Poor Farmer

Reverend Billy , the Stop Shopping Gospel Choir, and members of their Congregation continued informing the world that Starbucks is blocking Ethiopia from trademarking its own coffee marks. The Reverend's powerful campaign forced Starbucks to issue a memo to its staff, headed: "What do I do if Reverend Billy comes into my store?” Rev. Billy has led two actions so far and both ended with his arrest. His call for the third week of action comes despite the imminent threat of arrest. Sidamo Prayer Campaign Week Three: Keep The Pressure On Starbucks They've got to LET GO SIDAMO ! Return with us to Astor Place this Sunday at 4pm and tell Starbucks to recognize Ethiopia's ownership of specialty coffee names like Sidamo , Harar and Yirgacheffe . We must be resolute, children, that ancient coffee names belong to the region that cultivated them -- not a transnational, corporate bully. Agreements have already been reached in Canada and Europe, recognizing Ethiopia as the ...

Marketplace American Public Media Thursday, February 15, 2007 - Updated LISTEN TO STORY Starbucks has been accused of blocking Ethiopian farmers' attempts to trademark their coffee beans. A group representing Africa's top coffee growers is now backing the farmers' efforts. Stephen Beard reports. TEXT OF STORY KAI RYSSDAL: If you go to the Starbucks website, it tells you coffee as a drink originated in Ethiopia more than a thousand years ago. And right about here is where irony meets the news of the day. Ethiopia's been trying to trademark some of its beans. Starbucks has been accused of blocking that process. And today, a group of major African coffee-growing countries took sides. From London, Marketplace's Stephen Beard has more. STEPHEN BEARD: A group representing Africa's top coffee growers today attacked Starbucks. It urged the company to drop its opposition to Ethiopia's campaign to trademark some of its coffees in the United States. The British charit...