Big and interesting discussion going on on a Brooklyn-based blog, "Park Slope Patch", about the Park Slope Food Coop and proposals to boycott products made in Israel.
Don't forget to read, and carefully (please!) add comments there.
They are also conducting a poll (beneath the article and before the comments) on whether you think that criticizing Israel is, in general, anti-Semitic. (I voted no, as have 2/3rds of those voting, surprisingly!) You can vote there too, even if you're not a member of the Coop.
The local Park Slope Rabbi, Bachman -- along with the paid management at the Coop -- have come out against the proposal to boycott products made in Israel.
I and many others are involved in supporting the proposal -- and in amending it.
The big Coop general meeting will be held (only Coop members are allowed -- a lesson that Pacifica might be interested in taking up) on March 27. The location has been moved out of the Park Slope synagogue on Garfield St. and will now be held at Brooklyn Tech High School in Fort Greene, 29 Fort Greene Place. 500 or more people are expected.
If you are a Coop member, please come to this meeting!
As I point out in one of my comments on The Patch site, whatever one feels about the Israel/Palestine situation, or about the call to boycott products from Israel, Coca-Cola, plastic water, plastic bags, etc., that is not the issue before us on March 27.
The issue is one of democracy: Who is to make this decision?
The choice before us is whether voting on the issue should be done by:
a) the total membership, by secret ballot;
b) those who attend a general meeting (maybe 4 percent of the membership); or,
c) the paid staff.
It seems that folks are having a hard time understanding that the question we'll be voting on is "What process should be used to make the decision?" and not "Do you support the boycott of products from Israel?"
Your participation both at the meeting and on-line in comments at the Patch site listed above, would be very helpful.
Thanx.
Mitchel Cohen Brooklyn Greens/Green Party
Ring the bells that still can ring, Forget your perfect offering. There is a crack, a crack in everything, That's how the light gets in. ~ Leonard Cohen