Success as Pollokshields, Glasgow joins boycott of Israeli dates
Hard work by Friends of Al Aqsa and SPSC activists pays off as Asian shops in key area of Glasgow declare themselves Israeli produce free!
In the month leading up to Ramadan SPSC Glasgow have combined the promoting of the Rod Cox/Gideon Levy event with joining Friends of al Aqsa in their campaign to urge Muslim shoppers and shopkeepers to boycott Israeli Medjoul dates, which are in fact produced in illegal settlements, particularly in the Jordan Valley.
Also: Edinburgh success
Despite the almost overwhelmingly positive response from the Muslim community, Friends of Al Aqsa identified one shopowner in Pollokshields who was ignoring the calls to boycott. Pollokshields is one of the areas of Glasgow with a strong and proud Muslim community, established over many decades and with several large shops this store owner was setting a negative example that Friends of Al Aqsa felt could not go unchallenged. Several weeks ago Friends of Al Aqsa asked SPSC Glasgow to join a protest/picket outside the shop-owners' flagship grocery store in Pollokshields, Strawberry & Spice Gardens, a request we readily accepted.
This protest was called-off at the last minute due to promises made by the shop-owner to remove the dates and when this promise was not fulfilled a second protest/picket was called for Saturday 21st August and in the spirit of cooperation and solidarity with this Friends of Al Aqsa initiative the decision was made to cancel our SPSC stall in Sauchiehall Street to divert SPSC activists to Pollokshileds whilst maintaining our weekly stall at Waitrose.
In the eve of Saturday's protest Radio Ramadhan announced details of the action, referring to the shop in question leading to frantic calls by the shop-owner to members of the Muslim community, Radio Ramadhan and Friends of Al Aqsa and a meeting was arranged for 2pm Saturday at a nearby Mosque between the shop-owner and people from our side.
Despite some calls to again cancel the protest while the meeting was ongoing, Friends of Al Aqsa together with SPSC activists began a tour of all other grocers in Pollokshields. Around 30 activists in all with Palestine flags made a colourful, highly visible procession from shop to shop, inspecting the shelves for Israeli dates and thanking those good grocers who'd refused to stock any Israeli produce from day one by having photographs taken and presenting them with posters for their stores declaring " No Israeli Produce sold here!".
Shoppers and passers-by were given leaflets to explain what was going on and Ahmed's great idea of leafleting passing cars was well received as most cars slowed down to take a leaflet and give words of thanks and encouragement. Members of the Muslim community engaged us in conversation and one older lady told us how she'd told Strawberry Garden she'd never shop there again if they stocked Israeli produce.
One shop-owner was mortified when we found Hadiklaim's Jordan River dates under its' new pseudonym 'Kalahari Medjoul dates' which are marked "product of South Africa" (this re-routing of produce is evidence of the success of BDS). These were promptly thrown in the bin and embarrassed apologies were graciously accepted.
Around this time Alam and others came with news from the meeting, which was better than we could have hoped for. Not only is Strawberry Gardens committed to the boycott of all Israeli produce, it will now take a leading role in the campaign to boycott Israeli madjoul dates. It will write to all other Muslim grocers in Glasgow asking them to join them in the boycotting of Israeli dates. They agreed to have their position on boycott announced on Friends of Al Aqsa website. (Alam can give a full summary of the meeting and its highly significant outcome).
Following this our growing numbers made our way around other shops for more of the same, inspecting and thanking those stores who have displayed their solidarity with Palestine by refusing to stock Israeli dates. Shadowed by 2 policemen who kept a respective distance we proceeded to Strawberry Garden for a 'victory' photo and were met by smiles, handshakes and hugs from some of the younger staff who were clearly delighted to have the constraints removed enabling them to become active in this campaign boycott Israel and end this cruel irony of the blood-soaked fruits of the occupation having a highly profitable export market here in the UK during the month of Ramadhan.
After Strawberry Garden our inspection continued and one store not only was found to have eight boxes of Israeli dates, the shop-owner attempted to fob us-off with the ridiculous claim that he'd take them off the shelf and take them home to be eaten in the house. This was rejected and we declared our intention to stay outside until the dates were removed completely. Initial solutions of us buying the dates to get them of the shelves were thrown-out when £50 was mentioned. Eventually offers from shoppers to buy them all shamed the shop-owner into finally seeing the moral aspect of our demands and all eight boxes were removed.
Although one or two shops may have to be continually checked to see if promises of boycott are genuine, it seems highly unlikely that any would be simply lying as they would not want to invite any protests. This is, I believe the effectiveness of such an action and the great success we seen on Saturday could and should be replicated throughout Glasgow and Scotland.
by John Bennett
Glasgow Branch
Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign