Glasgow: Govanhill and West End grocers join the boycott

Support for Boycott of Israeli dates in Glasgow grows as activists take campaign to Govanhill and the West End.

Following-on from the huge success in Pollokshields, over the last two weeks Friends of Al Aqsa and Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign activists have taken the campaign to urge grocers, particularly Muslim grocers to boycott Israeli dates and produce to the Govanhill and West End ares of Glasgow.

Saturday 28th August saw this joint Friends of Al Aqsa and SPSC campaign visit the Govanhill area, going from shop to shop thanking grocers who've stayed or become Israeli produce free. Once again, many grocers had been duped into stocking the Kalahari brand dates due them being labelled "produce of South Africa", once explained they are in fact Hadiklaim (Israeli) most grocers promptly agreed to take them-off the shelves, whilst a very small minority needed the prospect of activists remaining outside and leafleting their customers to come on board. The vast majority of stores were delighted to join the boycott and now display posters declaring "No Israeli produce sold here". Many grocers felt decieved by the mislabelling of the Kalahari dates and were very grateful for the information which enables them to maintain the boycott.

Due to the success in Pollokshields the previous week, the Sunday Herald sent along a reporter and photographer to cover the Govanhill action and the following days Sunday Herald ran an article which was picked-up around the world. The successful Edinburgh action on Friday 3rd September marked this highly successful campaign and strategy being rolled-out across Scotland. As actions took place in Dundee and Fife, Friends of Al Aqsa and SPSC activists again took to the streets, this time in the West End area.

Again, many shops had fully supported the campaign to boycott Israeli dates and those shops were thanked, presented with posters declaring "We support the Palestinians, no Israeli produce sold here". Those shops found to have Israeli brand, again almost always Kalahari dates were enlightened to the fact that Hadiklaim were an Israeli company and once again some grocers felt decieved and angry at the deception, believing themselves to be 100% Israeli produce free.

Just like in previous weeks this action was an overwhelming success and a very welcome addition to this was a very popular local non-Muslim shop which has led the way in Glasgow on both Organic and Fair Trade produce did not hesitate in agreeing to send its stock of Israeli dates back to the supplier. After the third week of this phase of the campaign, which seen great news from Edinburgh, Dundee and Fife, Friends of Al Aqsa and the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign are delighted to announce over 40 shops in Glasgow have now embarced the boycott.

John Bennent

SPSC Glasgow