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Dec. 2016 – Please note that this GBCS article refers to UMKR by our former name. Our current name is: United Methodists for Kairos Response.
Friends of Sabeel-North America
Letter Campaign to 14 CEOs
This campaign has ended.
UMKR took part in a letter campaign organized by Friends of Sabeel-North America (FOSNA). Our Steering Committee signed and sent a letter to fourteen companies making the request to remove SodaStream products in support of human rights and international law.
See the letter and the CEOs it was delivered to.
Others who participated in this SodaStream boycott letter campaign:
Methodist Federation for Social Action (MFSA)
Israel Palestine Mission Network of the Presbyterian Church USA (IPMN)
The Palestine-Israel Network of the Episcopal Peace Fellowship (EPF PIN)
Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP)
Palestinian Christian Alliance for Peace (PCAP)
Chico (CA) Palestine Action Group (CPAG)
Adalah—NY
Citizens for Justice in the Middle East—Kansas City ( CJME)
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The Interfaith Boycott Coalition
UMKR is a member of the Interfaith Boycott Coalition.
Visit their website to learn more about the SodaStream Boycott: http://sodastreamboycott.org
While you are there, please sign the petition - see it below.
THE PETITION OF THE INTERFAITH BOYCOTT COALITION
We are thirsty for justice.
We are Christians, Muslims, Jews, and other people of conscience calling on all consumers and stores to stop buying and selling SodaStream carbonation devices or other products made by this company. SodaStream manufactures these machines within an Israeli settlement in occupied Palestinian territory. These settlements are illegal under international law and are obstacles to peace. We choose not to partake in supporting this unethical enterprise and ask consumers and stores to join us.
We will not be satisfied until "justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream." (Amos 5:24)
Sign this statement at: http://sodastreamboycott.org
UMC General Board of Church & Society
calls for boycott of SodaStream
Download the GBCS resource "A Call to Boycott SodaStream"
Download the GBCS SodaStream Boycott Flyer (see below).
Get all of the GBCS Activist Toolkit for the SodaStream Boycott
Social justice agency issues call
to boycott SodaStream
Source: http://umc-gbcs.org/press-releases/social-justice-agency-issues-call-to-boycott-sodastream
CHEVY CHASE, Md. — The United Methodist General Board of Church & Society (GBCS) has issued a call to boycott SodaStream, a countertop carbonation device produced illegally in the occupied West Bank of the Palestinian Territories. The decision to engage in the boycott of SodaStream was overwhelmingly endorsed by the agency’s Board of Directors during its spring meeting here this month.
SodaStream is among 23 “Products of the Year” announced last month by Parade Magazine. The company is Israeli-owned, but its main factory is in Mishor Adumin, an industrial zone in the illegal Israeli settlement of Maale Adumin in the Palestinian West Bank.
In calling for the boycott, the agency’s work area on Peace with Justice and International Affairs emphasized that it is doing so in compliance with United Methodist Church resolution #4011, “Guidelines for Initiating or Joining an Economic Boycott.”
“The United Methodist Church does not support a boycott of products made in Israel,” pointed out Mark Harrison, GBCS director of Peace with Justice. “Our opposition is to products made by Israeli companies operating in occupied Palestinian territories."
Disregard of laws
The SodaStream boycott, which has already begun by a coalition of Christian, Jewish and Muslim organizations, stems from the company’s disregard of both international and workers’ rights laws, including those of Israel itself.
The SodaStream factory reinforces the illegal settlements, according to GBCS. Its taxes support the settlement and the Israeli government. No taxes are paid to the Palestinian Authority.
Despite the fact that it manufactures in the largest settlement by land area in occupied Palestine, SodaStream’s products are mislabeled “Made in Israel.”
United Methodist resolution #6111, “Opposition to Israeli Settlements in Palestinian Land,” asks all companies that profit from and/or support settlements “to stop any business that contributes to serious violations of international law, promotes systemic discrimination or otherwise supports ongoing military occupation.”
Workers' rights ignored
Furthermore, the Israeli Supreme Court has ruled that Palestinians working in occupied Palestinian territory are entitled to the same labor protections as Israelis. But workers in SodaStream’s facility are expected to work regular 12-hour shifts and 60-hour weeks. Israeli labor law limits the work day to eight hours and the work week to 45 hours. Night shifts and overtime are paid at the standard rate, not at the legally required bonus pay.
Action against SodaStream’s product, which allows users to create carbonated drinks, has already begun by the Interfaith Boycott Coalition. Supporters include United Methodist Kairos Response, the Israel Palestine Mission Network of the Presbyterian Church (USA), American Friends Service Committee, Jewish Voice for Peace, Episcopal Peace Fellowship’s Palestine Israel Network, Unitarian Universalists for Justice in the Middle East, Friends of Sabeel North America, United Church of Christ, Church of the Brethren, American Muslims for Palestine, and members of the Catholic, Lutheran, Mennonite and Quaker traditions.
The Interfaith Boycott Coalition operates as a network of the U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation, a coalition of nearly 400 U.S. organizations including the General Board of Church & Society, General Board of Global Ministries, United Methodist Women and the Methodist Federation for Social Action.
Boycott justified
GBCS said the boycott is “justified and will serve to further the peace process between these people in conflict.” The boycott will last until SodaStream ceases production in the occupied West Bank, according to GBCS.
A successful boycott of SodaStream not only has the power to change that company’s business practices GBCS emphasized, but sends an important message to other companies profiting from the Israeli occupation of Palestine.
The General Board of Church & Society is one of four international general program boards of The United Methodist Church. Prime responsibility of the board is to seek implementation of the Social Principles and other policy statements on Christian social concerns of the General Conference, the denomination’s highest policy-making body.
The board’s primary areas of ministry are Advocacy, Education & Leadership Formation, and United Nations & International Affairs. It has offices on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., and at the Church Center for the United Nations in New York City.
You can download “A Call to Boycott SodaStream ” from the GBCS website. It explains the rationale, decision-making process and includes pertinent United Methodist statements on the Israel-Palestine situation.
For more information about the GBCS SodaStream Boycott, contact Mark Harrison, Director of Peace with Justice: mharrison@umc-gbcs.org.
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Boycott SodaStream
The SodaStream Boycott
On this page:
Left column
• The Call to Boycott SodaStream from the UMC General Board of Church and Society
Right column
• The FOSNA SodaStream Letter Campaign to Fourteen CEOs
• The Interfaith Boycott Coalition's SodaStream petition.
SodaStream’s main production site is in Mishor Edomim, an Israeli settlement industrial park located in the West Bank. The land where the SodaStream factory is located was illegally confiscated by the Israeli military occupation authorities from Palestinian owners. Israeli settlements are an impediment to peace and violate international law. Since 1968 the US government has called on Israel to stop building and expanding settlements in the West Bank. Companies should not profit from products that are made on stolen property or that perpetuate the Israeli occupation of the West Bank.
Human Rights organization Global Exchange says, “SodaStream manufactures and distributes home carbonating devices and flavorings for soft drinks. Its products are sold in 39 countries and can be found in retail stores like Macy’s, Bed Bath and Beyond, Bloomingdale’s.... The company’s main production site is in the Mishor Edomin Industrial Zone of the Ma’ale Adumin, where the company conceals the fact that its products are manufactured in a settlement by using ‘Made in Israel’ labels. As an Israeli settlement manufacturer, it exploits Palestinian land, resources and labour.”
Read a full report on SodaStream prepared by Who Profits, an organization that documents commercial involvement in the Israeli occupation.
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