Croissant Inflation
To The Editor:
The croissants got smaller. Likewise, this letter was reduced in size.
Jonas Geduldig
German Grad Student Seeks to Interview PSFC Members for Thesis on Food Cooperatives
Editor’s Note: As part of our commitment to the International Principles of Cooperation, our Coop often works with people from other Cooperatives and people studying Cooperatives from all over the world. Sadia Rahman attends a university in Germany and would appreciate talking to individual members of our Coop. If you can, please contact Sadia. Her contact information is in the letter below. –Joe Holtz, General Coordinator.
Dear Members,
My name is Sadia Rahman. I am actively looking for Coop members for interviews who are enthusiastic about enhancing the growth of comprehensive and eco-friendly organic agriculture. I am pursuing my Master of Science (M.Sc) in Transition Management. I am currently involved with a research project (WERTSCHÄTZEN) at the Justus Liebig University (JLU) Gießen on food cooperatives. Please find some more information (in German) on the project website. In the framework of the project, a master thesis will be written about exploring the potentials and challenges of organic and local value chains: a case study on Park Slope Food Coop. In advance I want to share some information about the project: It focuses on strengthening local and organic value chains and is sponsored by the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture. Our research aims to identify potentials and challenges for the further development and dissemination of food cooperatives in Germany. It also seeks to promote knowledge transfer and networking among stakeholders.
Your shared daily experience and learnings will encourage me to work well with this project. N.B., I am in Germany, and unfortunately, I cannot reach you physically but I am available for an online interview. If you want to encourage me with your knowledge and supervision regarding Park Slope please send me an email at: s.rahman.sarah@gmail.com or sadiasarah1996@gmail.com.
My phone number is +4901783174726 (I am also available on WhatsApp, Botim).
Together we can make this world a better place.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Sadia Rahman
An Acknowledgment
Fellow members,
I’d like to acknowledge the moving letter by a Muslim parent in the previous issue. There are moments when we are reminded of a child’s unencumbered lens on the world. Their daughter’s observation noting the lack of a Ramadan endcap display—and what it said about her aspirational vision for a more open Coop—was one such instance.
Then I saw that the letter was signed anonymously, out of safety. It saddened me for reasons I can’t fully enumerate here, but I will offer one: Many recent letters have routinely characterized those who support a boycott of specific Israeli goods as somehow secretly, inherently violent. For Muslim members in particular, we hear decades-old echoes of accusation, discrimination and sanction that still reverberate today. With this in mind, may we as a community reflect on why a fellow member had to make a choice between identifying as Muslim and sharing their name.
To the parent who submitted the letter: jazakAllah khair, from one Muslim to another.
Sincerely,
Abdi-Hakin Dirie
P.S. While I’m here, I also want to acknowledge the great piece on Ramadan dishes and traditions by Leila Darabi, spotlighting other Muslim Coop-ers. Thank you.
Dangerous Overreach
Dear Cooperators,
I am deeply troubled by Ramon Maislen’s recent letter to the Linewaiters’ Gazette. Maislen is running for the Board of Directors. His message is one of inclusivity and mutual respect. However, his letter suggests something far different. In it, he stated that he felt the current Board had “made the wrong decision” in voting in agreement with the membership on the Personnel Committee proposal at the April GM. (This is standard procedure; the Board acts similarly to the US Electoral College, in that it essentially ratifies the vote of members.) He claimed, without specifying, that failure to pass the proposal would lead to “potential litigation”—though, as I understand it, the Personnel Committee has been understaffed for two years without incurring legal problems. Also without substantiation, he claimed that “political ideology” had “tainted” the procedure for the vote. Most alarming was Maislen’s willingness to violate the long-standing neutrality of the Board, which goes against his own assurances, per the minutes of the March GM, that he would follow longstanding voting procedures at the Coop.
I think this is dangerous. We do not always agree on issues at the Coop, but I would hope that we all respect the democratic processes we’ve established for working through our differences. We deserve board members who will fight to uphold our principles, not run roughshod over them.
Sincerely,
Jeanette Samyn
Editor’s Note: Jeannette Samyn mischaracterizes the Board when she writes that it is like “the Electoral College” and “it essentially ratifies the vote of the members.” Plus she says that the Board has a “long-standing neutrality.” These statements are not true about the role of the Board, its authority or power. When members vote they are essentially giving advice to the Board, which the Board can accept or reject. Per GM procedures: “Directors are not required to ratify decisions made by the GM, however; they are legally bound to use their business judgment and act in the best interests of the corporation, and if they believe that a decision of the GM is illegal or irresponsible or is not in the best interests of the Coop, they should not ratify it.”
Actual Hatred and Divisiveness
To the Editor:
Having peacefully canvassed outside our Coop (April 1, 2024) for the boycott of Israeli goods I certainly can attest to hatred and divisiveness within our community referenced in these pages. I experienced both firsthand when a fellow member-owner called me a Nazi, a label I wholly reject. We are a democratic body and the sooner this issue is brought to a vote the better—our commitment to diversity and equality demands no less.
Damien Neva
Rejecting Antisemitism at the Coop
Dear Fellow Coop Members,
We are deeply concerned about an anti-Semitic incident that occurred in front of the Coop on May 16.
A Jewish Coop member was canvassing for our group ‘Coop For Unity’ to help recruit members to fight the antisemitic, violent and divisive BDS movement at the Coop. A person leaving the Coop shouted “Nazi” and “Seig Heil” at them. This incident represents more than reprehensible harassment; it is deeply antisemitic and disturbing.
A letter published in the May 21 issue of the Linewaiters’ Gazette argues that BDS is not inherently antisemitic. While we strongly disagree with that assertion, we feel even more strongly that labeling all criticisms as inherently NON-antisemitic overlooks the real and harmful antisemitism that some BDS supporters propagate.
The Park Slope Food Coop is founded on principles of respect, inclusivity and community. Unfortunately, the recent incident demonstrates that antisemitism is present at the Coop and must be actively confronted. In order to root it out, members who flagrantly exhibit antisemitic sentiments, including the person who perpetrated this recent incident, should be facing appropriate disciplinary action from the Coop as a signal that antisemitism has no place here.
Please stand with us against all forms of hate and ensure our Coop remains a safe and welcoming space for Jewish members. If the aura of BDS continues to linger at the Coop, these incidents will continue to multiply and threaten to disrupt everything the Park Slope Food Coop stands for. It’s time to ban BDS from the Coop once and for all.
If you witness or experience antisemitism at the Coop, please report it to the Dispute Resolution Committee immediately by going to the Membership Office or emailing foodcoopdrc@gmail.com.
Signed,
Tali Rasis, Jonathan Tobias , Jesse Rosenfeld, Sondra Shaievitz, Barbara Mazor, Yuval Inselberg, Maya Bodinger, Ramon Maislen, Joshua Geller, Shahar Yannay, Assaf Ariely, Aaron Karas, Rebecca Lassman, Naomi Bernstein, Kristen Zeligs, Diana Chase, Larisa Fomovsky, Nogah Rotstein, Nathalie Hirschtritt, Tatyana Tcheka, Jamie Alexander Principe, Sylvia Tobias, Allison Halpren, Bozhena Vistman , Maor Gordon-Guterman, David Feller, Elian Jeifez, Harvey Lang, Evan Abel, Forrest Zlochiver, Jason Kahan, Chana Balk, Ted Nusbaum, Dalit Shalom, Ivona Hertz, Roni Feller, Rebecca Gladstone, Jackie Loeshelle, Perry Swergold, Diana Maislen, Jordan Feldman, Leah Rosenblum, Marc Cohen, Abby Greenbaum, Simone Safyer, Marina Bank, Tzach Roitenberg, Marina Bank, Susan Miller, Regina Beider, Aaron Miller, Jonathan Aranov, Josh Suskewicz, Michelle Feldman, Daniel Alter, Ashley Abess, Rachel Abrams, Lorin Goldhirsch, David Engelman, Mindy Werner, Boris Granolic, Sunny Koll, Adam Sussi, Diana Maislen, Dave Swartz, Daniel Gustafson, Adam Price, Rachel Suskewicz
Against the Weaponization of Peace
Dear Fellow Members:
Upon reading letters claiming that those supporting a boycott of Israeli products have “threatened the inclusive culture of the Coop” and are “divisive,” I couldn’t help but think of Dr. King’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail.” In it, King airs his frustration with those who prefer “a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice.”
A similar dynamic has now emerged in the Coop. Members advocating for the Coop to join Palestinian civil society’s Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions campaign in light of Israel’s latest genocidal operation in Gaza have been met with calls for “unity” and “inclusion” and lamentations that politics have “threatened the delicate fabric of our cooperative.” Legal scholar and human rights lawyer Yuvraj Joshi refers to this dynamic as the “weaponization of peace,” in which calls for peace “primarily function to stifle the pursuit of racial justice” and maintain an unjust status quo. BDS advocates are blamed for sowing tensions by members who use words like “peace” and “unity” to mask a tacit apologism for Israel under “a veneer of virtue.”
BDS supporters did not create this tension at the Coop; it was already there. I feel that tension, for instance, when I wait in line, crossing my fingers that I don’t get sent to the cashier proudly wearing his IDF t-shirt. Tension, however, doesn’t have to be seen as something negative. It has the potential, as Dr. King states, to be a “constructive nonviolent tension that is necessary for growth.” But fulfilling that potential requires truth telling and uncomfortable but necessary conversations, not hiding behind hollow calls for “peace,” “unity” and “inclusion.”
Corbin Laedlein