The Popular Struggle against Coca-Cola in Plachimada, Kerala

Abstract

This article is a case study of the campaign against the Coca-Cola Company in Plachimada, Kerala, India, which was a reaction against alleged environmental damages and water depletion caused by the company's production of soft drinks. It addresses the following questions: How was civil society used as a platform for this struggle and what was the outcome? Did this campaign affect the political participation of its members? The study is based on interviews and surveys of the villagers in Plachimada and connects to theories on social movements and political participation, as well as to the debate on Indian civil society. The findings presentedshow the importance of having a local, core group in charge of the campaign, while simultaneously making use of existing support groups at the regional, national, and international levels. It also reveals that after reaching its goal, the campaign has resulted in a general increase of political participation amongst its members.

FDI, Poverty, and the Politics of Potable Water Access

“…In 2003, the Indian Nongovernment Organization (NGO) Center for Science and Environment (CSE) released a report on Coca-Cola's large amounts of groundwater consumption, water pollution, and dangerous levels of pesticides and carcinogens in its products (Hills & Welford, 2005, pp. Berglund and Helander's (2015) extensive analysis of the Coca-Cola case in Kerala maintains that outside alliances with larger, broad-based support groups were key to the poor's success. Protestors from outside of the village began to join locals picketing in front of the factory (Schils, 2011).…”

“…Protestors from outside of the village began to join locals picketing in front of the factory (Schils, 2011). Berglund and Helander's (2015) extensive analysis of the Coca-Cola case in Kerala maintains that outside alliances with larger, broad-based support groups were key to the poor's success. The large middle-class population in Kerala became more involved after their interests were also threatened.…”

Water management and stewardship : taking stock of corporate water behaviour

“…Three decades have passed since its introduction by the Pinochet administration in the 1981 water code, allowing time for the implications of the reforms to be assessed and re-assessed. The assessments of its impacts have reinforced the need to question the equity outcomes of registration and trading of water rights in Chile (Romano and Leporati, 2002;Bauer, 2004 andBudds, 2010). The Romano and Leporati study examined the official water market in Limarí Province, Chile, and found that the distribution of water rights in the case study area became more inequitable as trading progressed -peasant households held a lower share of water rights on a per capita and aggregate basis and tended to rely more on their original/customary rights rather than participation in the market (Romano and Leporati, 2002) 135 .…”

“…Recent, more qualitative assessments have reinforced the need to question the equity outcomes of formalisation and trading of water rights in Chile. See for example Bauer, 2004;and Budds, 2010. 136 Water resources management in Spain has evolved since 1996 with the establishment of public water companies under business law ('derecho mercantil'), as compared with administrative law ('derecho administrativo'). The companies were created with public missions to develop hydraulic infrastructure (previously a mission of the public River Basin Agencies), but their constitutions and the framing laws (the legislation governing this form of company) mean there is less opportunity for public supervision and scrutiny than in the case of agencies governed by administrative law.…”

The Anti-Coca-Cola Movement in Plachimada, Kerala

“…Like elsewhere in the country, the destruction of the common people's livelihood (predominantly based on agriculture) in Plachimada is another instance of development-induced dispossession that negatively affected the lives of marginalized communities in India since the beginning of 1990 (Kothari, 1996;Mathur & Marsden, 1998;Mehta, 2009;Oliver-Smith, 2010). This movement has particular features in the configuration as a contemporary social movement, which have been discussed in previous studies (Berglund & Helander, 2015;Bijoy, 2006;Mooney 2012;Raman, 2005Raman, , 2007aRaman, , 2007bRaman, , 2007cRaman, , 2010aRaman, , 2010b. For example, an article published in this journal by Berglund and Helander (2015) focused on the significance of civil society and analyzed the effects of the movement's campaign on the political participation of its members.…”