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Don't Buy Into Apartheid |
Sample Press Release |
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 22, 2009 Contact: On World Refugee Day: Trader Joe’s Consumers Take Action for Palestinian Rights On
Saturday, June 20, activists gathered at Trader Joe’s in Oakland and San
Francisco to demand that the company stop carrying Israeli goods.
Protesters removed Israeli products from the shelves in order to
show customers which products they should not buy.
They also met with the store managers and asked them to notify
their headquarters that they no longer wanted to carry Israeli herbs,
couscous and cheese. Similar
actions were held in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Seattle, Washington, and
Sacramento, California. The
activists were inspired by campaigns to deshelve Israeli products in Wales
and France. “Trader
Joe’s is a company with an excellent reputation for bringing a diverse
array of high-quality foods from around the world to U.S. consumers. As
Trader Joe’s consumers we are part of a growing movement of people
globally who are calling on businesses to be consistent in following
ethical business practices,” said Yasmin Qureshi, an organizer of the
Don’t Buy Into Apartheid national network. The group
chose June 20th for its kickoff action because it is World Refugee Day, a
day recognized world wide to spotlight refugees displaced by war and
persecution. Of the eleven million refugees in the world today, over seven
million are Palestinian refugees displaced as a direct result of the
founding of the state of Israel, many for over 60 years. It is for this
reason that Don’t Buy Into Apartheid calls on to Trader Joes to
discontinue the sales of Israeli Couscous, Dorot frozen herbs, as well as
Pastures of Eden Feta cheese on June 20, 2009. “Consumer
boycotts played an important role in bringing about the end of apartheid
in South Africa,” said Sunaina Maira, Associate Professor of Asian
American Studies at U.C. Davis. “Corporations
with ethical business practices can stop funding injustice and occupation
by refusing to sell products made in states that enact racial
discrimination and violations of human rights law, such as Israel. The
state of Israel was created in 1948 through policies of ethnic cleansing
and apartheid, and still continues to violate countless United Nations
resolutions. Consumer boycotts are an effective non-violent strategy to
pressure states to comply with international law.” In
2005, a broad coalition of Palestinian groups issued a call for the
international community to place boycott, divestment and sanctions on
Israel based on its illegal occupation of Palestinian lands and
discriminatory laws. “We, representatives of Palestinian civil society,
call upon international civil society organizations and people of
conscience all over the world to impose broad boycotts and implement
divestment initiatives against Israel similar to those applied to South
Africa in the apartheid era. These non-violent principled measures should
be maintained until Israel meets its obligation to recognize the
Palestinian people's inalienable right to self-determination and fully
complies with the precepts of international law by: 1. Ending its
occupation and colonization of all Arab lands and dismantling the Wall; 2. Recognizing the
fundamental rights of the Arab-Palestinian citizens of Israel to full
equality and; 3. Respecting,
protecting and promoting the rights of Palestinian refugees to return to
their homes and properties as stipulated in UN resolution 194.” Don't Buy Into Apartheid's letter to Trader Joe's was signed by over 35 organizations and 135 individuals. The campaign has gained over 600 members in one month. The group hopes Trader Joe's will join them in supporting social justice and racial equality by removing Israeli products from its shelves until Israel agrees to cooperate fully with international law. For more information on the global boycott of Israeli products, see www.bdsmovement.net. Photos and video of the actions are available on request. ### |
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