Report of meeting with MSP Mike Pringle
On Saturday 11 November members of the Edinburgh South group met with Mike Pringle MSP (Lib Dem) to discuss two very important issues.
On Saturday 11 November members of the Edinburgh South group met with Mike Pringle MSP (Lib Dem) to discuss two very important issues – our petition to boycott Eden Springs water (used by the Scottish Executive amongst others) and the motion to congratulate Palestinians on holding democratic elections while under occupation, call for an end on all sanctions against Palestine and invite a Palestinian spokesperson to address the Scottish parliament. We hoped he would agree to sign the petition and to support the motion.
{mosimage}For some of us this was our first time lobbying a MSP and we were rather nervous and unsure what to expect. What was the etiquette? What exactly happens? What should we do? However the discussion proved to be lively and interesting with a good exchange of views. Everyone had something to say, and many important points were made. It was not as scary as we had thought, and was definitely a learning experience!
The meeting started at 9.15 am and seven people from the group attended. We began by offering him a copy of our report, made by members who had visited Palestine and were reporting on conditions there. He took it and promised he would read it later. Then first we discussed the petition and the boycott of Eden Springs.
Since hearing of our concern Mr Pringle had telephoned the UK commercial director of Eden Springs, Graeme Carruthers, for more information. He was on a bus in Geneva and so perhaps was not giving it his full attention, but explained that there were no links between the UK company and Mei Eden, the Israeli parent company in the occupied Golan Heights. He also sent a letter to Mr Pringle, and we all received a copy.
The letter was a point of contention, as it claimed both "there is no profit from the UK company going to the Israeli company" and also "Mei Eden has a minority shareholding of 33%" in the joint venture between them and Danone. The letter was carefully worded to distract the eye and the brain, but also proved that there was a link between Eden Springs UK and Mei Eden, that link being the joint venture with Danone. We explained to Mr Pringle that we were not concerned about the state of their profits and where the water was sourced from in the UK, but the fact of Mei Eden’s involvement, which was very clear from the letter.
Mr Pringle said he was concerned at discrepancies between what he was told on the phone and what was printed in the letter. He promised that if he had confirmation of what was on the letter he would sign the petition. He will be phoning Eden Springs in the next few days, so we hope to see his signature on the petition very soon.
Secondly we discussed the motion. Mr Pringle expressed concern about the state of affairs in Gaza and the actions of Israel, but he was also unsure about the wording of the motion. Would supporting the motion mean one was supporting Hamas? Why was there no mention of violence in the motion? Maybe he would write his own….
We explained to him that the motion wasn’t intended to show either support for or disapproval of Hamas. It was a recognition of the achievement the Palestinian people had made in holding a democratic election in the midst of occupation, a call for an end to sanctions, and an invitation to a Palestinian spokesperson to address the Scottish Parliament. When and if that spokesperson came, Mr Pringle would have the opportunity to put questions to him or her.
He confirmed he was in agreement with all major points of the motion, and after much discussion, with everyone having their say, he agreed also that he would support the motion. We were very pleased!
People in Edinburgh South constituency and all over the country are becoming more aware of and concerned by the actions of Israel. It’s important that we act on a local and a global level, and by taking the stand that he will support the motion, he has clearly shown his belief that we as Scots should stand up and have our voices heard and show support for democracy and the Palestinian people, and that he listens to the people in his constituency.
We thanked him for his time and left at 10am, having had a very productive meeting. We hope more MSPs will follow his example.