Reflections from march on BK

by Charlene Obernauer, Student/Farmworker Alliance, United Students Against Sweatshops, and Jobs With Justice (Long Island, NY)

December 3, 2007 - This weekend, hundreds of students, youth, workers, and faith-based allies gathered in support of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers’ (CIW) protest against Burger King in Miami, Florida. The action began at nine in the morning on Friday with a nine-mile march to Burger King headquarters. If that sounds intense, it’s because it was. Organizers from California, Washington DC, Texas, New York, Chicago—all across the United States—were marching in solidarity with the farm workers picking tomatoes in Immokalee, Florida.

At anti-war marches, no one questions why there are so many people gathering together: the war directly impacts families whose children are serving, and people hear information about the war on a daily basis. While the farmworkers in Immokalee, Florida have gotten a large amount of press and are well-known amongst many socially-conscious individuals, they’re not on Fox news every night or being discussed on Tim Russerts’ Meet the Press. What’s with the hype over the CIW, and why is it so important that students and youth show their support?

The CIW actions are inspirational; attending an anti-war march, most people leave feeling hopeless, like nothing that they were protesting will make any real difference and have any impact on the war. When an organizer leaves a CIW action, s/he feels ready to take on the world. We don’t just gather and symbolically protest and leave; we protest, meet other organizers, and then strategize in a whole day of workshops following the march. The CIW has brought two of the largest fast food conglomerates to their knees: Yum Brands and McDonald's; we know that Burger King’s knees are already buckling, and we know that the farmworkers need national student and youth allies in order to create a stronger movement.

The CIW operates from a small office in Immokalee, Florida: they are not a multi-national corporation with a billion dollar advertising budget; they are workers organizing to bring justice to the agricultural industry, and they have called for national support against Burger King in order to bring about this justice. Corporations have billions of dollars that they invest in maintaining their image, but the CIW has the power of the people, which is indispensable. They’re calling on us to build local coalitions in our communities and be a part of the fair food movement.

Students and youth support are essential to winning the campaign against Burger King. During the Taco Bell Boycott, students were organizing to kick Taco Bell off of their campuses in the Boot the Bell Campaign, and Yum Brands CEO Jonathan Blum admits that when UCLA cut their contract with Yum Brands, it was a turning point in their decision to work with the CIW. The McDonald's Campaign never escalated to a boycott and once McDonald's got word that boycotting would be the next step following the second large protest in Chicago, they caved. They knew that the youth who they were targeting their product to would no longer be buying their burgers, nor would thousands of faith-based allies, working families, and socially-conscious people, and they knew that they had to meet the CIW’s demands.

When we arrived at Burger King headquarters, we saw some of the black-suited workers looking out their slightly tinted windows with arms crossed and frowns on their faces at the thousands of allies and CIW members below them. They are weighing our power. They have underestimated us, and our local actions and our local organizing will only get stronger as each day passes that Burger King backs away from justice. The CIW will only grow, as will its allies.