path full of history
and sites that serve as a powerful reminder
of the long, long road that this country
has traveled -- and continues to travel
-- to freedom. Here, tour members stop
for a moment at the 16th St. Baptist
Church in Birmingham...
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... where they took some time to reflect
on the 1963 bombing that killed 4 little
girls as they got ready for church.
Their spirits, their memory, filled
the crew with a renewed determination
to carry the fight forward.
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Once back in Florida, it was back to
the streets and another Taco Bell protest,
this time with students from the University
of Florida in Gainesville...
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... where despite the rain, a good crowd
came out, as did local TV, who has been
covering this story in Gainesvile since
early 2001, before the boycott was officially
launched!
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Following the protest, the tour wrapped
up on the UF campus, where the crew
did interviews for the student radio
station...
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... and did some last minute flyering
with the help of the UF Boot the Bell
committee.
As the sun set on
our tour crew and the "Texas-Sized
Taco Bell Truth Tour," the crew
piled into the van once more and returned
to Immokalee... to news of the RFK Human
Rights Award and recognition of their
fight against moder-day slavery, to
preparations for the upcoming march
to Miami in November to call for trade
policies that respect human rights,
and to the non-stop organizing that
will ultimately secure victory in the
national Taco Bell boycott.
Plans for the national
action in February and March are in
the works. Stay tuned to this site for
announcements in the coming weeks!
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Our trip out of Texas and into the "Mid-South"
will be told in reverse. As such, we
begin in Memphis, heart of the Mid-South,
where some of the tour crew met with
staff from the MK Gandhi Insitute for
Nonviolence under the gaze of the great
man himself. The Institute -- founded
and run by none other than Gandhi's
grandson, Arun Gandhi, with a mission
to "promote and apply the principles
of nonviolence locally, nationally,
and globally" -- expressed its
support for the boycott and promised
a personal statement of endorsement
from Mr. Gandhi when he returns from
his travels.
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Then it was on to a perfectly nonviolent
action in downtown Memphis, where the
crew gathered with allies from Memphis
(and a couple from Oxford, Mississippi,
who made the drive all the way up just
for the action!) for a mid-day protest.
Memphis TV caught the action and broadcast
the truth of farmworker poverty behind
fast-food profits to millions in the
old cotton capital.
Later that night,
Memphis allies held a well-received
screening of the social justice classic
"Hunger Days," the CIW documentary
on the hunger strike at Taco Bell headquarters
earlier this year.
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Before leaving Texas (remember, the
story is in reverse, just because we
want to tell it that way...), the crew
had a little unfinished business --
a couple of corporate drive bys, so
to speak (of the non-violent kind, of
course). First up: that glassy monolith
in the distance, what might that familiar
logo emblazoned on its shiny skin be?...
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Why it's Pizza Hut, of course, Taco
Bell's sister corporation, a charter
member of the growing Yum Brands family,
and the corporate headquarters for Yum
Restaurants International (YRI), actually,
the coordinating body for all of Yum's
overseas restaurants. The crew thought
it might be a good idea to stop by on
the way to Tennessee and visit a while
with YRI President, Pete Bassi!...
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Alas, as is their wont, the Yum folks
seemed to have been checking out the
website and were waiting for us -- with
a decidedly not nonviolent, armed police
officer in tow -- before the delegation
even had a chance to make it out of
the parking garage...
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The team of mid-level Pizza Hut managers
was happy to finally meet with us (they
had apparently been waiting all day
for our arrival), and assured us that
there's no farmworker exploitation behind
Pizza Hut's products. Our beef was with
Taco Bell and the growers, they said,
offering some unsolicited but really
useful strategic advice! They also promised
to take our packets to YRI, including
the New Yorker and National Geographic
articles on slavery in Florida's fields.
Thanks, guys!
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And finally -- as the crew had grown
quite fond of interaction with our friends
from the corporate world -- a tour crew
delegation stopped by the offices of
a company that is reputed to have done
great violence to the one person/one
vote system of democracy in the 2000
presidential election... ChoicePoint,
the Texas-based data company that helped
Florida election officials "mistakenly"
erase thousands of eligible voters from
the voter rolls in 2000, according to
Greg Palast, author of the New York
Times bestseller "The Best Democracy
Money Can Buy"!
Seems the ol' corporate
apple never falls far from the tree
(or something like that...), as ChoicePoint,
the alleged subverter of democracy,
has two -- count 'em two! -- members
of its Board of Directors in common
with Yum Brands, the profiteer of farmworker
poverty. So, the crew dropped the new
Yum Board of Directors letter off to
ChoicePoint's kind receptionist, who
promised to get it to Ms. Barbara Hill
and Mr. Kenneth Langone, the board members
in question. We fully expect a response
any day now!
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**
SPECIAL CORPORATE BONUS!**
Just
one day after posting this update, we
got a call from the folks at ChoicePoint!
They wanted to inform us that, in point
of fact, their company wasn't technically
responsible for the outrageous subversion
of democracy alleged in Greg Palast's
book, as they acquired DBT
-- the database company involved in
the alleged removal of eligible voters
from Florida's rolls -- shortly after
DBT's work with Katherine Harris was
wrapped-up in 2000.
Also, ChoicePoint
relayed a request from the receptionist
pictured receiving the letter in the
original update that her picture be
removed from the site, though it wasn't
legally necessary because she was in
a public area in the shot. But, in the
spirit of cooperation, we took her picture
out and replaced it with the following
link, where
you can buy a copy of "The
Best Democracy Money Can Buy"
yourself and learn about how our president
won the 2000 election!
Next: Alabama and
Gainesville, FL
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Following the protest in San Antonio
(see below, San Antonio and Austin,
Part I), the tour crew hooked up for
a major afternoon action with students
from UT, St. Edward's College, and people
from the Austin community, including
a group of workers from a local Chinese
restaurant who were recently fired for
complaining about wages and working
conditions and had learned about the
tour during a presentation at a local
community center!
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The restaurant workers were inspired
by the Truth Tour presentation and met
with CIW members afterward to discuss
strategies for organizing at their restaurant.
In turn, they promised to join the tour
crew the next day at the protest! With
solidarity like that, the protest was
guaranteed to be a huge success.
And indeed it was...
the action was distinguished by its
art and banners, including a fine little
tomato suit, some great FTAA banners
(which we fully expect to see down here
in Miami come November...), and our
own critical mass bike entourage.
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As the protest grew, it left the Taco
Bell and headed toward the UT campus.
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With banners held high, the marchers
saw their numbers grow along the mile
long route...
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... and grow, as they reached campus...
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... and grow, until they were well over
100 strong!
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The march wound its way across campus...
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... to the Student Union, where the
UT Taco Bell restaurant is located.
From here we'll give you a first-hand
account of the action, from a member
of the tour crew: "Once we reached
the Student Union, hundreds of students
on their way to and from classes broke
out of their daily routine, if only
for a few minutes, to speak with marchers
and read flyers to better understand
what was going on. We were received
incredibly well by students as well
as press, both university and community."
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The report continues: "Soon marchers
arrived from a nearby anti-racist rally
to join us in our action, pushing our
numbers well above 120. After a quick
speech from Gerardo, we marched into
the Student Union, bullhorns, signs
and all, right up to the Taco Bell on
campus, with shouts of "BOYCOTT
TACO BELL" echoing through the
halls of the Student Union..."
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"We stayed in front of the Taco
Bell for at least 30 minutes, with tons
of chanting and a number of speakers
from the CIW and local students, who
spoke about everything from working
conditions in Immokalee to free trade
to messages of solidarity with the workers
from the restaurant inside, sending
the message that we want to remove the
Taco Bell franchise, replace it with
a local Mexican restaurant and ensure
that none of the workers at the Taco
Bell lose any wages or hours in the
transition.
Of course, we were accompanied by a
number of campus police and suits (who
must have been administration), who
just stood by, seeming to enjoy the
chants and protest as much as we were.
Hundreds of students inside the Student
Union buying lunch seemed to enjoy the
rally as well. When we arrived in front
of the Taco Bell, the line was quite
long...but the line dwindled down to
nothing within a few minutes and stayed
that way for the next 30 minutes or
so."
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Finally, as the day wound down, there
was still time for one last gathering
and reflection with UT students, organized
by UT's Stop the FTAA and Campus Greens,
among others.
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The discussion began with a look at
the sweatshop conditions in Florida's
fields...
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... and made its way around to sweatshops
across the globe, with the help of our
road companion, Jason from Mexico Solidarity
Network. Jason, Gerardo, and Francisca
led the discussion on the inequities
of corporate-led globalization...
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... asking participants to pair up and
check out their partner's t-shirt label,
to get a quick measure of which countries
are clothing the UT students these days...
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Of course, the list read like the itinerary
for a global sweatshop tour, providing
the gathering with great material for
a real life look at the winners and
losers in globalization as we know it.
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The evening was the perfect wrap-up
to an eventful Austin stay, and those
present took advantage of the gathering
to solidify plans for the UT Boot the
Bell campaign -- quite possibly the
18th school nationally to make its campus
a Taco Bell free zone!
Next up: Dallas and
Memphis
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Another day, another radio interview
for Francisca, the voice of the Texas
Tour. This time, the listeners of KOOP,
an Austin-based community radio station,
learned more about the sweatshops in
Florida's fields and the side order
of exploitation that comes with each
and every chalupa...
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But Day 5 was not the just more of the
same old tour routine! Oh no, today,
there was some real drama, as the San
Antonio police leaped into action to
keep the city streets safe for big business
and free of people with free minds...
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The day began in Austin, with a meeting
at the offices of Austin's American
Friends Service Committee (AFSC), a
long-time ally of the boycott.
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Breaking into small groups, the participants
had an opportunity to learn in detail
the situation of farmworkers in Florida.
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And then it was on to San Antonio and
a spirited protest outside a local Taco
Bell restaurant.
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There were banners...
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... and art...
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... and some impressive "animo",
including some young about-to-be Taco
Bell customers that dropped their plans
for chalupas and picked up our protest
signs to join the action!
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The protest was organized by our friends
at the Southwest Workers' Union, LCLAA,
and Fuerza Unida, some great people
who put their hearts into the action...
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... and proved that the old saying is
still very true today, "La Union
Es La Fuerza" (Unity is Strength)!
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There was great press coverage...
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... with three local stations covering
the event.
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And great support in the street...
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.... where, as this photo shows, people
took the time to think about their food
choices. Given the number of people
who turned away on this day, it seems
like the people of San Antonio are indeed
a thoughtful lot.
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Well, most people in San Antonio...
hmmm....enough said...
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Must be something about wearing a uniform.
The only other people in San Antonio
not totally taken with the protest were
our friends in blue.
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These two hearty souls (who look like
they might favor a chalupa or two between
donuts...) took a moment to ponder just
which laws they could use to keep the
protesters from expressing their opinions...
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... when finally they hit on it -- we'll
ticket the protesters' cars for parking
in the Taco Bell parking lot! Except,
what they were ticketing was really
our friend's (whom you'll remember from
above as having joined the protest after
first driving up to buy some exploitation-tainted
tacos) change of heart -- see, he parked
in the lot with every intention to pay
Taco Bell for their "food,"
having only heard one side of the story
of that so-called food from Taco Bell's
marketing department. But once he learned
the reality behind the tacos from the
protesters, he joined the boycott and
grabbed a sign.
He was charged with
Failure to Move Vehicle upon Becoming
Informed Consumer...
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Silly police distractions or not, our
friends from the San Antonio fought
on, never stopping in the work of informing
their community about Taco Bell's ties
to human rights abuses in Florida's
fields.
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And by the honks and thumbs up that
filled the air around Taco Bell that
day, it seems their message was heard
loud and clear. Great action -- thanks
to all the great immigrant and low-wage
worker organizations that helped put
it together -- La Union Hace la Fuerza!
Next: Part II of
Day 5 in Austin/San Antonio
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Check
out this great editorial from Tuesday's University
of Texas Daily Texan Online
We begin our update in Austin (a little
chronological reverse, just to keep
our readers on their toes...), where
our intrepid tour crew addressed nearly
100 students and community members at
St. Edward's University for the kick-off
event of the Austin leg of the tour.
Little-known Texas
fact: The Dallas Cowboys, winners of
an NFL record five Super Bowls, hold
their summer training camp at St. Edward's
University.
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Sponsored by the St. Edward's Hispanic
Student Association, MEChA, St. Edward's
CAMP program (a scholarship and leadership
development program for the children
of migrant farmworkers), and St. Edward's
student government, the presentation
enjoyed a great turnout. According to
a coordinator of student events in attendance,
the meeting was one of the largest ever
for a social justice event at the school!
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And according to the tour crew, the
presentation was the best yet on the
Texas-Sized Truth Tour, with a diverse
crowd, great participation and interest...
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... and a small frenzy in pursuit of
materials after the presentation to
help spread word of the sweatshop conditions
in the fields and win the Taco Bell
boycott in Texas.
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Once the final students made their way
to the materials table...
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... it was time for a celebration dinner
with St. Edward's MEChistas! The tour
crew was treated to a meal at a REAL
Mexican restaurant, none of this fake
fast food stuff.
The rest of the Austin
stay will be chronicled in updates to
follow, but if the first day is any
indication, it promises to be quite
a fine time.
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Meanwhile, back in Houston, before reaching
Austin, the tour crew had a job to do
with the Taco Bell-eating people of
Houston. The crew split into two groups,
with one heading out to a local Taco
Bell restaurant, flyering and getting
a little protest on...
The protest was a
surprising success, as Lucas managed
to turn this truck away (though not
to convince them to abandon their fossil-fuel
guzzling SUV...), and a worker from
the Taco Bell itself stopped to ask
about the protest. According to the
protesters, the worker was more than
sympathetic, saying, "Mientras
maltratan a mi raza yo no voy a comer
aqui" ("As long as their mistreating
my people, I'm not going to eat here").
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The protest caught some media attention.
Here, KPFT's (Pacifica) News Department
caught some of the action, interviewing
a member of the Houston Global Awareness
Collective, the organization that hosted
the tour crew in Houston.
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The other half of the crew hit the University
of Houston Taco Bell. Why the mischevious
grin?....
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Because they were getting ready for
a little something we like to call the
"Taco Bell Express Full Court Press"..,.
We'll follow CIW member Gerardo Reyes
as he executes a classic press strategy...
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First, the Guardrail Lean... a simple
move, just right for initiating a full
press... gradual, but familiar...
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Followed by the Mind If I Grab a Chair...
this move is definitely a degree higher
in difficulty, but the potential payoff
is much greater... with walls broken
between flyerer and flyeree, real communication
can take place and consumption behavior
can be addressed...
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Finallly, the full Booth Insinuation...
The Coup de Grace, this move breaks
all barriers and forges the kind of
intimacy necessary to truly convert
the Taco Bell eater into a full-blown
boycotter. Nice job, Gerardo...
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Damn... busted... just as things were
going good the Taco Bell Express manager
pulls out the old "private property"
line and gets our crew kicked out of
her restaurant...
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Oh well, it's a big campus, and there
are a lot of students to talk to. Undeterred
by being so rudely interrupted by the
manager, Gerardo continues on his dogged
pursuit of spreading consciousness...
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... touching Houston one mind at a time.
Next; Austin Day
2-3!
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The Tour continued on its way to Texas,
stopping in the "Big Easy"
Saturday night. Oh yeah... Saturday
night in New Orleans, home of Mardi
Gras, jazz, and the drive through daquiri...
but this was a business trip, and the
tour crew stopped first for a presentation
at the Loyola University School of Law,
hosted by Professor Bill Quigley, Dean
of the Loyola Law Clinic (among the
many hats he wears).
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This being Saturday, Oct. 4th, it was
actually election day in New Orleans.
Following the presentation at Loyola,
Green Party activists invited the tour
to speak at their "victory party"...
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Which, though it wasn't exactly a victory
party -- the candidate for State Senate
lost, though polling 14% of the vote
-- those in attendance got a chance
to learn about the boycott and the sweatshop
conditions in the fields where Taco
Bell buys its tomatoes.
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Of course,
no visit to New Orleans would be complete
without seeing the sites... So, the
next morning, before hitting the road
to Texas, Bill Quigley took the crew
on a tour around town, stopping here
at Lake Ponchartrain to let the whole
world know how they feel about Taco
Bell)...
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... And stretching their legs here in
the French Quarter before piling back
into the van for the trip to Houston.
While we are in such
an historic place, here's a little bit
of Louisiana history that I bet you
didn't know:
How Haiti Saved the United States...
1803 is the year that the U.S. and France
agreed on the Louisiana Purchase. While
the Haitian struggle for independence
was taking place, France was also fighting
against England and other European powers
in the Napoleonic Wars.
Napoleon dreamed of a widespread French
Empire. This included Haiti and other
territories in North America, including
Louisiana. He had even, at one time,
considered attacking the United States
itself.
But by 1803, with the European wars
not going the way he had hoped, he needed
money. So when American representatives
came calling, he agreed to give up Louisiana
(all of it) for a big chunk of money.
The Haitian Revolution contributed to
the protection of America in three ways:
* It convinced Napoleon to abandon his
dream of an American Empire.
* It made him desperate for money, making
him sell the Louisiana Territory and
abandon all claims to it (and any future
plans of invading America).
* It gave hope to enemies of France
everywhere. For a certain time, at the
beginning of the Napoleonic Wars, France's
Grand Army of the Republic seemed unbeatable.
But England and other countries slowly
turned the tide. The seemingly small
victory of a half million slaves over
the feared French soldiers in Haiti
was an example of just how vulnerable
French power really was to a determined,
spirited freedom fighting force. Without
either Louisiana or Haiti as a jumping-off
point, France would never again have
the opportunity to attack the United
States. And for this, America
has to thank Toussaint L'Overture and
his determined fellow rebels, many of
whom gave their lives in the name of
freedom.
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And now, back to the Tour...
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On Day One in Houston, the crew hooked
up with old friends from the Mexico
Solidarity Network who also happened
to be on tour in Houston, traveling
with members of a women's cooperative
from Chiapas and speaking about the
consequence of corporate-led free trade
on poor communities in Southern Mexico.
The presentation allowed CIW members
to draw the links between free trade
policies and farmworker poverty here
in the US.
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Following the presentation, business
was hopping at the boycott table, with
people grabbing up copies of the new
Consumer Letter to the Yum! Brands Board
of Director to sign and send to Yum's
board members.
If you'd like to
send the letter yourself, click
here to download the PDF file of the
letter. And of course,
feel free to help copy and circulate
the letter among your family and friends
so they can send along a copy too!
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Then it was on to an interview at Houston's
Pacifica radio station, KPFT, a long-time
friend of the CIW and the Taco Bell
boycott.
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The tour crew had the distinct pleasure
of addressing KPFT's Proyecto Latinoamericano
audience, discussing everything from
immigrant worker organizing, to the
boycott, slavery, free trade, and the
CIW's history.
Tomorrow -- Day Two
in Houston!
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Indeed, Florida is well on its way to
becoming the new "capital of modern-day
slavery," with six federal peonage
prosecutions since 1997 in Florida fields...
Well, after much
anticipation, the Texas-Sized Truth
Tour finally hit the road, and after
a brief meeting in Tampa with the new
president of the National Lawyers Guild
(you never know when you might need
a good lawyer...), the Truth Tour made
its first official stop at the governor's
office in Tallahassee, where this historical
marker got a much-needed updating from
one of the tour members.
For some reason,
though, the governor's staff closed
up shop and headed home a little early
on Friday, so the tour crew didn't get
a chance to meet with Governor Bush
about the veritable epidemic of slavery
cases making national headlines in his
state. Didn't matter much, though, because
Governor Bush couldn't fit the workers
into his busy schedule, anyway, referring
them and their concerns about slavery
to the Sub-secretary of the Department
of Business and Professional Blah, Blah,
Blah....
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But that's the way it is with important
people like our governor, shown here
in a photo from 2002 with Agricultural
Commissioner Charles Bronson at a candidates
forum organized by the agricultural
industry during last year's campaign.
According to the Florida Fruit and Vegetable
Association, Governor Bush assured the
growers' lobbyists that:
"On the subject
of private property rights and sovereign
laws, Governor Bush said, 'I don’t
think you’re going to find a governor
who is as committed to the bedrock principle
of private property rights as this one
here.'”
That must be why
the Florida Fruit and Vegetable Association
and the governor get along so well.
Seems he always has time in his busy
agenda for them -- why he was the Keynote
Speaker just last month when the FFVA
met in their annual convention at the
Ritz Carlton, Florida's only four-star
hotel, right here in Naples, and was
a happy litte camper at their annual
"Cracker Breakfast,"
too. There's a great photo of the governor
at the Cracker Breakfast in the latest
issue of "The Packer," the
agriculture trade weekly, reminding
growers that our man Jeb is one of them,
despite his Blue Blood heritage (can't
find the photo online, unfortunately...).
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Fresh from the snub at the governor's
office, it was on to a presentation
to people who DO care about slavery
and sweatshop conditions in the state's
fields....
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... a packed room
of students and community activists
at Florida State University. Following
a screening of the CIW-produced video
documenting the recent hunger strike
outside Taco Bell headquarters, the
tour members led a lively, interactive
discussion of the growing national alliance
for fundamental change in the way the
fast-food industry does business.
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Then, it was out of the classrooms and
into the street...
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... as about 30 of those present at
the discussion marched across campus
and launched into a raucous little protest
at a Taco Bell restaurant adjacent to
the FSU campus.
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Local radio covered the action...
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... which had all the usual ingredients
of signs, noise...
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.. and a strongly positive reaction
from the majority of the were-going-to-be
Taco Bell customers.
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The protest continued until late, when
finally the tour crew headed over to
stay with friends at the Unitarian Universalist
church, who kindly put them up for the
night. Tomorrow -- New Orleans!
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