Onion Uttapam : India's Leading Satire Daily

In the true spirit of the Olympics, the various disciplines were supposed to be competed amongst sportspersons from different countries. Over the years, the focus has shifted to drugs, sponsorships and big money from behind the scenes who pour the money on both sides if some idiotic self-serving politicians want to hijack what basically is a sport that tests the physical endurance of the intriguing human body to hedge their investments. It happened in Berlin when Coca-Cola pushed the brand on the side of the Allies and when the USof A stepped in, it promoted Fanta through Coca-Cola GmbH to German soldiers. They were playing safe. Coca-Cola was a primary sponsor of the 1936 Games. And the first modern day Olympic Torch Relay was initiated in Berlin in 1936, and Coca-Cola was its sponsor at that time too.

Its a sponsor for the 2008 games today. To be fair, Coca-Cola was not the only company to hedge its bets during World War II. But the extent to which companies will go to ensure future markets and profits, however unethical, is disturbing. And Coca-Cola's sponsorship of the Olympic Torch Run and the Beijing Games is just that - unethical and devoid of morality. The very two words that many businesses of today lack in spades. It makes no difference to the management of Coca Cola whether Tibetans are murdered, tortured or intimidated by the Chinese government. Its objective is to increase its sales in China, and it will do nothing to risk losing access to that emerging

market, particularly at a time when its sales in the US are declining as consumers become more health conscious and with their economy in a downslide.

Its about time to send an unambiguous message to the world that morality comes before crass profits.

Readers in India must be aware of the Plachimada, Palakkad case. They must also be aware of the snake-forked duality of their speak. on the one hand they talk about environmental stewardship and on the other go about systematically depleting water resources, pollute the soil around the plant. It was through years of sustained agitation that their biggest plant in India has been shutdown, at Plachimada, Palakkad. The degradation done there not only to natural resources but strong enough to genetically modify the human genes is remniscent of the horrors perpetuated in WWII and in Vietnam by Agent Orange, a gas that still has mutative effects on the babies born even today.

Its time that corporates like these were told in no non-sense terms that human rights come above everything else and corporate greed and profits be shelved. That its drink is poisonous itself is quite another matter.

Comments (1)

ragamuffin said:

Good pic! I guess in today's world where money is the driving force all other values ,principles, and ethics have taken a back seat.Talking of the Palakkad case there are many more such places in India where tribals are endangered and no one's any the wiser!There's a place in Bihar "Jadugoda" where uranium has been mined but the radioactivity has spread through the soil for kms around the place.!!Dont these villagers have any human rights?

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May 02, 2008
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