O My America: Cutting the Cheese at the Park Slope Food Coop

[caption id=“attachment_9465” align=“alignleft” width=“211”] Joe Holtz, General Manager[/caption]

by Lawrence Bush

On March 27th, the venerable Park Slope Food Coop on Union Street will hold a membership vote on whether or not to permit a referendum among members on the issue of joining the Israel boycott, divestment and sanctions movement (BDS). For nearly three years, one faction of members has been urging the Coop to boycott Israeli products (as it has, in the past, boycotted products from apartheid South Africa, from the Nestle’s company, from Pinochet’s Chile, from Coca Cola, and from several other sources). Another, larger faction has formed to oppose Coop participation in BDS, on the grounds that the boycott movement itself constitutes an attack on Israel’s existence because of its support for a Palestinian right of return and a “one-state” solution.

A third faction, which I hope will win the day, consists of leaders and members who believe the Coop should simply be spared from having to deal with such a highly controversial proposal.

Unfortunately but inevitably, the issue has gone national. Glenn Beck has weighed in with analogies between supporting the boycott and drawing swastikas. Orthodox politician Dov Hikind has offered up disparagements of “idiots in Brooklyn . . . nothing like a self-hating Jew!” Alan Dershowitz has threatened legal action should the Coop support BDS. Busybodies like these probably serve to strengthen the forces who SUPPORT the boycott idea by driving progressive-minded Park Slopers into their arms. I mean, if the fascistic Glenn Beck is against BDS, and the enemies of my enemies are my friends, there must be something there to support, right?

A very popular local rabbi, Andy Bachman of Congregation Beth Elohim, would strongly disagree with that kind of thinking. “A closer look at the BDS movement,” he writes,

reveals that the basic assumption of Israel’s right to exist is not shared and in fact even a cursory look into BDS rhetoric reveals that the ultimate goal of the majority of its supporters is a dissolution of Israel as a Jewish state. . . . The BDS movement singles out Israel as the sole offender in this painful and protracted conflict. Moreover, the BDS movement ignores the broader regional context and glaring human rights abuses in surrounding states that destructively impact the dynamics between Israel and the Palestinians. Finally, the BDS movement ignores the tremendous efforts being made on the ground, on a daily basis, to strengthen the hands of those in Israel and Palestine who daily work for peace.

What’s really at stake here? The 16,000-member Park Slope Food Coop, which sells $45 million worth of goods each year, stocks just a few items from Israel: an electronic seltzer maker, couscous, paprika, pesto, vegan marshmallows, organic red peppers, and bath salts. Nobody in Israel will feel the impact of a Coop boycott and be motivated to “see the light” on settlements and other objectionable Israeli policies. The BDS issue serves only as a test of the Coop’s own politics. It’s a purifying fire, a politico-religious exercise.

Joe Holtz, a founder of the Coop who has been General Manager since way long ago when I was living collectively and cutting cheese among some 1,000 members back in the mid-1970s, has weighed in against the boycott idea in the Coop’s newsletter, The Linewaiter’s Gazette. Holtz, who has been central in building the Coop into the largest member-owned and -operated food coop in the U.S., has urged members to vote against a referendum in order to

make it clear that the Coop is not in favor of seriously supporting an issue on which we are very divided. . . . We know joining BDS is divisive . . . We don’t need a referendum to figure that out. . . . There is no litmus test here for members other than whether the member is cooperating by fulfilling her membership responsibilities. We are open and welcoming to all who practice cooperation. Anyone who thinks we can start being unwelcoming to those of our members who hold fairly widely held views and still maintain sustainability as an organization is sadly mistaken.

Over the years, our magazine, Jewish Currents, has presented viewpoints both for and against the boycott movement. The “for” voices have expressed despair over the Israel government’s abuse of the Palestinian people and continued dallying over implementing a two-state solution with the Palestinian Authority. (“I have to do something for the sake of my conscience” seems to be the bottom-line sentiment of these writers.) The “against” voices have objected to the singling out of Israel for its abuses from among the many far-more abusive nations of the world, have expressed distrust of the BDS movement as anti-Zionist and anti-Semitic, and have predicted that a boycott would be strategically counterproductive to the goal of a two-state solution by hardening Israeli public opinion and fostering Palestinian false hopes about somehow “defeating” Israel. (“I want to be an effective peace activist, not an inflammatory fool,” seems to be the bottom line sentiment of these writers.)

The topic is complex and controversial, the writers have been people of good will, and the discussions have been highly appropriate — for a Jewish magazine. (By the way, we’ve tried to leave copies for free distribution at the Coop, but there’s a policy against that — which is also probably a sane move on their part.) To force a policy debate within the Park Slope Food Coop, however — when there is truly nothing at stake except the politics and cohesion of the Park Slope Food Coop — requires an ideological fervor that is not to be trusted.

The March 27th Coop membership meeting may attract 1,000 people and has been scheduled for 7 PM at Brooklyn Tech high school. I hope that Joe Holtz’ message wins the day:

Please don’t be convinced by arguments that referendums are a higher form of democracy. Our open and transparent meeting process, the Coop’s form of democracy, is central to the sustainability of our precious Coop. By voting against the referendum we can make it clear that the Coop is not in favor of seriously supporting an issue on which we are very divided.