‘THE BITTER DRINK' CHRONICLES THE STRUGGLE OF THE MOST MARGINALISED SECTION OF THE INDIAN SOCIETY, THE TRIBAL COMMUNITY, AGAINST THE MIGHTIEST GLOBAL GIANT, COCO-COLA. IT ALSO DISCUSSES THE ISSUE OF OWNERSHIP OF NATURAL RESOURCES, MAINLY WATER.
Driven by the World Bank and World Trade Organisation, water- our commonlife support - is being privatised, commodified and destroyed. Water can not be owned, controlled, exploited, bought and sold by a handful of multi-national corporations like Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Suez, Vivaldi, Bechtal etc. No government has the right to give rights to corporations to rape the earth and make profits out of destroying life.
For the past year, Plachimada village, located in Palakkad, of Kerala,
India has been in the thick of controversy. People from about 1,000
households, including several women belonging to Eravalar and Malasar tribal communities, have been holding demonstrations and staging sit-ins in front of the Hindustan Coca Cola Beverages factory complex.
What is the relevance of local resistance like that of Plachimada in
resisting global agenda? At the front line of the struggle against one of the world's biggest corporate giants, Coca-Cola, something holds the tribals together. It is the relationship with their land and water. Just as Gandhi put Dandi on the map of world history, a little hamlet of tribals in Plachimada has been put on the map in defense of the earth and in resistance to corporate monopolies over life itself - our bio diversity and seeds, our water and our food. It is the real freedom movement - freedom for the earth - beginning with the adivasis, the first people.
Third Eye Communications has made a video documentary on the Plachimada Struggle. A self funded film in Malayalam to support the struggle and strengthen the campaign.
Kaippuneeru (The Bitter Drink) (2003 / 28 minutes / documentary)
Directors + Producers: P Baburaj and C Saratchandran
Country: India (in Malayalam with English Subtitles and Commentary)