attn blaine <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: To:[EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED]
From: "attn blaine" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: Thu, 30 Aug 2007 15:16:48 +0000
Subject: [AL-AWDA-News] "Proposed boycott of Israeli goods divides co-op" - ANN
ARBOR NEWS, 8/30/2007
"Call to boycott Israeli items stirs controversy at co-op:
"People's Food Co-op members to vote on protest action"
by Jo Collins Mathis, Staff Reporter Thursday, August 30, 2007 "ANN
ARBOR NEWS"
Ann Arbor, Michigan
In the "Ann Arbor News", with news photo, at:
http://blog.mlive.com/annarbornews/2007/08/proposed_boycott_of_israeli_go.html
In the main "Ann Arbor News" site, without photo, at:
http://www.mlive.com/news/annarbornews/index.ssf?/base/news-24/1188485189147160.xml&coll=2
PHOTO BY LON HORWEDEL/ANN ARBOR NEWS
"Anne Remley, left, and Linda Wotring, both of Ann Arbor, stand out in front
of the People's Food Co-op on Fourth Avenue in Ann Arbor, with a photograph of
two Palestinian women sitting a pile of rubble that once was their home. The
pair are heading a group from Ann Arbor called B.I.G., Boycott Israeli Goods.
They are upset that the People's Food Co-op is carrying Israeli couscous."
___________________________________________________________
The last couple of times the People's Food Co-op of Ann Arbor held a
boycott, nobody protested the protest. After all, it wasn't exactly
controversial to boycott grapes at the urging of United Farm Workers, or tuna
caught at the expense of dolphins.
This time, it's different.
Co-op members next month will be asked to decide if the co-op should boycott
all Israeli goods. "We definitely hear from people on both sides of the issue
almost on a daily basis," said Kevin Sharp, marketing and member services
director for the co-op, which has been the city's community-owned natural foods
grocery since 1971.
It all started last winter when a few shoppers noticed some Israeli couscous
for sale.
They formed a group called Boycott Israeli Goods, stood outside the co-op and
collected about 600 signatures of co-op members who believe the issue should be
put to a vote. That was enough to force a referendum on the issue among the
nearly 6,000 members.
Because only a handful of the store's products are made in Israel, a
boycott would be mostly symbolic.
A full page spread in the current issue of the co-op's newsletter gives members
the low-down on the proposed boycott referendum, including voting procedures,
and viewpoints from both sides of the issue.
The pro-boycott calls it a "time-honored peaceful protest against state
violence and repression," while the other side says it runs counter to the
mission of the food co-op; irrationally singles out Israel for condemnation;
and is counterproductive to peace in the region.
BIG member Anne Remley said the campaign highlights the need to show
resistance to Israel's military occupation of Palestinian land.
"We are inviting the members of the co-op to stand up for Palestinian human
rights and to send that message to the government of Israel from the
well-informed, ethical, caring people who tend to be co-op members," said
Remley, a co-op member for 36 years.
Robert Oppenheimer of Ann Arbor, a co-op member since 1986, is against the
boycott. He said he has a photograph of Nazi storm troopers in 1933 boycotting
his grandfather's shoe store in Cologne, Germany, and doesn't like the idea of
boycotts in general. Also, he's offended every week by pickets outside Beth
Israel Congregation protesting Israel's actions in the Middle East conflict.
"As a Jewish peace activist, I think this is not a good approach," he said.
"Engaging with Jewish and Palestinian peace activists is a better approach."
He predicts the referendum will fail because, he said, co-op members are
thoughtful and considerate.
But Remley thinks it will pass for the same reason.
"Co-ops are committed, and this one in particular, to a sustainable community
for all," she said, adding that a boycott would allow the co-op to join a
world-wide humanitarian movement.
Co-op board president Linda Diane Feldt said the issue has been divisive,
generating about 100 or so e-mails and phone calls., mostly from people unhappy
with the idea of a boycott.
The co-op usually gets about 40 new members a month. In July, 87 people
joined, including some who want to vote in September. Those who join after July
31 are ineligible to vote.
Sales have not yet been affected, but Feldt predicts a loss of members either
way the vote goes.
Although the board is facilitating the referendum, and therefore not taking
positions on either side, Feldt has spoken out against the degree of nastiness
she's seen in the past weeks, particularly from two anti-Zionists who are not
members of B.I.G. In fact, she said, the board is no longer allowed to use the
Kerrytown meeting space it had used free of charge for five years due to the
outbursts and profanity used by one of those two protesters last month.
She said the boycott has dominated the board's time for several months, and
because five of the seven board members were new in May, "normal business has
been highjacked."
"People are stirred up," said Feldt. "We support the democratic process that
is the co-op, and defend the members' right to bring this initiative. But we
need to figure out a way that is not as disruptive and harmful to the co-op."
___________________________________________________________
Co-op vote
Members of The People's Food Co-op, 216 N. Fourth Ave., Ann Arbor, will
vote in September on whether the co-op should boycott products from Israel.
Ballots are available in the store or on the Web at
www.peaoplesfood.coop/news.html .
Ballots must be turned in to the ballot box by 10 p.m. Sept. 30.
The Ann Arbor B.I.G. (Boycott Israeli Goods) Campaign will show a film on
the issue Wednesday at 7 p.m. at the Ann Arbor District Library, 343 S. Fifth
Ave. A discussion will follow.
___________________________________________________________
--Jo Mathis can be reached at [EMAIL PROTECTED] or 734-994-6849.
[End of Article]
==========================================
For further boycott information, see:
"Pushing in Ann Arbor for boycott of Israel"
The Arab American News (Dearborn, Michigan)
August 18, 2007
Page 21.
On the Internet at:
http://arabamericannews.com/newsarticle.php?articleid=9529
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