50+ sign open letter to Rainbow Grocery Cooperative

January 2, 2007

Open Letter to Rainbow Grocery Cooperative

We shop at Rainbow because we believe in what it stands for - an independent worker-run coop which has refused to be beholden to corporate America and which came out of the movement of the ‘60s for good food, ecology, social justice and peace.

As members of the international community we are deeply moved by the plight of the Palestinians. Gaza is being called the largest concentration camp ever to exist, Palestinian children are being shot by the Israeli Defense Forces, people are starving and walled into ghettos by a 400-mile wall around them and by checkpoints and roadblocks. Israeli war crimes during the war against Lebanon shocked the world and brought international protest. We are calling for a boycott of Israeli goods as a way of voicing our objection to the US-Israeli backed wars of aggression in the Middle East and around the globe.

As regular shoppers at Rainbow, we have been asking the store to reconsider its position in support of a boycott of Israeli goods and are getting stonewalled. Some of us have asked for a list of Israeli products and been treated rudely. Some of us have written letters stating our support for a boycott but we have gotten no response. Many significant organizations around the world support a boycott of Israeli goods including Israeli Committee against Home Demolitions; Green Party of US; Congress of South African Trade Unions; the National Lawyers Guild; Canadian Union of Public Employees and more. Rainbow shoppers are asking for an open debate on this question. Why won’t Rainbow respond?

We have heard that when Rainbow discussed a boycott in 2003, the opposition threatened to poison the bulk bins. Is this what Rainbow is afraid of? That those anti-boycott forces will commit acts of terrorism against them if they boycott? Among us are Jewish people and we abhor such terror tactics reminiscent of the Zionist Irgun/Stern Gang in Israel which used violence, blackmail and extortion to get its way.

What is Rainbow’s commitment to the community? If such a threat occurred, why wasn’t it made public? Keeping something like this quiet would protect rather than expose those who made such a threat to life even in this country. Your customers have a right to know about threats to our safety. You have a responsibility to tell us.

Is Rainbow’s financial success from a small coop on Mission Street to a major Bay Area store affecting the decision to boycott, a fear that taking such an action might affect the store’s profits? If not, then what are the reasons? Are opposing groups pressuring you privately?

These are timely questions which deserve to be answered given the urgency to stop the genocide against Palestinian people by the brutal Israeli government with its partner Bush.

The world stopped the apartheid government of South Africa by boycotts and other actions. It’s time for all of us who support justice to oppose the Israeli government and join the international call for a boycott of Israeli goods. Which side will Rainbow be on?

Please contact Rainbow Grocery at 415.863.0620/ www.rainbowgrocery.org and RBIG at rainbowbig@earthlink.net with comments.

Signed by:

Dolores Helman
E. A. Ooms
Esperanza Derian
Gene Herman
George Williams
Janice Rothstein
Jean Pauline
Bob Ness
Charlie Hinton
David DeNeef
Kerry McCabe
Lou Gold
Maggie Leigh
Nell Myhand
Paul Larudee
Rose Marie Castro
Sonia Siegal
Tom Brown
Lori Nairne
Gwyn Kirk
Corey Weinstein
Jeanette Cool
Rebecca Katz
Cynthia M. Chang, L.AC, OMD
Emily Katz Kishawi
Michael Lyon
Catherine Powell
Eyad Kishawi
Synthia Green
Ari Lev Fornari
Zulma Oliveras
Ivan Olson
Aaron Shuman
Barbara Lubin
Alexei Folger
Arla S. Ertz
Shirley Yee
Joyce Umamoto
Millie Barnet
Ken Umamoto
Wayne G. Miller
Allegra Alessandri Pfeifer
Jess Ghannam
Richard Pitt
Mary Ratcliff
Willie Ratcliff
Jeffrey Blankford
Mesha Monge-Irizarry
Donna Wallach
Dave Welsh
Dave Cutler
Paula Frances Soto
Dorinda Moreno, Elders of 4 colors 4 directions
Lenore Sheradon
Marie Labossiere
Pierre Labossiere
Carol Chandler
Pete Klosterman