SodaStream's
Not Green, Clean or Pink
(and it tastes bad too)
SodaStream makes home soda makers and promotes its
products as a green, clean alternative to buying
carbonated water. The problem is that SodaStream
is headquartered in the Israeli settlement of Maale
Adumim, in the Palestinian West Bank occupied
by Israel in 1967 and held illegally since then.
Since 1967, Israel has moved settlers into the land it
occupies, and confiscated more and more land for these
settlements and their "security." The
Fourth Geneva Convention explicitly forbids an occupying
power from establishing colonies in occupied territory.
Maale Adumim is one of the largest and fastest growing
Israeli settlements in East Jerusalem, and this
expansion is a cornerstone of Israel's plan to "Judaize"
Jerusalem - establishing a Jewish majority to control
the city, which Palestinians also claim as their
capital.
The Palestinians in the West Bank, Gaza and East
Jerusalem live under harsh military rule, without even
the civil or political rights afforded Palestinians with
Israeli citizenship. Companies like SodaStream which
take advantage of the tax breaks and lax environmental
regulations offered for locating in "industrial
zones" within the occupied territory, are profiting
from these oppressive conditions. The settlements
are a major justification for the Segregation
(Apartheid) Wall Israel has been building in the West
Bank since 2002. In 2004, a multilateral panel of
the International Court of Justice ruled the Wall
illegal and ordered Israel to tear it down. Israel
has ignored this ruling, as it has ignored many
resolutions calling for an end to the Occupation since
1967.
SodaStream is the target of an international boycott
which is rapidly gaining ground. Many European
stores have stopped carrying it. The Swedish Coop
Grocery Chain joined the boycott in July 2011; until
then, Sweden was the company's largest market. The
European Court of Justice ruled that the company was not
entitled to the tax exemption of the EU-Israel
Association Agreement because it is misleadingly
packaged as "Made in Israel."
Cliff's Variety, a local store which has served the
Castro for over 75 years, sells and aggressively
markets SodaStream. QUIT! talked with the
manager early this year and explained about the
company's deceptive labeling and asked them to respect
the boycott. They refused. QUIT! has been
tabling and doing street theater at Cliff's for the last
few months to convince the store to stop carrying
SodaStream.
Our street theater includes a taste test, and all our
testers found the product disgusting. And guess
what? Testers in a recent San Francisco Chronicle
survey did too! According to the article, the
product was "universally disliked." So
tell Cliff's there's no need to break an international
boycott to sell a product that makes bad-tasting water.
We are not telling anyone to boycott Cliff's.
We just want them to know that their customers care
about human rights. If you shop there, please let
them know that it's not green or clean to support
apartheid and occupation. If you don't want to get
into a conversation, you can print out this coupon and
just give it to the cashier. They are feeling the
pressure. Your voice counts!
