Every Evil You Oppose

Protest and defund every evil you oppose:  Use public transportation whenever you can!

Park your car for Peace, whenever you can, as long as you can.  It is up to us to be the change.

Every gallon supports every evil you oppose.  Don’t forget.    

If we work at it, we can all find ways to use less.

~~~

We are Praying for Peace.  Not just for a few, but for everyone everywhere. We are Praying for all those who are victims of violence, for those who are driven to violence, for those who feel violence is the patriotic or religious thing to do.

And we are praying for all of us who inadvertently support violence through our beliefs, spending habits, and our inattention to the suffering of others.  Suffering caused, not just by guns and bombs, but also by economic injustice, by rules of law that support the resource raiders, by the destruction of climate and the resultant hunger and homelessness:  All of which is rooted in or connected to the exploitation and use of fossil fuel.

We are all in this together . . .

Park your car for Peace!

~~~

Facebook Optimized Meme

~~~

Background image from:

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pumping_gas_by_hand.JPG

~~~

Boycott for Peace!
http://boycott4peace.blogspot.com/
https://www.facebook.com/boycott4peace/
http://www.pinterest.com/boycott4peace/pins/ 

~~~

Use the buttons below to e-mail, reblog, tweet, share, pin, or recommend on Google:

Confronting our Privilege

Araya, the film, is billed as high art and high cinema.  

It has much been reviewed to critical acclaim in this regard.  The film maker, Margot Benacerraf, in addition to thinking of this film as a ‘tone poem,’ also intended the film to be commentary on the loss of traditional culture due to modernization.  She glorifies the stark and impoverished lives of the salt miners and their families. The people she dehumanizes as gestural art worked relentlessly, from childhood to old age, and for many hours every day.  For this continual labor, they secured a marginal and bare existence, so that she and we could salt our food at extremely little cost or effort.  This is the privilege that is unmentioned yet front and center in the film.  This is the same privilege that ultimately took apart the traditions that Benacerraf found so quaint and artfully dear—not for the good of the people involved—but rather to reduce the cost of producing salt even further.  

While this film was produced in 1959, unfortunately, the lives of abject poverty depicted—where labor starts in childhood—are still common in many salt producing parts of the world.  However, we have a choice.  We can support ethically produced and Certified Fair Trade salt, and if we do the idea of fairness will spread.  In fact, when purchasing imported foods or other items, you are probably supporting corporations that degrade and devalue human life if you don’t insist on Fair Trade.  Salt, as it turns out, is still one of the worst offenders when it comes to child labor and other labor abuses.  And of course, these abuses are not art.  Other particularly egregious abuses in today’s world concern coffee and chocolate production.

For more information please see our posts on --

Corporate Salt:  http://boycott4peace.blogspot.com/2015/02/salt-justice.html

Corporate Chocolate:  http://boycott4peace.blogspot.com/2015/01/boycott-nesquik.html

Corporate Coffee:  http://boycott4peace.blogspot.com/2014/11/boycott-starbucks.html

Meanwhile, educate yourself and your friends.  The film, Araya, is available through college, public, and school libraries as well as other video outlets, on request.  And while this isn’t our favorite film, it does help us all confront our privilege.

Check out our post on ‘Peace Making and the Power ofNarrative.’  It starts out with a short essay on privilege that we think is very worth reading.

~~~

Our recommended DVDs can be found here:

http://boycott4peace.blogspot.com/search/label/DVD

~~~

Participate!  If you know of other media that helps us confront and understand our privilege, whether they are articles, books, CDs, DVD’s, periodicals, or websites--please share in comments.  We may be able to feature your recommendations in an up-coming blog post!

~~~

Boycott for Peace! 

http://boycott4peace.blogspot.com/

https://www.facebook.com/boycott4peace
http://www.pinterest.com/boycott4peace/pins/

~~~

E-mail, reblog, tweet, share, or pin, using the buttons below:

Clinique Boycott!

Boycott Clinique!

Your purchase of Clinique products as well as those of their parent company, Estee Lauder, supports Pro-Israeli and anti-BDS activism.   Please see documentation below, as well as a link to information on why we boycott Israel.

If you are unclear why we boycott Israel, please read the articles at the following link:

http://boycott4peace.blogspot.com/search/label/why%20we%20boycott

Ronald S. Lauder, chairman of Clinique, is the son of Estee Lauder, founder of Estee Lauder International.  He is a long entrenched part of the Estee Lauder empire.  Formerly, he was the Chairman of Estee Lauder International and he has served as a member of the overall board of directors, in total, for over 20 years to date.  http://www.elcompanies.com/Pages/The-Lauder-Family.aspx

Lauder leads the fight against BDS:  http://www.i24news.tv/en/news/israel/diplomacy-defense/140411-london-forum-seeks-ways-to-fight-boycott-of-israel  And he equates anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism—and has the clout to broadly and prominently disseminate his views: http://forward.com/articles/7072/back-to-school-for-israel-advocacy/

“Lauder’s strident hard-line views and support of Israeli right-wing extremists have frequently angered peace activists . . .  American Muslim groups called for an international boycott of Ronald Lauder’s businesses, the Estée Lauder Companies . . .”   http://www.wrmea.org/2001-april/peace-activists-boycott-estee-lauder-products-while-arabs-revive-plan-for-israel-boycott.html

His thoughts are well published, including his thoughts on Palestine: “Alas, one must therefore conclude that the Palestinians are not yet ready for their own state:”   http://www.worldjewishcongress.org/en/news/opinion-ronald-s-lauder-it-is-too-early-for-a-palestinian-state  He just spouts the standard contorted Right Wing Israeli talking points—without mentioning all the things that Israel intentionally does to create the situations that he uses to support his argument.  Further, he totally ignores the fact that Palestine is a State already: http://boycott4peace.blogspot.com/2015/03/palestine-is-state.html

Ronald S. Lauder “has repeatedly come to the defense of Israel in public and is seen as an ally of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.”    In fact he acted as a negotiator for Netanuyahu with Syria in 1998.  Apparently the intention was to get Syria to give up land in exchange for peace: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronald_Lauder

A few other examples of his pro-Israeli activism can be found on the same page:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronald_Lauder#Israel_activism 

Through his wealth, foundations, and prominent positions in lobbying organizations, he has access to heads of state throughout the world:  http://powerbase.info/index.php/Ronald_S._Lauder#Israel_Lobby_and_Foreign_Policy

Lauder attempted to interject Israel’s views into the nuclear negotiations with Iran.  “Ronald S. Lauder Meets in Brussels With EU Leaders Solana, Barroso and Ferrero-Waldner:”  http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ronald-s-lauder-meets-in-brussels-with-eu-leaders-solana-barroso-and-ferrero-waldner-62215887.html

Lauder is also heavily involved with media, providing a broad platform to disseminate his support for the Israeli regime.  “Mr. Lauder is Chairman of Central European Media Enterprises, Ltd., a leading television broadcast company in Central Eastern Europe which he founded in 1994.”   http://www.elcompanies.com/Pages/The-Lauder-Family.aspx

Interestingly, Time Warner acquired 31% of the shares in CEM, mentioned above, and our infamous Mr. Lauder votes those shares, which only increases his power and control over CEM:  http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aDjPIAv.vvdM

Here, Lauder waxes poetic on the prospects of TW and CEMworking together.  

Lauder is also involved with media in Israel:  “Lauder has participated in a number of large media deals in Israel, among which was his purchase of part of Channel 10.”    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronald_Lauder#Channel_10

Ronald S. Lauder is worth 3.9 billion dollars.   That’s a whole lot of money he can toss around to try to convince the world to think his way:  http://www.forbes.com/profile/ronald-lauder/

~~~

Boycott Clinique and Estee Lauder!

Read more about the Estee Lauder boycott on Innovative Minds:

http://www.inminds.com/boycott-estee-lauder.html

Here is the official list of Estee Lauder companies:

http://www.elcompanies.com/Pages/Our-Brands.aspx

~~~

Alternatives:

Your local natural food store or co-op has many great skin care products from small companies that deserve your business.  You will find products that are easier on your budget, easier on the earth, and that are not promoting policies that support human rights abuses in the Holy Land.  If you have a favorite healthy and natural skin care product or cosmetic line produced by a small company, please give them a shout out in comments! 

 

~~~

Facebook Sharable Meme.

~~~

Check out our complete boycott list here:

http://boycott4peace.blogspot.com/2014/12/boycott-list.html 

~~~

Background image from Wikimedia Commons.

~~~

Boycott for Peace! 

http://boycott4peace.blogspot.com/

https://www.facebook.com/boycott4peace/
http://www.pinterest.com/boycott4peace/pins/
 

~~~                                                                                               

Use the buttons below to e-mail, reblog, tweet, share, or pin:

Boycott Unethical Flowers

Israel’s siege on Gaza has destroyed the Palestinian flower industry

 

Meanwhile Israel’s profits from flowers soar

 

When buying flowers from the florist or your local market, 

you have no way to know where they came from or who profits.   

Please scroll down for Ethical Alternatives.

First some documentation:

“Ten years ago farmers across Gaza were exporting 80 million flowers a year to Europe, including roses,” he says. “But the last few years have been extremely difficult, and this one has been the worst yet. I exported exactly [only] 20,000 flowers this year due to the closure. I have lost more than one million shekels, but so has every flower farmer in Gaza. We are all just losing money now.”  http://electronicintifada.net/content/gaza-flower-producers-watch-their-industry-die/3325

“The rise and fall of this industry points to the deliberate Israeli policy of keeping the Palestinian economy subservient to Israel.”  http://rabble.ca/news/2015/02/no-flowers-gaza-this-valentines-day

“Israel produces vast quantities of flowers for export. Flower exports in 2000 exceeded $50 million.”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agriculture_in_Israel#Flowers

~~~

More reasons to seek out ethical flowers:

“The labor rights facts of this industry are truly depressing. In 2005, the International Labor Rights Forum found that 55 percent of women working in the Ecuadorian flower production trade (they constitute half the flower workforce) had been victim to sexual harassment in the workplace.”  http://www.motherjones.com/blue-marble/2012/02/green-valentines-day-flowers-chocolate

“In Columbia, child laborers tasks include digging flower beds, weeding, pruning, and cutting stems. The children work in the cultivation areas, cold rooms, and the packaging areas. Children also plant, place guiding wires, cut and rubber band stems, classify and package the flowers, and load the trucks.” http://ihscslnews.org/view_article.php?id=179

“The flower boom has generated huge environmental costs. The water table on the Savanna has been shrinking almost as quickly as export earnings have been rising. Around the town of Madrid the aquifer has fallen from 20 metres to 200 metres, and water is now imported from Bogota. Highly toxic residues of pesticides banned in Europe, such as lindano, have been found in dangerously high levels in groundwater.”  http://www.laborrights.org/in-the-news/deadly-blooms-colombias-flower-industry-based-exploitation-women-workers-0

For more on the many ethical and environmental issues surrounding the flower industry please see the book, Flower Confidential, by Amy Stewart: http://www.amystewart.com/books/flower-confidential/

~~~

Ethical Alternatives are available!

Order Fair Trade Certified Flowers on-line:  http://www.oneworldflowers.org/category/individual/

Find local ethical flowers:

The flowers found in most florist shops and at the supermarket are not generally not ‘single sourced.’  Retailers purchase flowers from wholesaler flower markets, who in turn buy flowers from all over the globe.  The clerks and florists who sell flowers to us, generally have no idea where those flowers were grown.  One exception to this trend are Fair Trade Certified flowers; however, they are not widely available in shops.

Your best bet is to start checking around soon, if you want to source ethical flowers near you.  If your local florist shop does not carry Fair Trade Certified flowers, check with your local natural food store or co-op.  They often carry organic bouquets that are grown locally, so you won’t have to worry about their country of origin. 

Another possibility, that might actually make a fun outing, is to visit your local certified farmers market.  At these markets the vendors can only sell items that they have grown themselves. This provides a very good assurance that you are not supporting unethical flower production.  If you live in the U.S., to find a certified farmers market near you, start your search at the link below by clicking on your state: http://farmersmarketcoalition.org/networking/state-associations/

If fresh flowers aren’t available this earlier in the season in your area, you might be able to buy a handmade basket, bowl, or vase, and arrange some beautiful greens and other local goodies to make a perfect and original gift.  Have fun.  And let your mom know you supported local farmers, crafters, and cooks when shopping for her special gift. 

~~~

Facebook Sharable Meme.

~~~

Be the Change!

See our complete boycott list here:

http://boycott4peace.blogspot.com/2014/12/boycott-list.html

~~~
 
We boycott Israel for many reasons, you can read about some of them here:
http://boycott4peace.blogspot.com/search/label/why%20we%20boycott

~~~

Images from Wikimedia Commons:

Violets  & Roses.

~~~

Boycott for Peace!

http://boycott4peace.blogspot.com/
https://www.facebook.com/boycott4peace
http://www.pinterest.com/boycott4peace/pins/

~~~

E-mail, reblog, tweet, share, or pin--using the buttons below: