Posts Tagged ‘sanctions’
Food Co-Op in Rachel Corrie’s Hometown Boycotts Israeli Goods
July 21st, 2010 • Action, Awareness, News
Tags: apartheid, BDS, boycott, Co-op, divest, israel, sanctions, south africa, supermarket, The Olympian Food Co-op, USA, washington
A small but important step in the BDS campaign. The Co-op has had a boycott process/policy since 1993, they have used it to boycott Norwegian and Chinese goods in the past. Their statement on the Israeli boycott reads:
Boycott Announcement
The Board of Directors has decided that the Olympia Food Co-op will boycott Israeli made products and divest from any investments in Israeli companies. The Co-op would stop carrying the Israeli products it currently sells and would not stock new products from Israeli companies. If the Co-op has money invested in Israeli companies or bonds, we would terminate those investments. We would refrain from dealing with non-Israeli companies that sell products or services to Israel that are used to violate the human rights of the Palestinians.
Members requested that the Co-op honor the international call for boycott. The Board made the decision while following the Olympia Food Co-op Boycott Process (available at the Co-op website at www.olympiafood.coop/boycott). The Board consulted and used the Co-op Mission Statement and the By-Laws to guide in making this decision:
- From the Mission Statement: Support efforts to foster a socially and economically egalitarian society
- From the By-Laws: Adopt policies which promote achievement of the mission statement and goals of the Cooperative
Read the full statement here (pdf) – includes: Why boycott?, Why an Israeli products boycott?, Isn’t this “anti-Israel”?, What ends the boycott? & Why should the Co-op honor the boycott?
Please take a moment and email the Olympia Food Co-op’s board to congratulate them on their decision: board [at] olympiafood.coop – or on Facebook
Natasha Mozgovaya’s op-ed in Ha’aretz:
In some places the mainstream Jewish community has reacted vigorously against boycott attempts, but many Israel supporters are worried that the battle “might be already lost at the campuses.” – Read more at ISM…
Local paper, The Olympian, reports:
Olympia Food Co-op members will get another chance next month to discuss a controversial board decision to boycott Israeli products at its two stores.
Nine of the co-op board’s 10 members voted Thursday to participate in the international boycott. Harry Levine, a staff representative to the board, said he didn’t take a stand on the issue.
Not everyone on the co-op staff agrees with the decision, Levine said. He said that outside of his role as a board member, he supports it.
“My personal view is that boycotts can be effective tools in changing governments,” he said. “I personally support it, and I’m an American Jew.”
The board voted to boycott Israeli products as a way to “compel Israel to follow international law and respect Palestinian human rights,” according to a statement the board released. The boycott announcement has been posted on the co-op’s website, www.olympiafood.coop, as well as at its two stores.
Israeli products removed from the stores include gluten-free crackers, ice cream cones and a moisturizing cream, Levine said.
This is not the first time that the 33-year-old co-op has taken part in a boycott, he said. It has boycotted products from Norway and China in objection to whaling and human rights violations. – Read more…
Mentioned in the comments of The Olympian article is a US “Antiboycott Law” which:
.. discourage, and in some circumstances, prohibit U.S. companies from furthering or supporting the boycott of Israel sponsored by the Arab League, and certain Moslem countries, including complying with certain requests for information designed to verify compliance with the boycott.
This ‘law’ appears to apply only to exports, but definitely only applies to Israel.
July 9: BDS Day of Action – Supermarket Phone In
July 8th, 2010 • Action, Awareness, Events, News
Tags: BDS, boycott, divest, goods, Morrison's, occupied, Sainsbury's, sanctions, settlement, supermarket
 |
 |
0845 611 6111 |
0800 636 262 |
Join PSC and BDS campaigners by calling Morrison’s and Sainsbury’s TODAY!
Some questions you should ask:
Morrisons/Sainsbury’s claims to have an ethical policy, yet it stocks produce from Israel, a country which is in daily breach of international law and international human rights legislation.
Does Morrisons/Sainsbury’s condone Israel’s illegal actions? If not, how do Israel’s flagrant violations of international law fit into the supermarket’s ethical policy?
Is Morrisons/Sainsbury’s aware that produce from Israeli settlements is grown on land that has been stolen from the Palestinians of the West Bank?
By stocking settlement goods, Morrisons/Sainsbury’s is tacitly acknowledging the right of countries to invade and occupy land, and to ignore UN resolutions calling for the return of that land to its indigenous population. How does that square with the supermarket’s ethical policy?
Are you aware that the Palestinians who work in settlement farms and industrial zones do not have equal rights with the Israeli citizens who also work there?
How does the sub-standard treatment of Palestinian workers in the settlements, and the clear breach of their human rights on a daily basis, fit in with the supermarket’s ethical policy?
PSC’s website has some useful points that can be used to reinforce your case when asking these questions, read them here…
To End the Occupation, Cripple Israeli Banks
July 6th, 2010 • Action, Awareness, News
Tags: apartheid, banking, banks, belgium, boycott, israel, new york, palestine, sanctions, south africa
Terry Crawford-Browne on Sabbah Report recalls the banking sanctions against apartheid South Africa:
The international banking sanctions campaign in New York against apartheid South Africa during the 1980s is regarded as the most effective strategy in bringing about a nonviolent end to the country’s apartheid system.
The campaign culminated in President FW de Klerk’s announcement in February 1990, releasing Nelson Mandela and other political prisoners, and the beginning of constitutional negotiations towards a non-racial and democratic society.
If international civil society is serious about urgently ending Israel’s violations of Palestinian rights, including ending the occupation, then suspension of SWIFT transactions to and from Israeli banks offers an instrument to help bring about a peaceful resolution of an intractable conflict. With computerization, international banking technology has advanced dramatically in the subsequent 20 years since the South African anti-apartheid campaign.
Although access to New York banks remains essential for foreign exchange transactions because of the role of the dollar, interbank transfer instructions are conducted through the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT), which is based in Belgium. So, instead of New York — as in the period when sanctions were applied on South Africa– Belgium is now the pressure point.
Read the rest of the report here…
PSC Weekly Update – 18th December 2009
December 18th, 2009 • News
Tags: anniversary, boycott, divestment, gaza, livni, PSC, sanctions, update, vigils, weekly
- Tzipi Livni and the arrest warrant – latest reports and take action to stop war criminals from escaping justice
- Keep up with the convoy to Gaza
- Latest on Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions, including a Week of Boycott Actions in January…
- One year on – remember Gaza – Vigils 27 December
- and other actions and events…
