You’re Invited: August Gathering to Support Cooperative Education in Alabama
Friends and fellow members,
My name is Carmen. While recent Coop contention has felt particularly high-stakes and long-standing, members have always contested the terms of Coop self-governance. As a Coop kid, I began learning the skills and commitment necessary to facilitate collective decision-making. (Mostly, I learned to feed infants in childcare bagel-eighths to assuage them and to make sincere and short small talk with elementary school teachers. But worker-ownership is important too.) The Coop feels like a home and a possible future. I have strong feelings about the content of this and other conflicts, but I feel much more excited by the membership’s investment in processes of worker ownership and conflict resolution.
Because of the Coop, I began studying worker ownership, learning popular education, and working with the Sand Mountain Cooperative Education Center in Alabama over a year ago. We use cooperative ownership to teach. We use education to build cooperative ownership. Groups of teachers, students, and workers gather to build popular education and worker ownership in Alabama. For more on the story and programs, please visit the website.
At 8 PM on August 9, a group of us will gather at Blockhill in South Slope. Come to learn, talk, and drink! Seriously.
Join us!
Excited to see you soon,
Carmen Lopez Villamil
More Free Expression, Joy, and Free Classified Ads
Dear Gazette and Coop Community,
How important are community and art to us?
I understand that having a robust community bulletin board in the stairwell is a fire hazard and cannot be returned to its past glory. I feel the loss to our community is large and nothing has been done about it. The Coop used to support our Coop-member-owned businesses in the stairwell and in the printed Linewaiters’ Gazette. Can the digital Gazette please resume a robust and accessible classifieds section?
And can we go a step further in community engagement? I’d like to see us make space available for visual art at the Coop. A great opportunity is on the wall to the right of the exit, behind the cashiers. Presently, there’s nothing on the brick besides a new “please don’t scam EBT benefits” flyer in a plastic sleeve.
I hope we can offer available unadorned wall space to Coop artists in a fair, equitable and enriching way. Maybe seventeen artists can have a three-week showing each year. Randomly scheduled or first-come-first-served, simply let it schedule out for as long as necessary.
If we are here for health and wellness, then let’s allow art to be an integral part of our communal and personal well-being. Let’s share in how cleansing and inspiring art can be. Also, this would support our artists!
Finally, can we agree that beautification of our space should be the next step after everything is functional?
Our ship is in order, now please, let’s have more free expression, joy and free classified ads.
In community, art, and peace, with best wishes and gratitude,
Wally Wallach
PSFC member since 2011
Editors’ note: Members of the Gazette lament the loss of our stairwell bulletin board as well and are indeed working on a digital Classifieds section.
Coordinators’ Report Is Awesome, Needs a Home Online
Dear Fellow Members:
General Coordinator Elinoar Astrinsky presented an awesome report at the June general meeting. We learned about the intricacies of keeping our refrigeration and cooling systems operational. Then Elinoar told us about the outstanding work by our buyers to keep the Coop supplied in the aftermath of the UNFI cyber-crash. Last, we heard about new staff members. It was great. I want more of it. Keeping the Coop going is so much more than just putting things on the shelves and working the checkouts. And it’s really interesting, too.
It would be so wonderful if the coordinator’s report could be on video and accessible online so anyone in the Coop could view it at any time. I think this could really boost engagement and feelings of ownership within the Coop community. I hope, if the GC’s are amenable, we can get some members to look into the feasibility of doing this.
In Cooperation,
Barbara Mazor
Will a Bathroom Cleaner and Lifter Be ‘America’s Favorite Couple’?
To the Cherished Editorial Team,
In the middle of the night, scrolling Instagram, I saw a contest/fundraiser hosted by Variety magazine and Jeff Goldblum for “America’s Favorite Couple.” The perfect clickbait for a sleepy romantic who loves talking about her partner and tries to donate regularly (time, clothes, blood, what have you). I enjoyed answering questions like “how did your love story begin” and “what’s your favorite memory” and fell asleep with a smile shortly thereafter. The next week, I found out we were finalists! I’ve never campaigned for anything, but campaigning for love and charity felt like a nice place to start. I designed a poster with a talented young artist that was an illustration of our first date and started sending out the page to friends to either give a free vote or donate to one of the charities for the chance to give a few more votes.
While at my lifting shift the following week, I mentioned the contest to my fellow members. Several of them said they wanted to vote for me as soon as they had reception again (outside of the basement) and that we should tell the Gazette! The contest runs through August and you can vote here. I’m not sure if this is a letter, or an announcement or just a note to another special human I haven’t met yet, in any case, thanks for reading.
Grateful for all that you do and to be a part of this incredible community with my partner, Michael Hernandez-Stern. The groceries are good too (especially the cheese!)
Warm regards,
Jewell Hernandez-Stern
the Coop is Ungovernable
Dear Members,
The Coop is ungovernable.
At the April GM, a member said, “We have not only this hybrid vote sabotaged by right wing Jewish extremists, but it’s happened in the past many times.” This filthy slur of “Jewish” was not blunted by “right-wing” or “extremists.”
And yet while proclaiming responsibility to run the GM “impartially” every meeting, the chair committee reacted spinelessly, diminishing Jew-hate to ”name-calling” and letting the member continue. Standard business ethics across the US would result in immediate expulsion from the meeting and the organization, and I support full expulsion. But the DRC will not touch it, nor did the Gazette report on it. So I see all three committees as complicit in degrading safety for Jews at the Coop.
April’s GM culminated in BDS’s illegal takeover of the Coop’s general meeting by forcing through a referendum on hybrid voting, not for the sake of Palestinians but for what many see as supporting a global call for violence. Again, the chair committee did worse than nothing and simply surrendered their own authority. It should have been stopped by the board of directors, but, stocked with BDS-friendly members, they abandoned their responsibility to the membership at large.
What can you and I do? Contact management and protest with severely reduced shopping until management and committees uproot what Baila Olidort recently called “evil.” Regarding the June GM: While I applaud Joe Holtz’s stewardship, and his warning to the membership about a take-over of the board of directors by BDS’s undemocratic machinations, we cannot rely on last-minute surprises by management. BDS is cancerous to our Coop. It needs excision.
Jesse Rosenfeld
Should Israel Be Boycotted?
Dear editor,
Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu has claimed that Iran is “months, maybe weeks” away from developing nuclear weapons. But Netanyahu has made this claim repeatedly for the last thirty years at least, as we’ve seen from a CNN montage of news clips circulating on the internet of him doing so.
Recall the pressure campaign in the runup to the disastrous 2003 invasion of Iraq, based on that same bogus narrative about weapons of mass destruction. Such allegations have been repeatedly used to justify our country’s many interventions, all in service to Israel—and of no material benefit to us. Such allegations justified the bombing destruction of Libya, which turned the nation with the highest standard of living in all of Africa into one now running slave markets. They justified funding a terrorist war against the state of Syria that finally resulted in that country’s destruction.
Israel is known to possess many nuclear weapons, albeit undeclared. And both the CIA and Mossad have found no evidence that Iran seeks nuclear weapons. Nonetheless, Israel initiated an unprovoked surprise bombing of Iran on June 13.
The basic plan of the Zionist project is to transform the Middle East to Israel’s liking. In 1948, Israel’s declaration of statehood necessitated the violent displacement of more than 700,000 Palestinian Arabs into refugee status and triggered war, all for the purpose of ensuring a Jewish majority in a state with a substantial minority of non-Jewish Arabs.
A recent Pennsylvania State University poll reported in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz that 82 percent of Israelis wanted the Palestinian population of Gaza removed en masse, and that a stunning 47 percent would be comfortable with having them all killed.
If there was ever a country that needed to be boycotted, that country is Israel.
David Barouh
Opposing War Crimes Isn’t Anti-Coop
Dear Coop members:
PSFC Members for Palestine have been labeled anti-Coop outsiders. I’m 70, Jewish, Brooklyn-born and a 47-year Coop member, not an outsider. Neither are over 3,500 other members, horrified by Israel’s genocidal apartheid government. We demand nothing more than respect and equal treatment from an organization we care deeply about.
For over a decade, a small group of pro-Israel members, currently called Coop4Unity, have worked ceaselessly to prevent a boycott of Israeli goods, blocking any effort toward the most peaceful vehicle for political and social change: economic boycott. They have sought support beyond our Coop, including from the NY Post and Bronx Congressman Ritchie Torres, who has taken $1.5 million-plus in donations from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a lobby with huge financial influence in federal, state and local elections.
With tacit and overt support from GCs, led by former GM Joe Holtz, pro-Israel members disrupted meetings, and intimidated fellow members who advocate peaceful protest. A member of Coop4Unity filed a lawsuit against the Coop. Result: the Dispute Resolution Committee froze all cases related to Israel/Palestine, leaving unprotected members facing doxing and public harassment from Coop4Unity. Another Coop committee, the Diversity, Equity, and Access Committee, was also banned from work on all issues related to “the Middle East.”
Coop4Unity’s disproportionate power was evident in Holtz’s huddling with them (e.g., April 29 GM) and his Coop-wide personal attack on Board candidates Taylor Pate and Dan Kaminsky, instructing members to vote against them. Joe Szladek, our new GM, can bring to an end this era of unchecked, uncooperative and biased behavior.
Opposing war crimes isn’t anti-Coop, just as demanding reproductive freedom isn’t anti-life. People following traditions of the Montgomery Bus Boycott and boycott against South African apartheid deserve respect and fairness from our Coop. We are insiders, committed to core PSFC values: democracy and food justice.
In solidarity,
Alyce Barr
Coordinator Response to Alyce Barr’s Letter:
Dear Coop members,
I’d like to respond to claims in Alyce Barr’s above letter that reference Coop staff and committees:
The letter accuses the general coordinator team of giving “tacit or overt support to disrupt meetings or intimidate others.” That is entirely untrue. Our role is to run the operations of the Coop and uphold its policies and procedures. Some have misinterpreted this as taking sides, but we are simply following long-standing practices to support the Coop’s sustainability.
On the status of DRC complaints as referenced in the letter: The recent volume and complexity of cases related to Israel and Palestine have slowed the DRC’s response. They are actively working to develop a process to handle them, and we truly appreciate the time and effort they’re putting in to move things forward.
I’m not aware of any ban preventing the EACC from working on issues related to the Middle East, as the letter suggests.
The letter also mentions Joe Holtz ‘huddling’ with members of Coop4Unity at a GM, but I think we should be cautious about linking conversations to political allegiance or assuming someone is acting on another’s behalf. I’ve recently spoken with members on both sides of issues to listen, understand their perspectives, and help find constructive paths forward for the Coop, and will continue to do so. I know other staff and members have done the same, and I hope that continues. That kind of open communication is essential to keeping our Coop strong and supporting a respectful, cooperative culture.
Respectfully,
Joe Szladek
General Manager
Move to Reject Remote Meetings Ripped from MAGA Playbook
Greetings:
On Tuesday, June 24, the vote in favor of hybrid meetings was narrowly defeated, by a hair. The results showed that a minority of Coop members (barely more than a third) have successfully denied the vote to those unable to attend GM meetings for a host of reasons (we all know what they are).
Undoubtedly, that minority is a heterogeneous group and some may have had honorable, procedural reasons for doing so. There is also no doubt a sizable minority—perhaps majority—of that group who dishonorably voted against hybrid in order to quash the possibility of a successful subsequent vote they didn’t want to happen: a vote in favor of a boycott of Israeli goods.
Sounds familiar, doesn’t it? Deny voting rights of people because they may use their vote to favor certain policies or legislation you strongly oppose? Yes, it’s out of the MAGA playbook. Afraid of a potential voting result? Disenfranchise the ones who may make it happen and cover yourself with Orwellian doublespeak. That’s why I use the word “dishonorable.” There’s not only no honor in that, there’s none of the courage it takes to live up to the democratic principles of equal rights. No one ever said democracy is easy.
Sincerely,
Allan Novick
Let’s Join the Modern Era and Use Remote Meetings
Dear Sir or Madam:
Recently, I voted in favor of allowing members to participate in General Meetings (GMs) remotely. It’s fairly clear that some who did likewise hope this will promote their anti-Israeli BDS ambitions, which I do not share (and also voted against board candidates who do promote BDS). But really; it’s the 21st century, and few of us can cram into a small space in Prospect Park, and Coop members should be able to participate regardless.
I’m sorry that the motion to enable remote meetings failed (barely), and hope the issue will arise again. Among other things, I live in Lower Manhattan, and yes, I do my shift and shop at the Coop faithfully, but it’s not an easy stretch, and I’m probably not going to spend time on the subway to go to a GM.
If remote GMs are permitted, it won’t be to my benefit, because I’ll have to faithfully show up at every general meeting and vote against anti-Semitism. The city with the largest Jewish population in the world is not Jerusalem, nor yet Tel Aviv. It is New York. I don’t believe the Coop should tell our Jewish neighbors, “Your kind are not welcome here.” (I am not Jewish.) Nor do I support Netanyahu’s genocidal regime, but I don’t believe the Coop should have a foreign policy. (And if it does, can we talk about Russia and China?)
But sure, participation in the GM should be open to all, and technology makes that easy.
We should go there.
Regards,
Greg Costikyan
The Coop is Not a Political Organ
Dear Editors:
I have been a member for approximately 35 years. In my experience and with one notable exception (BDS) Coop controversies have been largely about operations, including expanding the store, pension fund management, plastic bags, meat, beer, vendor labor and management practices, etc.
As a cooperative food store the mission is to provide good food to working members at low prices. Simple enough.
At its core the organization’s social compact is founded as a jointly owned business and economic unit for the benefit of its members. It is not a social justice or humanitarian organization like the ACLU, Amnesty International and Doctors Without Borders among many others.
By its mission it is not a political party or an organization for promoting political causes. Political controversy by its nature encompasses diverse opinions, and large-scale community organizations prosper best when diversity is acknowledged and accepted.
There are many injustices in the world and specific advocacy organizations to champion those causes. Politics are personal and I respect a person’s decision to not buy a particular product because they find it offensive for any reason. Members can make their own decisions.
In the past the Coop has been a place where we have come together with a single common purpose: to eat good food at low prices. Politicizing the Coop by successfully promoting controversies beyond the scope of the cooperative mission will only offer a false victory. It will not result in meaningful outcomes beyond talking points and continuing to divide the Coop community, which is not the objective.
In cooperation,
Glenn Brill