Louisville, KY
The Kingdoom Days of Action saw nearly 30 protests and events aimed at Burger King and building up to the major mobilization in Miami just over two weeks from now. Our friends in Louisville, pictured here, got things off to an early start with a full-day "Caravan of Justice" on Indigenous Resistance Day (Oct. 12) targeting BK and Whole Foods Market. For more pics and a full report from L'ville, click here. |
Miami, FL
Members of STAND at the University of Miami organized a moving vigil attended by over 60 students where Immokalee farmworkers, religious leaders, and students spoke out and forged a new commitment to the CIW's campaign.
UM students will be joining their friends across town at Florida International University - which hosts a BK restaurant in its foodcourt - for a rally and march on November 28. Should Burger King continue down the same road much longer, FIU could become one of several hotbeds of activity reminiscent of dozens of campuses during the Boot the Bell days... |
Leonel Perez of the CIW led the UM crowd in a reflection as tomatoes were passed around the circle - the very tomatoes that lend the above-pictured bucket its 32 pounds of weight when filled; a 32-pound bucket that is lifted and hauled over and over, day after day, for which farmworkers are still paid the same rate - 40 to 45 cents - as they were before 1980. |
These shockingly low wages, in turn, help to pad the coffers of the fast-food industry, allowing corporations like Burger King to plow ever-growing profits back into mind-numbing marketing aimed directly at young people and students. |
But these students, like many others, ain't buying it. As the vigil wrapped up, dozens of heartfelt and pointed messages to BK were scrawled on a huge letter to be delivered to corporate headquarters just days before the November 30 march... |
...which will see a multitude of consumers and farmworker allies from all walks of life, from Miami, Florida, and beyond, calling on Burger King to take the simple steps to "do what's right." |
Denver-Boulder, CO
From Miami we travel to the Mile-High city, where the CU-Boulder SFA got together with some friends from Denver and held a march and rally featuring some great art, from this SFA banner and "Exploitation King" sign... |
...to this simple yet compelling visual used to facilitate several impromptu sidewalk educational sessions on sweatshops in the fields. |
In a signature SFA move, this Boulder student remixed a familiar marketing slogan... |
...a move repeated just days later at another powerful protest that brought together students, workers and faith leaders for a lunchtime jaunt at a Denver Burger King across the street from the University of Colorado. |
But BK is not the only one who better start to take notice in Colorado... pictured here is a delegation of Denver student, labor and community leaders who paid a visit to Chipotle headquarters, where executives refused to even meet with them to discuss their concerns about labor conditions in Chipotle's tomato supply chain. For more on the Chipotle campaign, click here and here.
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Chicago, IL
Chicago, a community so instrumental in the groundbreaking McDonald's victory, also came out in force, organizing a total of 4 actions over the course of a week - from this one featuring Northwestern University students in Evanston... |
...to this march and rally in Pilsen featuring local residents, youth, and members of Interfaith Worker Justice and ChicagOtra... |
...taking their message into this BK restaurant, along with a letter for the manager. Amazingly, Burger King VP Steve Grover was so miffed by this press release sent out by folks in Chicago that he took the time to email and call (twice) the contact person on the release, apparently troubled about its "misrepresentations." We're having a hard time finding these "misrepresentations" ourselves, but if you want to ask Steve for some clarification, you can email him yourself. |
Urbana-Champaign, IL
Not to be outdone by their neighbors to the north, Urbana-Champaign SFA and Jobs With Justice came out in a critical mass bike ride and rally. |
Lawrence, KS
Fair-Foodistas in Lawrence continued their tradition of base-building and creative actions with a series of events over the past month, including a popular trial of "the King" for his numerous crimes against the people. |
In a shocking decision, the Lawrence people's tribunal found the King guilty as charged, but gave him one last chance to mend his ways before the promised massive storming of his castle in Miami planned for November 30. |
Austin, TX
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photo: hala aboudaher |
No action report would be complete without news from the "atx," where one BK manager's unfriendliness didn't dampen the spirits of the dozens of high school and college students who came out for a march and rally. |
Hattiesburg, MS
Students with the Southern Mississippi chapters of USAS and SFA did their thing, representin' for the "dirty." |
Cute shirt. ("Sweatshop King," for those keeping score at home. Click here to get your hands on your own BK campaign materials.) |
Tallahassee, FL
Finally, we return to BK's home state, Florida, with some pictures from a great action put on by the Center for Participant Education at FSU's homecoming parade. Over 30 people participated in a rolling theater piece, complete with a greedy King trying (unsuccessfully) to keep down an unruly group of farmworkers and their allies. A great warmup for the caravan of people coming to Miami from Tallahassee for the big march... |
Burger King and its ad agency CP&B want us to think that they're the "king of cool," that we should obediently consume those burgers and not question - much less do anything about - the horrendous exploitation in the fields that supply BK with its tomatoes. But there is another message that Burger King is inadvertently sending to thousands of its consumers, a message that grows louder with every day that Burger King continues to stand in the path of progress... |
...a message that grows louder as long as "the king" values a little bit of cash more than doing the right thing: Burger King just doesn't care about human rights.
Today, in the wake of the Yum Brands and McDonald's agreements, we stand on the threshold of a more modern, more humane agricultural industry in Florida. Yet, facing this historic opportunity to take responsibility for the human rights crisis in its tomato supply chain - a crisis that its high-volume tomato purchasing practices directly contribute to - Burger King has instead chosen to lie, stall, and collude with tomato growers in Florida that are trying to resist these urgently-needed changes.
But we have our own message for Burger King:
No amount of resistance on its part can stop an idea whose time has come. |
Today, we take heart in our own history and our own victories that came, sometimes after years of difficult struggle, against opponents that at one time seemed as unmovable and bullheaded as BK seems today. November 30 was, after all, the date in 1999 when thousands of young people, union members, and environmentalists shut down the World Trade Organization in Seattle; our march this November 30 steps off from the very site where the 2003 Root Cause march ended. This is a history that neither BK nor the backward Florida tomato industry can take away from us; this is an ongoing story to which we will add another chapter this November 30, and another as well when we win this campaign and tip Florida agriculture ever closer to justice.
Where will you be this November 30?
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