The Palestine Solidarity Network-Edmonton is part of a cross-Canada effort calling on Mountain Equipment Co-op (MEC) to end its “partnerships” with Israel companies as part of the 2005 Palestinian-led call for boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS).
Mountain Equipment Co-op currently sources 20 individual products from Israeli companies. These include products made by Source-Vagabond, an Israeli military contractor whose founder, Yoki Gill, and most its management are “experienced ex officers of elite IDF (Israeli Defence Forces) units.” MEC also partners with Israeli factories in the production of its “housebrand” line of seamless undergarments.
Despite this relationship, MEC claims that it maintains a policy of “ethical sourcing” with the headline question, “We believe business can advance human rights. What do you think?” on its company blog. On the same blog, MEC defends sourcing from Israel by saying, “In short, we will not take sides in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,” ignoring the fact that by continuing to source from Israel it is directly support apartheid against the Palestinians, which is anything but not taking a side.
We think that MEC should take a side against Israeli Apartheid. You can help.
From now until March 31, all MEC members can vote online to select who will represent them on the Board of Directors. PSN is asking all MEC members to email all 10 MEC board candidates to ask them their position on sourcing from Israel, and to only support those candidates who take the position of ending MEC’s relationship with Israel.
Step 1:
Cut and paste the following addresses into the BCC field of your email program:
candidate_gibson@mec.ca; candidate_sylvester@mec.ca; candidate_hammond@mec.ca; candidate_ourom@mec.ca; candidate_gallo@mec.ca; candidate_mitchell@mec.ca; candidate_levesque@mec.ca; candidate_jay@mec.ca; candidate_schneiderman@mec.ca; candidate_sullivan@mec.ca
Step 2:
Write a short and polite email asking the candidate to clarify their position on sourcing from Israel. These emails are more effective if you customize them, and can be as simple as writing, “I would like to know your position on ending sourcing of MEC products from Israel. Please email me your position on this important issue so that I can select candidates who I feel will live up to the ethical standards I believe are important to MEC.”
You can also point out in your own words:
- that you believe that continuing to source from Israel is not a way to take a neutral position in the conflict
- that you believe that sourcing from Israel is a violation of MEC’s stated commitment to ethical sourcing
- that you will only support candidates who advocate for ending MEC’s relationship with Israel
- that you expect a response from the candidate
Step 3:
Press send!
Please send any responses you get to your inquiry to mec.election.action@gmail.com so we can post the positions of the various candidates.
Step 4:
Be sure to vote online before March 31 at noon PST for the candidates who agree that MEC shouldn’t buy Israeli apartheid.
You can also take these actions to get MEC out of Israel:
* Do not buy products made in Israel at MEC
* Leaflet a MEC store
* Ask friends and relatives not to buy Israeli goods at MEC
* Whatever else you do, please write/fax/phone the CEO and board of MEC telling them of your actions and asking that MEC halt all dealings with Israeli companies. Please email the co-op’s CEO dLabistour@mec.ca and cc any emails to boycottapartheid@gmail.com
Posted by psnedmonton 
Ahava and the Bay: a BDS Victory
January 31, 2011An analysis for rabble.ca by Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid (CAIA) and Faculty 4 Palestine member Mary-Jo Nadeau on the meaning of the recent removal of Ahava products by the Hudson’s Bay Company and whether it should be considered a victory.
The Bay drops Ahava
A victory for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement in Canada
This month, the Hudson Bay Company (HBC) have discontinued sales of Ahava cosmetic products. Ahava is an Israeli company that has been a target of the Palestinian campaign for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel.
HBC was the main retailer in Canada that carries Ahava’s line, and has been targeted by a number of Palestine solidarity group over the past 18 months. Many participated in the campaign across the country, including Tadamon in Montreal, the Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid in Toronto, with Canadians for Peace and Justice in the Middle East being the latest group to join in.
HBC’s decision was seen as a major BDS victory, and is being widely celebrated by BDS activists. After receiving a deluge of angry pro-Israeli e-mails and supportive pro-Palestinian e-mails, HBC partnered up with the Canada-Israeli Committee (CIC) to issue a joint statement announcing that the discontinuation of Ahava was a business decision, not a political one.
In addition to revealing that Ahava sales have been declining for some time, and admitting that it was not profitable to carry their products, HBC also affirmed their support for Israel and promised to launch a reformulated Ahava line the spring. Pro-Israel groups quickly declared victory and proclaimed that HBC made a business decision that had nothing to do with BDS.
A debate is now taking place within the BDS movement about whether the HBC decision is a victory. We believe that it is, and here’s why.
Ahava: a major international boycott target
In 2005, over 170 Palestinian civil society organizations endorsed a call for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against Israel until it complies with international law. All Israeli companies profit from and contribute to Israeli apartheid and are therefore targets of the BDS campaign.
Ahava became a focus of BDS activists because of its particularly egregious role in the occupation of the West Bank. The company is majority-owned by two West Bank settlements, has manufacturing facilities in those settlements and its entire product line is manufactured from materials stolen from the Dead Sea, which is located in the occupied West Bank. Building settlements in and extracting resources from occupied territories is illegal under international law. Ahava’s entire operation is therefore in contravention of the Geneva Conventions. Companies that sell Ahava products are also in violation of international law.
HBC decision: Apolitical business decision or BDS victory?
The ultimate goal of the BDS campaign is to put economic and political pressure on Israel, but a key step in achieving this goal is education and raising awareness about Israeli apartheid. Every time a BDS story makes headlines, we achieve a victory because it engages the public in a debate about Israel, Palestine and the BDS campaign. When these debates happen, people around the world increasingly side with Palestinians precisely because the facts emerging from a 60-year history of Palestinian dispossession, displacement and ethnic cleansing by Israel are undeniable.
Moreover, the Ahava debate is taking place as we mark the two-year anniversary of Operation Cast Lead, Israel’s massacre in Gaza, which left over 1,400 Palestinians dead, over 5,000 injured and at least 6,000 homes destroyed or severely damaged. After five years of the growing BDS campaign and in the wake of atrocities like Cast Lead, the on-going siege on Gaza, home demolitions and the continued construction of the apartheid wall, the Israeli narrative is rapidly losing ground. The Zionist outcry about HBC’s decision shows their increasing fear of BDS.
Beyond their educational value, the purpose of consumer boycotts is to hit Israeli companies where it hurts — their bottom-line. By HBC’s own admission, Ahava sales have been declining for some time now. Ahava is reformulating and rebranding because their image has been so badly damaged by the BDS campaign. This is all good news — the BDS campaign is affecting this company’s profits.
Significantly, these declining sales have happened despite efforts by the CIC’s Buycott campaign, which has urged supporters to buy Israeli goods, including Ahava products. Their strategy is clearly failing to stop BDS and apparently is not even effective enough to keep Ahava profitable in Canada. This is more good news.
BDS and big business
The BDS campaign is not built on the naive assumption that corporations will drop Israeli products out of some moral imperative. HBC is Canada’s oldest corporation and has been profiting off of colonialism and genocide here in Canada for generations. We do not expect HBC or any other big business to take a courageous stand against Israeli apartheid. Our goal is to apply intense public pressure so that carrying Israeli goods ceases to be profitable. It will take time to build the kind of momentum needed to make that a reality, but we are well on our way. Ahava is no longer profitable to HBC and the BDS movement will continue to educate and agitate until this true of all Israeli goods sold in Canada.
Mary-Jo Nadeau is a member of the Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid (CAIA) and Faculty 4 Palestine.
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