Saturday, August 7, 2010

Reverend Billy and The Church of Stop Shopping Visiting Albert Heijn


 This afternoon, Reverend Billy of the Church of Stop Shopping from New York made an appearance at the Albert Heijn Food Plaza in Amsterdam, calling on Ahold to take measures against the exploitation of tomato pickers in Florida. The action was staged in support of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (ciw-online.org/), which was simultaneously holding an action at Ahold's US headquarters.

Reverend Billy at the Albert Heijn from Nieuws uit Amsterdam on Vimeo.


Invitation:
Friday: All come to visit Albert Heijn together with Reverend Billy

Next Friday August 6 Ahold will be the focus of the tour of the 'tomato pickers' of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers. They will go with their mobile "Museum of Modern Slavery" to the headquarters of Ahold in the US in Quincy Massachusetts. In solidarity and to support their demands, we will do the same in Amsterdam and we will be accompanied by Reverend Billy and Savitri D of the Church of Stop Shopping.

Ahold's subsidiaries were found to be purchasing tomatoes from companies tainted in a recent huge scandal of modern slavery. CIW demands from Ahold that they work on eradicating exploitation at their supplier level. CIW wants Ahold to pay an honest price for the tomatoes they buy, so that the workers earn a decent wage. Another demand is that the workers have a say in the monitoring system of the labor conditions, thus preventing slavery and other abuses in the future.

A few years ago the CIW succeeded, after years of demonstrating and actions, to force a big purchaser, fast food chain Taco Bell, to pay a premium price for their tomatoes. Since then several large companies went along. Ahold (who owns several companies in the US, amongst them Stop&Shop, Martin's and Giant) refuses to sign an agreement with the tomato pickers.

The global head office of Ahold is located in Amsterdam at the (how coincidental is that) Piet Hein Kade. Therefore we want to deliver a message there in solidarity with the action of the CIW. We invite everybody to join us.

The event will be led by and Savitri D and Reverend Billy, famous minister of the Church of Stop Shopping, who happens to be in the Netherlands. He will lead a ceremony that could become as swinging as it is loud. So please take your fellow choir members and musical instruments with you. Dress code is AH-bluish.

The event will start at precisely 14.30 hours on the steps of AH Food Plaza behind the Dam in Amsterdam (NZ Voorburgwal 226). After a first ceremony there, we will walk in procession towards the Piet Heinkade 167, where new skits will be acted and we expect an answer of AH.

So: All come massively and spread the Word: Friday August 6, 4.30 NZ Voorburgwal 226

For more information see:
 http://www.ciw-online.org/ en
 http://www.supermacht.nl/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=298&Itemid=1

Press is welcome and for more information contact:  info@globalinfo.nl

filmpje en foto's 
globalinfo - 07.08.2010 00:25










Het filmpje is van de beginsessie, voor AH Food Plaza achter de dam  http://vimeo.com/13938993

Daarna trok de groep van enkele tientallen mensen naar het Ahold-kantoor aan de Piet Heinkade, alwaar nog meer donderpreken werden gehouden en het heilige tomatensap uit Immokalee werd toegediend aan nieuwe gelovigen (die dus geloven dat multinationals verslagen kunnen worden).

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