On Saturday December 21 ten human rights activists launched a surprise demonstration against Coca-Cola, at the Coca-Cola truck marketing event in Brighton, United Kingdom. The group were demanding that Coca-Cola, as a sponsor of the coming Olympics in Sochi, break their silence on Russia’s homophobic laws. This week, Coca-Cola published official photos of part of the demonstration via their CokeZone website, which can be seen via the hosting service they used, Click-it (that’s the event service all the Coca-Cola truck photos are on).

The placards read: “Olympic sponsors break your silence on LGBTQ+ Russia!”, “Defend LGBTQ+ people in Russia!” and “Demand protection for LGBTQ+ Russians!”.  We wonder if these demo photos will remain online as attention is drawn to them worldwide, or whether Coca-Cola will seek to silence the demonstrators’ call for equal rights. [EDIT] Multiple photos WERE available on the CokeZone website, but have today (30 December 2013) been replaced with a generic one.

Unfortunately the URLs are not available in Google’s cache.

Whilst Coca-Cola may be the “best place to work for LGBT equality“, they seek to benefit financially from sponsoring an event in a country which actively oppresses LGBTQ+ people through new anti-gay laws.

Since Putin passed the law against the “propaganda of nontraditional sexual relations to minors”, Russian LGBTQ+ citizens have seen homophobic and transphobic violence against them increase, whilst police stand by or even arrest the victims of assault. These laws victimise LGBTQ+ people and validate violence towards us in a country where people are increasingly angry at a multitude of oppressive measures from the government.

As Olympic sponsors, Coca-Cola and other sponsors are in a strong position where a statement of solidarity with Russian LGBTQ+ people, and explicitly against the anti-gay laws in Russia, would put pressure on Putin and his government to reconsider. Coca-Cola should use its sponsorship to raise awareness of the plight of Russian LGBTQ+ people, as its current silence makes Coca-Cola complicit in the abuse of LGBTQ+ people.

You can help raise awareness and put pressure on Coca-Cola by sharing this post, sharing the photos linked above on Facebook and Twitter, and sign a petition such as this one to demand Coca-Cola speak out. We’ll also be targeting other sponsors and demonstrating at the opening ceremony of the Olympics, so keep in touch with us via Facebook at http://facebook.com/russiawithlovebrighton

Here’s me protesting at the Coca-Cola truck after we did the official Coca-Cola photo shoot!

The demonstration was organised by trade unionists, members of The Socialist Party, and individuals.