Want to send a message about profiting from war?
Boycott War Profiteers!

(for a complete list of war profiteers based on contracts with the U.S. War Dept., aka the Pentagon, go to
http://www.dior.whs.mil/peidhome/procstat/p01/fy2002/top100.htm)


Did you know the company which makes Tide, Crest and Pampers is also one of the top contractors for the U.S War Dept.?

Did you know that the company which says it gets your package there on time, every time does hundreds of millions of dollars worth of business with the Pentagon?

How do you think these organizations would feel if you stopped using their products because you do not like the fact that they profit from their association with an organization involved in the commission of war crimes?

BOYCOTT PROCTOR AND GAMBLE (P&G)
(Not only refuse to buy their products, but ALSO let them know with a letter and phone call--boycotting in silence doesn't have quite the effect as letting them know you are refusing their products).

Proctor & Gamble has done over $500 million worth of business with the Pentagon in the past two years.

"Improving the lives of consumers worldwide is about more than just great products," explains the Proctor & Gamble website. "It's about corporate responsibility through positive contributions to environmental quality and to the communities in which we live and operate our businesses." It's about "ensuring a quality of life for future generations at least as good as today's."

Unfortunately, P&G's vision does not apply for the people of Iraq, whose quality of life was bombed to a pre-industrial stage during the 1991 U.S./U.K./Canadian-led slaughter, and whose quality of life has continued to decline as a result of thousands of aerial bombings since, along with the most destructive economic sanctions in human history.

The countryside is contaminated with radioactive poisoning from the dropping of 300 tonnes of depleted uranium munitions, resulting in horrific birth defects and skyrocketing cancer rates.

P&G, which annually makes the Pentagon's top 100 contractors list, gloats that "Through our activities, we also contribute to the economic and social well-being of a range of other stakeholders, including employees,
shareholders, local communities in which we operate, and more widely to regional, national and international development."

Perhaps P&G could REALLY help with international development if it stopped
supplying the biggest impediment to that development: the U.S./U.K./Canadian war machine, which openly trumpets its plans to destroy the water treatment facilities, communications towers, hospitals and
daycares, of countries such as the former Yugoslavia, Afghanistan and Iraq.

The company website states "P&G Canada is one of the top profit contributors in the P&G World...Our goal at Procter & Gamble is to be the fastest growing consumer goods company in Canada, and the fastest growing country in which P&G does business worldwide. We regularly track our performance against both these benchmarks." So such a boycott could be especially effective in Canada. Our ability to threaten profit margins because of the company's willingness to do business with the Pentagon could send a big message to head office.

If you would like to join the boycott, consider writing to P&G Canada's CEO, and explain why you have no taste for war, nor for any products from companies which profit from war (and cc us at the address at the bottom of this e-mail).

(Other ideas: go to a P&G company site with your anti-war message, or hand out flyers explaining this boycott at your local supermarket. P&G Canada's General Office is located in Toronto. They also have manufacturing facilities in Belleville and Brockville, and a Distribution Center in
Hamilton, Ontario. As well, they operate regional sales offices in Halifax,
Montreal, and Calgary. Another idea is stickering their products in stores stating: "P&G profits from war contracts with the U.S. military, please don't buy from them."


Tim Penner
President
Procter & Gamble Inc.
Canada
Box 355, Stn A
Toronto, ON M5W 1Z5
416-730-4711
Consumer relations: fax (416) 730-6006

street address
4711 Yonge Street
Toronto, on M2N 6KJ8

As you think of writing a letter, you might want to consider comparing the company's philosophy to the reality of war from which it prospers. Following are some of the trite remarks the corporation uses in its promotions:

"We show respect for all individuals."

"P&G is committed to improve the quality of life in communities where we live and work."

"We have a reputation for integrity. Our employees, when faced with tough
choices, are simply asked to "do the right thing". That principle has served us well for generations."

Encourage Tim and P&G Canada to do the right thing and stop doing business with the Pentagon.

Below is a list of major P&G products (and if you look seriously at the list, folks, you can see a lot of this is just crap we don't need to live in the first place, so getting off the wagon when it comes to this stuff would in the long run be the real sustainability statement!)

Ace®, Action 500, Adam, Alfa, Alldays® , Always® , Ammens® , Ariel, Ascend,
Attends, Attento, Aussie®, Ayudin, Az, Azurit, Babysan, Balsam®, Bess®,
Blend a Dent, Blend a Med®, Blendax®, Bold® Bonus, Bonux, Boss®-Hugo
Boss, Bounce®, Bounty®,
Buffette®, Camay®, Cascade®, Certina, Charmin®, Cheer®, Cheff®, Cierto®,
Circ, Codi, Cover Girl®, Crest®, Cristal®, Daily Defense®, Daisy, Dash,
Dawn®, Daz, Doll, Don Maximo, Downy®, Dreft®, Dryel®, Duplex, Ela®, Ellen
Betrix®, Era®, Escudo®, Eukanuba®, Ezee Asia
Fairy®, Febreze®, Finess, Finish®, Fixodent®, Folgers®, Frost & Tip®,
Gain®, Giorgio®, Gleem®, Hairpainting®, Head & Shoulders®, Helmut Lang,
Herbal Essences®, Herbal Essences Color, Herve Leger, Hipoglos, Hugo-Hugo
Boss®, Hydrience®, Iams®, Inextra, Infasil®, Infusium®, Inner Science,
Ipana, Ivory®, Jar, Joy® D , Lasting Color®, Laura Biogiotti®,
Lenor, Limay, Lines, Linidor, Loving Care®, Luvs®
, Magia Blanca, Max Factor®, Men's Choice®, Metamucil®, Miss Clairol®,
Moher, Motif, Mr. Clean®, Mr. Proper, Mum, Muse, Myth, Natural Instincts®,
Natural Instincts for Men, Nice 'n Easy®, Noxzema®, Nuances®, NyQuil®,
Olay®, Old Spice®, Pantene®, Pepto-Bismol®, Pert Plus®, Physique®,
Pringles®, Puffs®, Punica, PUR®
Regulan® Rejoy/Rejoice, Rindex, Romtensid, Safe and Free,
Safeguard®, Salvo, Scope®, Secret®, Sinex®, Sunny Delight®
Supremo, Sure®, Swiffer®, Tampax®, Tempo®, Tess, Textures & Tones®,
Thermacare®, Tide®, A Touch of Sun®, Torengos®, Ultress®, Vicks®, Vidal
Sassoon®, Wash & Go®, Whisper®, XtremeFX®, Yes®, Zest®,

BOYCOTT FEDERAL EXPRESS
Federal Express has done almost $600 million worth of business with the Pentagon in the past two years.

FedEx came in at #47 on the 2002 Pentagon contractors list (just behind the
government of Canada, which, despite its "peacemaker" myth, was #46!)

Again, compare FedEx propaganda to the reality of war and ask yourself: how
does such a bright self-image square with doing business with an organization committing crimes against humanity?

In terms of outreach, there are in Canada some 69 FedExStations, 3 Call Centres: 3 and 1,167 Drop off locations (many of which are probably begging for anti-war stickers!)

FedEx is a proud "supporter of community and global charities. "

Among FedEx's propaganda coups are working with the following charities:
American Red Cross, America's Fund for Afghan Children (which wouldn't have to exist if countries like the U.S. hadn't bombed the place to smithereens to begin with, with FedEx profiting from that relationship!), Heart to
Heart International ("FedEx and Heart to Heart work together to alleviate suffering throughout the world. We've helped this relief and development organization deliver food, medicine and emergency supplies to Vietnam,
China, India and other areas." Note they do not list Iraq.), National Safe Kids Campaign ("Safety is a paramount concern at FedEx, on the job and in our neighborhoods," yet no neighbourhood in Baghdad will be safe from the thousands of bombs and missiles aimed at it by the U.S.), Orbis International ("eye care and treatment to people in developing countries," but likely not in Iraq, where thousands of children have been born without
eyes due to their parents' exposure to depleted uranium, again courtesy of
one of FedEx's biggest business partners), Big Brothers & Big Sisters of Canada (there is literally not a single family in Iraq who have not lost a family member to the wars and sanctions of the past 20 years--a lot of kids
would still have a big brother or sister were it not for companies which profit from their business with the Pentagon).

FedEx is careful with its community image, and uses charities starved for funds to turn around and reward them for being "good corporate citizens."
It made Fortune magazine's Top 10 World's Most Admired Companies, and United Way of America gave FedEx Corporation and its subsidiaries four Summit Awards, to honor them for "community concern."

It seems we should have concern for ALL communities, especially those which
are the testing ground for new generations of horrific weapons of mass human destruction.

Let FedEx know you will not use their products until they stop doing business with the Pentagon.


Donald Colleran, President
5985 Explorer Dr.
Mississauga, ON L4W 5K6
Fax: (905) 212-5674

1-800-Go-FedEx® / 1-800-463-3339

Other "consumer companies which do a lot of business with the Pentagon
include Honeywell, ExxonMobil, Motorola, General Electric, , Rolls Royce
(okay, some rich people are opposed to war too!), Campbell's Soup,
Coca-Cola, B.F. Goodrich Tires, Tyson Foods, Kimberly-Clark, among many
others.



This public service announcement has been brought to you by some folks
associated with Toronto Homes not Bombs and Country Music Fans Against
Crass Commercial Crap (a relatively new subsidiary of the recent
amalgamation of the Dixie Chicks Society for the Preservation and Promotion
of Mattress Dancing and the Folsom Prison Blues Civil Disobedience Support
Group).

(NOTE: If you have the energy to cc some of your letters, please send them
to us at PO Box 73620, 509 St. Clair Ave. West, Toronto, ON M6C 1C0.
Thanks!)

"We kill for oil then we throw a party when we win
Some guy refuses to fight and we call that the sin
But he's standing up for what he believes in
And that seems pretty damned American to me
And it feels like I'm living in the wasteland of the free.

Living in the wasteland of the free.
Where the poor have now become the enemy
Let's blame our troubles on the weak ones
Sounds like some kind of Hitler remedy,
Living in the wasteland of the free.

"While we sit gloating in our greatness
Justice is sinking to the bottom of the sea
Living in the wasteland of the free."
"
- Iris Dement, The Way I Should (a favourite album of the country music
group referred to above)



.....................................................................................................................
The Metro Network for Social Justice (MNSJ) is a coalition of groups
dedicated to the promotion of social and economic justice.
Together we can turn our collective power into real political action.