EASTHAMPTON – A group of River Valley Co-op owners, workers and community members are calling on the store to become “apartheid-free” by removing Israeli products from the shelves of its Easthampton and Northampton stores.

However, the store management explained that it was important to them to give customers freedom of choice and that they did not intend to remove the products in question from the range.

At an outdoor “teach-in” Sunday afternoon, members of the Campaign for an Apartheid-Free River Valley Co-op came to the store’s Easthampton location on Route 10 bringing signs, actions and information about their campaign to clear shelves in response to the ongoing Israeli military campaign in Gaza.

Since early August, the group has been circulating a petition calling on the cooperative’s management and board to remove Israeli products from their shelves, refuse to purchase Israeli goods in the future, and publicly declare themselves an “apartheid-free cooperative.” The petition has collected more than 670 signatures, of which about 315 are from the cooperative’s total of over 16,000 member-owners.

“The local ceasefire resolutions were very successful and there was a great desire for further change in relation to the genocide in Gaza,” said Ian Petty, one of the event’s organizers, referring to the local initiative to get communities to pass resolutions calling for a ceasefire in the war-torn region. “Having a public presence is a good way to show people that we are here and that we still care about this issue.”

Petty said this boycott of Israeli goods is one of the ways community members are seeking “material change.” The Israeli goods River Valley Co-op currently carries are four brands of tahini, one brand of tampons, bulk couscous and organic sugar packets.

At the teach-in, volunteers hosted activities such as making signs and buttons and distributed materials about the deshelving campaign and the role of boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) as a tactic to drive change. The BDS movement was launched in 2005 as a nonviolent movement in Palestinian civil society and was modeled on South Africa’s anti-apartheid campaigns.

A local group of “Raging Grannies” led dozens of protesters to the benches next to the co-op where they held their activities, singing songs of protest. The Raging Grannies are an international coalition of women who participate in protests using satirical songs and began in Canada in 1987. According to Raging Granny Ellen Graves, “they are fighting to get the word out about the war.”

“When it comes to issues where the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer, where racism is prevalent, we are there,” Graves said. “I think we as white people need to be aware of that racism.”

Henry Morgan, a life member of the co-op and current student at Hampshire College, said the boycott was an important part of his bid for a seat on the co-op’s board.

“I want a change in policy. First, that we stop freezing goods that support human rights abuses,” Morgan said. “I think it’s contrary to the River Valley Co-op to support human rights abuses.”

Alternative options

But the co-op’s leadership says it’s unlikely to result in a clearing of shelves. Instead, River Valley Co-op wants to give its customers the option to participate in the boycott or not, offering alternative options but keeping Israeli products on the shelves.

In response to the campaign and petition to remove the shelves, the co-op released a statement saying, “We want to let you know that the idea of ​​banning products is not as simple as it seems. The River Valley co-op has never banned products from a specific country before. This sets a challenging precedent.”

“Food is a very personal choice,” says Rochelle Prunty, executive director of River Valley Co-op. “Our goal is not to exclude certain things – we try to provide choices.”

Prunty said that for every Israeli product it stocks, the cooperative looks for an alternative product from elsewhere to offer alongside it.

“As a local grocery store, you have to have everything in stock,” she said.

In late July, the River Valley Co-op released a “Statement for Peace” supporting humanitarian aid to Gaza and peace efforts there and elsewhere, in solidarity with statements made by National Co+op Grocers, its “cooperative of food cooperatives.” The co-op supports contributions to such efforts, but has no plans to ban Israeli products from its shelves.

Alexa Lewis can be reached at [email protected].