Ok, folks. It's official. The vote on holding a referendum to join BDS will take place on March 27. The location is still to be confirmed. However, the auditorium at Brooklyn Technical High School seems to be the number one candidate. It seats 1,700 people. Unless the Coop can't make arrangements for a meeting space, the vote on the referendum will occur March 27.
This is not a victory for BDS. It is simply the Coop's policy to allow every member proposal, no matter how odious or ridiculous, to find its way to the General Meeting floor. It is perhaps a flaw in the Coop's governance system. That is a different debate. However, as explained to me by the Agenda Committee, an end to the debate is considered to be in the best interest of the Coop.
So, now is the time to mobilize. Get out the word. Let's add Park Slope Food Coop to the list of BDS Fails.
And please, donate. We are going to need money for flyers to hand out at the General Meeting. Just $5 buys us 100 flyers. We need money for the expenses of the conference. Please promote the conference. Promote the March General Meeting.
In March 2012 we defeated a BDS initiative at the Park Slope Food Coop.
In 2024 we will stop them again.
Monday, February 20, 2012
Community Forum
The Panel: Michael Walzer, Brooke Goldstein, Zuhdi Jasser,
Date: Sunday, March 4th, 2012, 2:00PM
http:/middleeast.evidencewatch.com/
This post will remain at the top until March 4, 2012.
Sunday, February 12, 2012
Penn BDS Roundup
PennBDS has come and gone and the marathon posting of responses to each session by Divest This! is complete. The entire set of Divest This! posts , are available for download in PDF or Ebook form. It can also be read online in Scribd.
Thursday, February 2, 2012
The Great Concern of the BDS Movement for Human Rights
Some very cogent remarks on the BDS Movement by Sarit Catz at the New Jersey Jewish News
PennBDS and the entire BDS movement claim to be interested in promoting “the growing global campaign to boycott, divest from, and sanction the State of Israel until it complies with its obligations under international and human rights law.” That’s what it says on the PennBDS website.
However, if they are concerned with violations of international and human rights law, it is notable that they focus none of their attention on known human rights violators and oppressive governments such as those that exist in North Korea, China, Sudan, Iran, or any others.
If PennBDS is specifically focused on the oppression of Arabs, then it is curious that they are not decrying the governments of Syria, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Yemen, or others.
And if PennBDS is particularly disturbed only by the oppression of Palestinian Arabs, then one wonders why they are not protesting the governments of Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Syria, or others in which the Palestinians have suffered extreme discrimination, violence, and forced expulsions.
In Gaza, under the authority of Hamas, political freedom, religious freedom, and freedom of association are severely curtailed, women’s rights are limited, human rights activists are targeted, and homosexuality is a criminal offense.
Upon any serious consideration, it becomes clear that BDS actually has no problem with oppression, no problem with oppression of Arabs, and no problem with the oppression of Palestinian Arabs. BDS actually has a problem only with Israel and it can only be deduced that their problem is truly with Jews.
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Peace Makers and Normalization
On Saturday, I had a post at Divest This! as part of the responses to the upcoming PennBDS Conference. The Progressive Zionist left a very kind comment about my remark: "Genuine peace makers demonstrate the commitment to peace and justice by
working to "normalize" the relationships between people previously in
conflict."
At the Park Slope Food Coop we are very environmentally conscious. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle - that's our motto. In that spirit, I am re-posting my piece from last year about Peace Building.
Is BDS Pro-Peace?
We all want peace. How do you get peace?
The Conflict Information Consortium, directed by Heidi and Guy Burgess at the University of Colorado, is a multi-disciplinary center for research and teaching about conflict and its transformation. They maintain two very important websites: The Conflict Resolution Information Source (www.CRInfo.org) and Beyond Intractability, the website of the Intractable Conflict Knowledge Base Project (www.BeyondIntractability.org). We can say they are experts.
Here is what they say about peacebuilding.
This is not what our coop is about or should support.
Buy Sabra salads at the Food Coop. Made in America, but targeted for boycott.
At the Park Slope Food Coop we are very environmentally conscious. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle - that's our motto. In that spirit, I am re-posting my piece from last year about Peace Building.
Is BDS Pro-Peace?
We all want peace. How do you get peace?
The Conflict Information Consortium, directed by Heidi and Guy Burgess at the University of Colorado, is a multi-disciplinary center for research and teaching about conflict and its transformation. They maintain two very important websites: The Conflict Resolution Information Source (www.CRInfo.org) and Beyond Intractability, the website of the Intractable Conflict Knowledge Base Project (www.BeyondIntractability.org). We can say they are experts.
Here is what they say about peacebuilding.
Peacebuilding is the "normalization" of relationships between people previously in conflict. It establishes sustainable peace by addressing root causes of conflict through reconciliation, institution building, and political and economic transformation.
Peacebuilding also usually involves efforts to increase "normal," cooperative contacts between opponents.
In peacebuilding, efforts are made to open channels of communication, get people involved in joint projects, work with the media and the educational system to try to break down stereotypes, and reduce prejudice and discrimination. The goal of all of these efforts is reconciliation – getting the people to accept each other as part of their own group or be reconciled to mutual co-existence and tolerance.Now BDS opposes cooperative contacts between Palestinians and Israelis. The types of contacts that bring reconciliation and the end of the conflict. Please watch the BDS leaders in their own words:
This is not what our coop is about or should support.
Buy Sabra salads at the Food Coop. Made in America, but targeted for boycott.
PennBDS-Oy!
Divest This! is responding to each of the sessions at the upcoming National BDS Conference to be held at the University of Pennsylvania next week. PennBDS-Oy! is the launch pad for each of his responses. I have even contributed to the effort with a post about our Park Slope Food Coop community.
Divest This! has even set up a space for any BDS advocate to respond to his critique. No one has taken the offer yet.
Divest This! has even set up a space for any BDS advocate to respond to his critique. No one has taken the offer yet.
Sunday, January 15, 2012
Is BDS a Progressive Cause?
No. BDS is not a progressive cause. Even though many of the people who support it call themselves progressives, and they boast their leftist credentials, it is not a progressive cause.
Divest This! has been writing a series of responses to the sessions scheduled at the upcoming BDS conference to be held at the University of Pennsylvania in a few weeks. Today's post, PennBDS – Packaging BDS, deals specifically with how BDS is marketed as a progressive cause.
I always thought that supporting the notion of a "social safety-net" was the central tenet of progressivism. So I find it interesting that the faux-progressive, anti-Israel bloggers are having a love-affair with Ron Paul because of his non-interventionist positions - in particular his view on Israel. This gives a new meaning to "Israel firster." "We will throw away any progressive value we hold because we put our hatred of Israel first."
The BDS movement is about denying to the Jewish people the right of self-determination, the right to a sovereign nation. It is about trying to slander Israel as uniquely evil and worthy of elimination. It is about denying the history of the Jewish people and their connection to the Land of Israel. It is about supporting demands that if put into effect will result in the physical endangering of 5.5 million Jews. It is about ignoring the responsiblities and obligations of the Arab countries to the refugees that were created by their decisions to engage in war. It is about ignoring the human rights violations of those countries. This is not progressive. It is racist. It is anti-Semitic.
Divest This! has been writing a series of responses to the sessions scheduled at the upcoming BDS conference to be held at the University of Pennsylvania in a few weeks. Today's post, PennBDS – Packaging BDS, deals specifically with how BDS is marketed as a progressive cause.
virtually the entire BDS vocabulary is designed to reach a very specific section of the political marketplace: progressive audiences. In fact, the reason why anyone choosing to defend Israel and counter these accusations (including this blog) is frequently condemned as “right wing” is because the BDSers want to claim full ownership of the left end of the political spectrum.Naturally, Divest This! goes on to point out that all the progressive targets of BDS, such as universities, unions, food coops, etc. have repeatedly rejected BDS.
Beyond just trying to gain adherents to their cause among progressive individuals and organizations, the boycotters make it very clear that their agenda item is not just one among many but is the single defining issue for left-leaning audiences with anyone who disagrees cast out as a member of the “racist right.”
I always thought that supporting the notion of a "social safety-net" was the central tenet of progressivism. So I find it interesting that the faux-progressive, anti-Israel bloggers are having a love-affair with Ron Paul because of his non-interventionist positions - in particular his view on Israel. This gives a new meaning to "Israel firster." "We will throw away any progressive value we hold because we put our hatred of Israel first."
The BDS movement is about denying to the Jewish people the right of self-determination, the right to a sovereign nation. It is about trying to slander Israel as uniquely evil and worthy of elimination. It is about denying the history of the Jewish people and their connection to the Land of Israel. It is about supporting demands that if put into effect will result in the physical endangering of 5.5 million Jews. It is about ignoring the responsiblities and obligations of the Arab countries to the refugees that were created by their decisions to engage in war. It is about ignoring the human rights violations of those countries. This is not progressive. It is racist. It is anti-Semitic.
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