The second season of Coke Studio Bangla launched with a concert on November 10 at the capital’s Army Stadium. After the roaring success of the first season, this was always going to be a highly anticipated event. To avail tickets, Coke even ran a promotional campaign involving the purchase of Coca-Cola bottles and collecting hidden coins.
This concert was only one day after the world witnessed mass walkouts and protests organized by the Shut It Down For Palestine initiative -- where school children and corporate employees took to the streets in over 300 cities chanting the slogan, “no more business as usual.”
By now, everyone is familiar with the ongoing genocide and invasion committed by the Israeli government on Palestinian lands. While many feel powerless in the face of these atrocities in a faraway, foreign land, citizens in every corner of the world continue to take action and fight for humanity.
There have even been protests in Bangladesh calling for a ceasefire. And while protests do give a voice to citizens and raise some much needed awareness, the impact ultimately still hinges on our cries touching some crevice of empathy in the hearts of the soulless politicians in power.
The protest mobilized by Shut It Down For Palestine and the initiative of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement provides a much more powerful alternative for us ordinary citizens to make a meaningful difference: Boycott.
Unfortunately, this message seems to have gone unheard by the thousands who flocked to enjoy the festivities at the concert organized by Coke Studio. The crowds were packed with utter disregard for the call to action, but many may have been entirely unaware of the collective call for boycotting the concert in the first place.
What did coke do?
The popular notion in circulation is that the money that we give to Coke is then transferred over to fund the Israeli military. Given that Coca-Cola is an American company -- who pays taxes to the government -- and that the US is Israel's biggest ally in the ongoing genocide, this must somewhat be true.
So are we to boycott all profiteering US companies? In my radical opinion, yes (but I don't think people are ready for that conversation just yet).
The Central Bottling Company (CBC), also known as Coca-Cola Israel, is an Israeli company that operates as the exclusive franchisee of Coca-Cola in Israel, and they manufacture and distribute the beverage all across the Zionist state. So ultimately, Coke does have a partnership with an Israeli company, but it's unclear which direction the money really flows.
The beloved beverage company also operates a factory in the illegal Israeli settlement of Atarot, which is built in occupied Palestine. This is by far the most glaring example of Coke running financial operations in Israel and they need to be pressured to stop.
But Coke also had a direct involvement in the recent developments of the conflict:
Coke and Pepsi have major partnerships with pretty much every major restaurant or food chain in the world. Coca-Cola (a $245 billion company) considers McDonald's (a $194bn company) to be one of their largest and most invaluable partners.
"McDonald’s is so important to Coke that it is the only customer with its own division. Coca-Cola’s McDonald’s division is run by Javier C Goizueta, the son of Coke’s former chief executive, Roberto C Goizueta. When the elder Mr Goizueta died in 1997, flags at McDonald’s throughout the world flew at half-staff." -- Stephanie Strom, New York Times.
As we all know, McDonald's provided free meals to the Israeli army. These meals include Coke as refreshments -- and this could not have been done without Coke giving a green light.
So yes, Coca-Cola actively participated and directly aided or fed the Israeli army in the midst of committing genocide over starving Palestinians.
If you're looking for a direct reason to call Coke bad, there it is.
So are these musicians pro-genocide?
No. I would hope not.
Artists and performers have likely rehearsed and prepared for this concert for months. While the line-up didn't exactly comprise of unknown artists, some may still have staked their careers on the success of this event.
Music guru, Arnob, certainly had nothing to lose. Any concert with his name instantly sells out and I refuse to accept that he’s desperately in need of funding such a project.
But one can perhaps understand that he may have taken on the responsibility to prop up some of the other upcoming performers who needed their big break.
Nevertheless, when someone with such an untouchable reputation as him chooses to stay silent without uttering a single word of support to the Palestinian people, it hurts. As Bangladeshi music fans, we must hold our icons to the highest of ethical standards and ensure they are not corrupted.
How does boycotting in Bangladesh make a difference?
To be entirely honest, it might not.
The government of Bangladesh won't be able to exert any real pressure on the US or Israel to ceasefire. But we can collectively convince our government to ban the distribution of such consumer goods in support of Israel, the way Turkey did. This would optimistically obstruct the purchasing of bombs by Israel.
Even if our government is simply not ready to take such a stance, it is up to us as individual consumers to remain conscious of where we spend our money. The onus of not sending even a single taka of that Tk100 bottle of Coke over to help fund the Israeli military is on us. The concert culture of Bangladesh is thriving and choosing to sit out on one that potentially facilitates genocide will not ruin it. Products that are clearly ethical and genocide-free are the only products we should be demanding.
Let the call for boycott also serve as a call to wake up and be more conscious of our consumption in every regard. Maybe boycotting won't resolve the conflict. But choosing to remain ignorant and complicit and forfeiting your only power, just for the sake of easy luxury, will definitely achieve nothing.
(This article was first published by Dhaka Tribune, Bangladesh
