-Caveat Lector-
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Sat, 11 Sep 1999 04:04:09
FOR RELEASE: September 10, 1999
CONTACT: Phil Josselyn, 212-645-5230
Laura Castro, 212-674-9499
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
NY Group Calls on Nike to Oppose
Indonesian Army's East Timor Bloodbath
A New York-based activist group, the Global Sweatshop Coalition,
charges that the Nike Corporation "will have blood on its sneakers
if it doesn't use "its cozy relationship with the Indonesian military
and its economic leverage over the Indonesian government to end the
horrors in East Timor."
The coalition notes that "Nike is one of the US corporations doing
the most business in Indonesia," employing "tens of thousands of
young Indonesians...under sweatshop conditions in some 10-12
different factories to produce Nike sneakers... [T]he virulently
anti-union Indonesian military is always ready to accommodate
Nike."
Last December the coalition sponsored a People's Tribunal on
Corporate Crimes Against Humanity, naming Nike as a defendant. The
keynote speaker was investigative journalist Allan Nairn, who is
now the only US journalist still reporting from East Timor.
The Global Sweatshop Coalition will be leafleting shoppers at
Nike's flagship New York store on Saturday, September 11, asking
asking them to call Nike to demand that the corporation pressure
the Indonesian government to stop the violent. The action will take
place from 1:00 to 2:00 PM on the south side of 57th Street between
Madison and Fifth Avenues.
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[Flier for distribution at Niketown on Saturday, September 11, 1999]
Does Nike have blood on its sneakers?
End Indonesia's reign of terror in East Timor
Over the past week, the Indonesian military and its paramilitary
groups have killed hundreds of people in the former Portuguese
colony of East Timor, and have driven about one-fourth of the
800,000 East Timorese into exile.
Despite these well-documented atrocities, the Clinton
administration refuses to do the two things that would certainly
stop the Indonesian military: cut off the flow of US weapons and
suspend credit from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and other
international lenders.
On September 9 the New York Times explained: "Washington has been
reluctant to threaten a cutoff of the aid for fear that the result
would be a new economic collapse in Indonesia," which might "harm
American corporations that have large investments in Indonesia."
Nike is one of the US corporations doing the most business in
Indonesia. Tens of thousands of young Indonesians work under
sweatshop conditions in some 10-12 different factories to produce
Nike sneakers. In just one plant, Pou Chen, 23,000 workers make 10
million pairs of Nike shoes for export each year.
It's not hard to see why Nike likes making sneakers in Indonesia.
Workers' real wages have fallen there by 30% in just the last two
years; Pou Chen and Nike are said to have saved $16 million during
that time on labor costs. And the virulently anti-union Indonesian
military is always ready to accommodate Nike. Last week, for
example, the military deployed soldiers at the Pou Chen plant just
as the workers' union labor agreement expired.
Nike could be using its cozy relation with the Indonesian military
and its economic leverage over the Indonesian government to end the
horrors in East Timor. It should do it now--or else Nike will have
blood on its sneakers.
-------
What you can do
1) Call Nike president Phil Knight (503-671-6453) and tell him to
use his influence with the Indonesian government and military to
push for an end to the violence in East Timor.
2) Stay informed. Two Indonesian labor organizers will be visiting
New York colleges next month: Haryanto, who was fired by Nike for
union organizing, and Dita Sari, who was jailed by the military for
three years for her labor activists. Contact us for more
information.
3) Build the case against Nike. In February or March we're holding
the second phase of our People's Tribunal on Corporate Crimes
Against Humanity. Nike is one of the defendants. Stay in touch for
more information.
The Global Sweatshop Coalition
PO Box 748, Village Station
New York, NY 10012
Phone: 212-645-5230 Fax: 212-645-6243
Email: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Web: http://home.earthlink.net/~dbwilson/creed.html
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