The Cutting Edge

Coke Boycott Poster

Coca Cola spokeswoman Crystal Warwell Walker has refused to accept questions relating to its years-long struggle with a Jewish family, the Bigios, who are seeking compensation over an anti-Jewish asset seizure that benefited the cola conglomerate. The Atlanta-based beverage giant through spokeswoman Walker has gone the extra and unusual step of not only refusing to answer questions, but also of refusing to even accept questions to then not answer. Coke’s corporate hunker followed the recent launch of a boycott and protest movement against Coke products by the Zionist Organization of America and other groups.

By way of background, the Bigio family, Egyptian Jews now residing in Canada, owned land and assets for decades in Egypt until they were confiscated and nationalized in the 1960s during the illegal anti-Semitic excesses of the Nasser regime. Those nationalized and confiscated assets were woven into a larger company called the El Nasr Bottling Company or ENBC. Decades later, in 1994, ENBC was sold to Coca-Cola during a privatization move that allowed Coke to reap millions in annual profits.

Despite more than a dozen attempts to ask questions of Coca-Cola corporate officials, its spokeswoman Walker would only email a message stating, “Thank you for your inquiry. As this is a matter of on-going litigation, we are unable to answer any additional questions. We have provided our position on this matter and have enclosed it again for your reference.”

An appended position statement on the years of litigation asserts:

“We are sensitive to the plight of individuals who have lost property through the actions of others in various countries around the world. We understand their desire for a fair and open hearing of their claims. …Prior to submission of the bid for the purchase of the Egyptian bottler by a Coca-Cola Company subsidiary, a due diligence investigation was conducted. The investigation did not reveal any pending claims by the Bigios against ENBC.”

However, an examination of company correspondence and other documents related to the case by this reporter revealed that Coke officials were amply warned by the Bigios that the cola giant was about to embark upon a multi-million acquisition which included illegally confiscated Jewish assets. Coca-Cola attorneys were in fact negotiating with the Bigios for compensation throughout the first months of 1994 prior to the firm’s sudden $142 million acquisition of ENBC and the Bigio’s assets, corporate documents show. An international lawsuit against Coke by the Bigios ensued and continues to this day.

The Zionist Organization of America took up the Bigio cause in 2007, threatening a boycott and protest. But Coca-Cola officials persuaded ZOA executive director Mort Klein to postpone his protest and allow good faith negotiations to proceed. A year of inaction followed, according to Klein.

Bigio attorney Nathan Lewin, confirmed, "It is now more than 13 years after Coca-Cola callously rejected the Bigios’ personal plea made to the corporate officers in Atlanta and embarked on its major capital investment that took and exploited the Bigios’ property in Egypt. The time has come for Coca-Cola to meet a minimal standard of decency and justice."

The ZOA and others launched a boycott and protest movement on Passover, noting the irony of fighting against an injustice in Egypt against Jews but this time an injustice committed by an American company. Protest placards and pickets decrying Coke’s exploitation of the confiscated Bigio property went up in Wilmington, Delaware during the company’s annual meeting.

Following the publication of the syndicated investigation, “Coke and Confiscation” (http://www.thecuttingedgenews.com/index.php?article=437), as well as more organized protest, Coke spokesmen continued to respond to questions with a sparse prepared statement, “ As I stated in my original email, this is a matter of on-going litigation and we will not be able to answer any additional questions. You have everything we are able to say regarding this matter.”

Abraham Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League has stated, "It’s about time that the Bigio matter be resolved, in good faith, either by negotiation or speedy litigation."

Malcolm Hoenlein, executive vice chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, which represents some 26 leading groups, added, "When the government of Egypt originally seized this property, that was clearly wrong. The fact that Coke joined in needs to be taken into account. It is not realistic to give back the property, but it is realistic to provide fair compensation to the Bigios." Hoenlein emphasized, "The very essence of the word ‘compensation’ means it must be a fair amount."

Edwin Black is the award-winning and New York Times bestselling author of IBM and the Holocaust, as well as award-winning investigations of the relationships between General Motors, Ford Motor Co, Carnegie Institution and the Rockefeller Foundation with Nazi genocide.
Read Coke and Confiscation here http://www.thecuttingedgenews.com/index.php?article=437