SUBJECT: ACTION: Folgers Boycott; Oct. 10 P&G shareholder's vote CONTENTS (Separated by "*"s): * Summary * Copy of NtN's leaflet on the Folgers boycott * A brief letter to ITT from someone who called Folgers (P&G) * A miscellany of quotes/info on El Salvador ------------------------------------------------------------------ SUMMARY: In an effort to use economic sanctions to force the Salvadoran government toward genuine peace negotiations, an incentive it does not currently have and which the Congress has failed to provide for the past decade, the national group Neighbor to Neighbor has launched a boycott campaign against Folgers coffee, which provides the Death-Squad Salvadoran government with much revenue to fund its war (see stats below). Locally, for the first time a supermarket *chain* has recently agreed to stop selling Folgers and to display information as to why; however, this is temporary and conditioned on Chicago NtN's ability to get at least one of the other food chains to join the boycott. Nationally, Procter and Gamble, which owns and controls Folgers, has scheduled a stockholders' vote for OCTOBER 10 as to whether to continue to buy Salvadoran coffee or not (it would be easy to switch; again, see stats below). According to NtN, one of the two sponsors of the resolution is a relative of the Gamble family. Please join the boycott, read and distribute to as many people as you can the leaflet and information below, and especially call Procter & Gamble at their toll-free number through October 10. ------------------------------------------------------------------ The following is from Neighbor to Neighbor's leaflet "Want a really satisfying cup of coffee? Don't drink Folgers" about the boycott. ****************************************************************** WHY YOU SHOULD JOIN THE SALVADORAN COFFEE BOYCOTT Coffee is El Salvador's main export. Sixty percent of its $400 million coffee crop is consumed in the U.S., although Salvadoran coffee makes up only 5% of total U.S. coffee imports. There are two reasons why a U.S. boycott of Salvadoran coffee will play a big role in forcing the Salvadoran government to reach a peaceful settlement of the civil war. Coffee Taxes Fund The War The Salvadoran government imposes a huge 46% excise tax on coffee, which provides the lion's share of domestic funding for the war (in addition to hundreds of millinos of dollars yearly from U.S. taxpayers) Coffee Profits Help the `Fourteen Families' Block Peace & Reform The "fourteen families" are the small group of coffee plantation owners who have dominated El Salvador's political and economic life for generations [[In fact, death-squad-party (ARENA) president Alfredo Cristiani is/was among the very well-off coffee-growers --HB]] The U.S. coffee companies will say that the Salvadoran coffee workers will be the ones most hurt by a boycott. Not true. Coffee workers need peace and reform too. That's why their union, SICAFE, has endosed the boycott, as has UNTS, the largest federation of Salvadoran workers. Right now the boycott is focused on Folgers because it's the largest U.S. brand. If we can force Folgers, which is owned by Proctor and Gamble, to stop buying Salvadoran coffee, this alone will cause a tremendous drop in Salvadoran coffee sales. Then we can concentrate on Nestle and General Foods, the other big U.S. coffee companies. Meanwhile you can buy coffees such as Stewarts, Jewel 100% Colombian, and Eight O'Clock with a clear conscience. WHAT YOU CAN DO There are a few simple things you can do to help bring peace and justice to El Salvador: * Stop buying Folgers coffee * Get your church, school, workplace, or other organization to stop buying Folgers. * Call Folgers and tell them to stop buying Salvadoran coffee until there's a negotiated end to the war. The toll-free number is 1-800-344-7490 * Join the Neighbor to Neighbor coffee boycott committee. For more information, call 312-772-7782 [[That's from the Chicago chapter; the boycott is organized through the SF (main (?)) branch: Neighbor to Neighbor 2601 Mission St., Suite 400 San Francisco, California 94110 tel (415)824-3355 ]] ****************************************************************** C o f f e e b r e a k After reading your item about the boycott of Folgers coffee, I called them at 1-800-344-7490 and told them why I would no longer by Folgers. I was quite surprised at the right-wing propaganda their representative quoted. I tried to inform them of what brutality the government of El Salvador was guilty of but was told in reply that "the U.S. State Department asked Procter & Gamble to continue purchasing coffee beans from El Salvador." I had thought that P & G was a company responsive to the concerns of its customers. What a shock I got. Pease, dear readers, continue to call them, write to Folgers and, above all, purchase other brands of coffee Lew Kildare Philadelphia [From: Letters, In These Times, Sept. 26 - Oct. 2, 1990] ****************************************************************** [See AML files lib/elsalv/robertW.NYT and lib/elsalv/AI.ES.briefs]