Park Slope Food Coop May Ban Israeli Products
There's nothing this place can do that doesn't generate headlines (at least a dozen of them today). Here's one:
Park Slope food co-op schedules vote on whether to hold a referendum on banning Israeli productsRead more: http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/park-slope-food-co-op-schedules-vote-hold-a-referendum-banning-israeli-products-article-1.1026542#ixzz1n4pt6xHx
Fight has been stewing for three yearsThe 39-year-old organic-food haven has scheduled a vote for next month to decide whether to hold a referendum of its 16,000 members on banning Israeli-made products like hummus, paprika, and seltzer.
The coop has taken stands before - banning bottled water, Coca-Cola, and hummus from a Brooklyn company accused of mistreating its workers. But no issue has split members like the Israel boycott.
“Anything we’ve boycotted in the past, the sentiment for the boycott was at almost 100%,” said general coordinator Ann Herpel.
Comments
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I didn't know we even carried Israeli products to boycott. The closest I've seen is an Equal Exchange EVOO from Palestinian farmers. The irony of this 'Call to Boycott' is the most vocal sides, for & against, seems to be mostly Jews.
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While I would love for the "coop boycott debate" to be as well covered and entertaining as as the "bike lane debate", I fear it may lack the news coverage due to the presidential campaign.
Not even the coop, can compete with the rhetoric the presidential campaign will generate.
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Why not let people decide what they want to buy on an individual basis? Is that more freedom than co-op members can handle?
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Drano said:
Why not let people decide what they want to buy on an individual basis? Is that more freedom than co-op members can handle?you mean capitalism
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Individual & Cooperative are opposing meanings. If one wants to buy Coca Cola or buy an El Al ticket to Israel outside of the Coop, then so be it. Your business. However, in any Coop rules, guidelines & politics are set for the whole, by vote of the individual and/ or individual's representative (I think).
WN - The PSFC debate on Israeli products has had quite the opposite of not being covered. It's made several newspapers as well as some subtle and not so subtle threats from outsiders who warn against implementing a boycott, as much as bringing it up for a referendum.
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The Daily News calls this issue "odious," and are pinning it on someone they are painting with the wacky-Park-Slope-artsy-type brush (goes by the "precocious" name of Hima B.; uses the word "intradependent" on her website; etc).
Asked why she’d ban products like Israeli couscous or seltzer or organic paprika, Ms. B. responded, “Palestinian civil society asks the world to support their right to human rights by putting economic pressure on Israel to end its racist practice of stealing their land and ethnic cleansing.”
She also said the situation in Israel is “no different than when black South Africans were crushed by white South Africans’ system of apartheid.”
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Yes, I have seen some of the news coverage of the PSFC debate, and as someone who perversely enjoys such spectacles, I have have looked on with the hope that it will become completely crazy.
However, here's what I don't understand: If buying Israeli products is so immoral, why does my local Key Food (located at Washington and Eastern Parkway), which is owned by Muslims, sell Israeli products and items that are Kosher for Passover?
I mean if some group is going to have a knock down, drag out, soul searching, ultra-public crisis over selling Israeli products, shouldn't it be them and not the coop?
BTW, folks should not infer that the Key Food owners do not strongly identify with their faith or people, nor should it be inferred that they believe money should trumps all: The establishment does not sell beer, and somewhat regularly advertises Pro-Palestine rallies and fund raisers in its windows.
If I ever join the coop, it will be for two reasons:
1. So I can watch the crazy attempts by its members to control each other.
2. So I can help fan the flames of psychological crisis to a bored media, even if people than believe that all of its members are confused, not just a few.
For now, these reasons are trumped by my dislike of the coop's work requirement, distance from my apartment, and limited choices.
Clearly, the 10,000 plus members think otherwise. Although we may have different reasons for our affection, I think we all believe the coop is a huge asset to the community.
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whynot_31 said:
Yes, I have seen some of the news coverage of the PSFC debate, and as someone who perversely enjoys such spectacles, I have have looked on with the hope that it will become completely crazy.However, here's what I don't understand: If buying Israeli products is so immoral, why does my local Key Food (located at Washington and Eastern Parkway), which is owned by Muslims, sell Israeli products and items that are Kosher for Passover?
I mean if some group is going to have a knock down, drag out, soul searching, ultra-public crisis over selling Israeli products, shouldn't it be them and not the coop?
BTW, folks should not infer that the Key Food owners do not strongly identify with their faith or people, nor should it be inferred that they believe money should trumps all: The establishment does not sell beer, and somewhat regularly advertises Pro-Palestine rallies and fund raisers in its windows.
If I ever join the coop, it will be for two reasons:
1. So I can watch the crazy attempts by its members to control each other.
2. So I can help fan the flames of psychological crisis to a bored media, even if people than believe that all of its members are confused, not just a few.
For now, these reasons are trumped by my dislike of the coop's work requirement, distance from my apartment, and limited choices.
Clearly, the 10,000 plus members think otherwise. Although we may have different reasons for our affection, I think we all believe the coop is a huge asset to the community.
One of the major reasons people join the PSFC is that we don't follow conventional supermarkets tradition. Not in terms of pricing, quality of products offered and certainly consumer input. And, I imagine, if enough shoppers boycotted any type of product at a supermarket, the supermarket would react in a way to please said shoppers so as not to lose their business.
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For better or worse, the coop seems to have enough power that it is free from such influences.
I think whenever an entity is not forced to focus on making money, it becomes a thing that some people love to hate.
I honestly "love to love it". The coop gives me all of the fun I experienced at ultra conflicted liberal grad school I attended in the 90s, but with none of the term papers.
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Haha. Even Chuck Schumer has spoken on the Co-op controversy now:
"Sen. Chuck Schumer, who is not a member of the coop, advised against a boycot. “A boycott of Israel, which protects women's and human rights far more than any of its neighbors, is one-sided and unfair and I urge coop members to reject this misguided and counter-productive proposal,” the Democrat said."
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Oh geez, I never thought a Schumer would side with Israel...
I guess this is another example of why Communism is bad?
dailyheights said:
Haha. Even Chuck Schumer has spoken on the Co-op controversy now:"Sen. Chuck Schumer, who is not a member of the coop, advised against a boycot. “A boycott of Israel, which protects women's and human rights far more than any of its neighbors, is one-sided and unfair and I urge coop members to reject this misguided and counter-productive proposal,” the Democrat said."
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Now even Glenn Beck has jumped on it:
The Park Slope Food Co-op’s campaign to ban Israeli food products is a hate-spewing affront on the Jewish State that will injure the whole human race, conservative media personality Glenn Beck told a packed crowd in Crown Heights last night.
The Libertarian poster boy called the market’s proposed boycott on Israeli-made or grown products “anti-Semitic” at a fundraiser for a Jerusalem museum.
“What is happening with the food co-op where they are seriously considering a boycott of Israel?” he said, likening the suggested ban to a subtle version of drawing swastikas. “When you use words like ‘I’m just anti-Israel’ or ‘I’m just anti-Zionist’ — that’s anti-Semitic.”
http://brooklynpaper.com/stories/35/9/all_glennbeckfoodcoop_2012_03_02_bk.html
Who's next? Al Sharpton?
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I wonder if Beck would say the same thing about the Satmars (sp?), who don't recognize Israel as a legitimate state, or other orthodox sects who go so far as to condone the Holocaust as an Act of G-d because Jews as a whole were not abiding by the Commandments and Rules.
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I'm a little appalled Glenn Beck is called the libertarian poster boy... How about Rand Paul at least?
I don't trust that guy.
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Beck is a holy roller. From what I've seen, although the Pauls are G-d fearin' folk, they don't look to impose their religious beliefs on the general population. Beck on the other hand, would have no problem laying religious smackdown on the country. Besides, I believe the Pauls would enjoy the homemade Bulgar stuffed grape leaves & sheep milk Camembert, more than Beck would.
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I'm glad that my fear that the media might not fully exploit the PSFC silliness is becoming unfounded.
This might turn out to be the show I hoped for!
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Idlewild said:
Beck is a holy roller.In fact, Beck is LDS (Mormon). Holy Roller means Pentecostal. Them’s two different things, according to voters in the Republican Primary.
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"Libertarians dissing the Park Slope Food Coop in favor of Fresh Direct are like uninsured Americans making fun of European health care."
— corey robin (@CoreyRobin) -
That makes Beck sound more like a liberal than a libertarian.
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Glenn Beck is just playing the crowd, dropping words with which he is not familiar. For facts and a list of links about this issue, including a chronology of Park Slope Food Coop bans and boycotts, visit my FAQs on the PSFC's boycott of Israeli products: http://t.co/D6S0dObB
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Thats what I thought. Jewish rally? Go Israel!
Next he'll come down to the Mosque at WTC and start a pro-Muslim speech...
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I couldn't quite wrap my head around this. It resembles throwing stones at glass houses or something but doesn't quite make sense (unless there is some odd angle i'm missing).
brooklynian said:
"Libertarians dissing the Park Slope Food Coop in favor of Fresh Direct are like uninsured Americans making fun of European health care."
— corey robin (@CoreyRobin) -
Why ban anything?
If you're trying to Co-op, why would you ban something someone else wants and force your views on them? This is one thing I will never agree with nor liberals will ever understand why is wrong (or can cause problems).
I do agree that Israel can "do no wrong" in American media but I can't agree with anti-Israel sentiment in regards to produce or groceries. And no, I don't think they're Nazi's (thanks glenn!), just misguided leftists.
dopaminejunkie said:
Glenn Beck is just playing the crowd, dropping words with which he is not familiar. For facts and a list of links about this issue, including a chronology of Park Slope Food Coop bans and boycotts, visit my FAQs on the PSFC's boycott of Israeli products: http://t.co/D6S0dObB -
There are a lot more conservatives in the PSFC than people think.
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Live twitter feed from last night's mtg:
http://www.theawl.com/2012/02/the-epic-live-tweeting-of-last-nights-park-slope-coop-meeting
I think this is situation that I would vote for less democracy.
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Tweet highlights:
"In europe I have been using the biodegradable, and they degrade so fast by the time you're at checkout you don't know where the bag is,""'but my collards won't fit!' — one of the actresses in the silent film PSA"
"My name is Robert Dow. No relation to Dow Chemical."
No vote on the Israel boycott until next month's meeting.
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They are wise to delay the vote for as long as possible, with the hope that the media will be fully occupied by the circus that is the presidential race.
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