Tuesday, November 22, 2011

To Leaflet or Not to Leaflet

For those of you who follow this blog but are not members of the Park Slope Food Coop, I am pleased to report that we are now at 203 supporters.

Recently the pro-BDS group has been handing out flyers in front of the Coop. The flyers advocate holding a referendum on joining the BDS movement. The text is pretty much the same as on this page of the pro-BDS website.

Some in our group have suggested we respond with our own flyers.  Reasons to respond are:
  1. Not everyone reads the Gazette, but everyone coming to the Coop gets a flyer.
  2. If we don't respond, it appears there is no opposition.
  3. Someone might be convinced by the flyer to support the referendum, even if she doesn't support BDS.
Reasons not to responds are:
  1. Giving out flyers annoys people.
  2. Flyers create waste; even in New York City, where paper is recycled.
  3. It is not necessarily a good use of time and money.
I oppose BDS because it is wrong, because it is not a peace movement.  I also oppose the exploitation of the Food Coop for political purposes.  People joined it because it is a food store.  I feel that promoting BDS - or for that matter any cause that does not have a direct impact on the Coop's operation -  is a usurpation of the Coop's prime purpose.  I don't want to increase the pollution of our civic space.

What do you think?

1 comment:

  1. I must say that i am as torn about this issue as you. i really don't know which direction will be more effective. However i am leaning just ever so slightly towards not leafletting.
    How have other people responded to this question?
    avishay

    ReplyDelete

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