But it's not the park I refer to - it's a soap and cosmetics company in the UK called Lush, which has retail outlets in various parts of the country. Lush, which also operates elsewhere, prides itself on its ethical approach to current issues of all sorts - animal, vegetable, and mineral.
And as far as many of them are concerned, I find them hard to fault. After all, well ahead of the trend, I became a vegetarian when a nipper. (Yep - I've stayed one ever since.)
On political issues Lush has advocated some rather extreme leftist platforms (for instance on immigration) that reflect the Green Party.
And now it's firmly fixed its colours to the Palestinian mast with a statement on its website that says:
"This month we have the exciting opportunity to help secure a UK chart position for a song called ‘Freedom for Palestine’ by a collective of musicians called OneWorld. The aim of the song is to raise awareness of the Israeli occupation of Palestine and the resulting poverty and other human rights abuses....
The catastrophe facing the Palestinian people is one of the defining global justice issues of our time. A third generation of Palestinian children is now being brought up in refugee camps inside and outside Palestine, living in chronic poverty and denied the right to return to their family homes. Hundreds of thousands more Palestinians suffer discrimination over access to public services, land rights and employment within Israel itself. For those living in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, the situation is critical. Israel's siege of Gaza has condemned its 1.5 million inhabitants to levels of poverty more commonly associated with sub-Saharan Africa - a humanitarian disaster with no end in sight.
All the above actions are illegal under international law. Yet no Western government has been willing to call Israel to account for its crimes. Instead, the US, UK and other governments have consistently rewarded Israeli aggression with economic benefits and closer political ties. This is why it is up to ordinary people around the world to take action."
"If OneWorld are successful at getting the song in the charts, the mainstream media will find it hard to ignore it or censor its message. This will raise awareness and help to give confidence to people to speak up for Palestine. And it would send a message to the UK government, and all those who lend economic support or political cover to Israel that a critical mass of people want to see an end to the Israeli occupation of Palestine and the oppression of its people."http://www.lush.co.uk/articles/our-ethical-campaigns/oneworld_100-10285_10.html
Predictably, Israel-delegitimising groups are crowing on their websites about Lush and its pimping this song.
Aussie political blogger Andrew Landeryou has some forthright criticisms of both Lush, its statements regarding the "occupation of Palestine," and the song's lyrics, which he reproduced as follows (emphasis his):
So many years of catastrophe, more than six million refugees, it could be you and your family,
Forced from your home and your history
We are the people, and this is our time,
Stand up, sing out, for Palestine
No matter your faith or community, this is a crime against humanity,
Gaza turned into a prison camp, apartheid wall divides the West Bank
We are the people, and this is our time,
Stand up, sing out, for Palestine,
We’ll break down the wall, Freedom for Palestine
Demand Justice for all, Freedom For Palestine
Enough illegal occupation, violence and racial segregation, all religious communities unite,
We are the people, and this is our time,
Stand up, sing out, for Palestine,
We’ll break down the wall, Freedom for Palestine
Demand Justice for all, Freedom For Palestine
(solo on the Oud) (rap section)
We are the people, and this is our time,
Stand up, sing out, for Palestine,
We’ll break down the wall, Freedom for Palestine
Demand Justice for all, Freedom For Palestine(repeat X5)
We are the people, this is our time, unite together, for justice in Palestine.
Read all his piece here: http://www.vexnews.com/news/13550/dirty-business-lush-rubs-up-the-wrong-way-over-israel-hating/
Update And see Edgar Davidson's reply from Lush in response to his complaint: http://edgar1981.blogspot.com/2011/06/response-from-lush-it-gets-worse.html
Thanks for pointing out Lush's stance. I had no idea and had shopped there before. Won't do so again.
ReplyDeleteI have now written to Lush to complain:
ReplyDeletehttp://edgar1981.blogspot.com/2011/06/lush-pushing-death-to-israel-narrative.html
"levels of poverty more commonly associated with sub-Saharan Africa"
ReplyDeleteThis pretty much sums up their deplorable disingenuous strategy. When you think of sub-Saharan poverty or "poverty worse than Rwanda" you think of the images of starving African children living in straw houses whilst wasting away beneath unrelenting heat whilst flies make themselves at home on the - yet if one were to actually look at Gaza you would see it's actually a rather beautiful place with an Olympic swimming pool, luxury malls, quality universities, vibrant markets, shops that accept credit cards, up market clubs and restaurants, and these people have the nerve to compare Gaza to sub-Saharan Africa?!
It is true that there is a unique issue with unemployment (worsened by the intifada which was their doing) and people living below the national poverty line in Gaza however they continue to have some of the highest living standards amongst their peers in terms of child mortality rates, malnourishment rates (similar to UK), life expectancy and they even have weight problems which rival/eclipse some European countries.
In fact 65% and 55% of the Bangladeshi and Pakistani communities in the UK respectively. Is it fair or right to claim/allude to the notion that these communities are living in conditions similar to sub-Saharan Africa or is it fair to compare them at all with sub-Saharan Africa? Not at all.
Edgar, there is no Lush on my radar - so I have never shopped there.
ReplyDeleteGlad you are making a stand.
Anon, thanks for that very interesting and useful post.
My complaint to Lush has had a small impact because they have now removed the statement on the web page about Palestinians experiencing "levels of poverty more commonly associated with sub-Saharan Africa". But the changes have probably made it even worse. See an update here:
ReplyDeletehttp://edgar1981.blogspot.com/2011/06/response-from-lush-it-gets-worse.html
Thanks, Edgar - I will add that link as an Update.
ReplyDeleteHello Daphne,
ReplyDeleteI thought you might like to see my correspondence with LushUK on this Issue. I should point out that Lush Australia, though tainted by this association with terrorists, has no plans to run such a campaign and is in fact independent re campaigns and manufacturing (as I understand it) from LUsh UK. THey are still the same co. of course.
If you know any Brits please show them this and ask them to stop buying LUsh until they remove this disgusting propaganda from their website.. Thank you.
MY CORRESPONDENCE WITH LUSH UK:
Date: Mon, 20 Jun 2011 15:45:10 +0000
To: Gina Walker
Subject: Lush Palestine campaign group Friends of Al Aqsa ans PSC do not think Hamas are terrorists
Hello Gina,
please FWD this to Sophie Pritchard.
The Friends of al Aqsa is a group supporting the Palestine campaign on the Lush website.
Their leader Ismail Patel on Hamas:
“Hamas is no terrorist organisation. The reason they hate Hamas is because they refuse to be subjugated, occupied by the Israeli state, and we salute Hamas for standing up to Israel.”
… the same Friends of Al-Aqsa who have published Azzam Tamimi, a man who supports suicide bombing , and states in the Friends of Al-Aqsa journal:
[T]he weakness of the Arabs and Muslims is only temporary and will sometime in the future be reversed. Evidently, the Muslim world is witnessing a massive awakening that is destined to initiate the transformation from weakness to strength. When the Arabs and Muslims’ gain of strength and confidence coincides with the retreat of the World Order due to the shrinkage of the material and military resources available to it and as a result of the augmentation of domestic crises, the end of the Zionist project will come and the State of Israel will be no more.
Friends of Al-Aqsa are also happy to publish articles referring to ‘Jewish Nazism’, and claiming that ‘Israel simply represents the Nazis of our time’ and ‘the powerful Jewish media … more or less controls the public discourse in many western nations’.
from: http://hurryupharry.org/2010/09/27/ed-miliband-and-friends-of-al-aqsa/
[Sarah Colborne, Palestine Solidarity Campaign] was asked whether she denounced Hamas for their call to kill Jews in their Charter (Article 7 ). She replied: “I will not engage with you.”
…not denouncing a proudly virulently anti-Semitic organisation like Hamas is, apparently, just fine.
If Sarah or Betty Hunter or anyone from the Palestine Campaign wishes, at any stage, to denounce Hamas after reading Article Seven of its Charter then please get in touch and I will publish any response on this blog.
Article Seven states:
…….the Islamic Resistance Movement aspires to the realisation of Allah’s promise, no matter how long that should take. The Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him salvation, has said:
“The Day of Judgement will not come about until Muslims fight the Jews (killing the Jews), when the Jew will hide behind stones and trees. The stones and trees will say O Muslims, O Abdulla, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him. Only the Gharkad tree, would not do that because it is one of the trees of the Jews.” (related by al-Bukhari and Muslim).
These are just a couple of examples. Lush in my mind, and now in the minds of many others, is not just regarded as tools of genocidal killers but as wilful assistants to murder.
I hope your Campaign Director will reconsider Lush’s association with these groups and turn the attention of Lush to the many good causes not sponsored by terrorists and their groupies.
kind regards
J
Date: Mon, 20 Jun 2011 17:54:41 +0100
ReplyDeleteFrom: sophie.pritchard@lush.co.uk
To: j
Subject: Re: FW: Lush Palestine campaign group Friends of Al Aqsa ans PSC do not think Hamas are terrorists
Dear J,
Thank you for your emails to Gina, which she has forwarded to me.
The history between Israel and Palestine is long, complicated and often under dispute. However, what is very clear is the level of suffering occurring today, in part due to the construction of the wall which is cutting Palestinian people off from vital health services and has dramatically increased poverty in the area. History does not excuse such suffering. It will take both sides to come to a solution, but what is also clear is that this is not a conflict of two equal sides and thus the onus must be on the dominating force, Israel. The OneWorld project is supported by both Palestinian and Israeli organisations and aims to help create peace for both sides.
Best wishes,
Sophie
Sophie Pritchard
Charitable Giving Manager
Lush
18-20 Market Street
Poole
BH15 1NF
*********
Hello Sophie,
thank you for replying to me.
It may interest you to know that your reply is the exact copy of one which Vicky Jansson, your Customer Care Manager, gave to
Edgar Davidson of http://www.edgar1981.blogspot.com. He has detailed his correspondence on his blog regarding this entire sad affair.
http://edgar1981.blogspot.com/2011/06/response-from-lush-it-gets-worse.html
YOu clearly absorbed nothing from our discussion, and have very obviously not read a single bit of information I sent you.
I would dismiss you as just another clueless type except for several things:
-YOu know perfectly well who War on Want are, as you said to me in our discussion. The fact that they werre investigated by the UK Charities Commission does not seem to worry you at all.
-You have forever tainted your employer’s company with the stench of terrorism and murder, and the faint shadow of the Nazis, who wanted to murder the Jews, and were helped by the Grand Mufti of Palestine, for me, a former customer of the company.
BY so doing, you have shown very clearly that:
:you do not “care” about your brief or your company
:you do not “care” about your customers
:you do not “care” about your or your company’s associations, all of which have been clearly and simply detailed as terrorism supporters/anti Israel bigots.
:you do not “care” about the consequences of your actions in supporting these people, who
emphatically do NOT support “both sides.”
I do not expect you or any other person approached by proPalestinian groups to have followed the “complexities” – otherwise known as Islamic Jihad against Jews and Christians – of the Middle East.
I do, however, expect that when a company professing to support charity is shown that they have inadvertently allowed themselves to
be drawn into supporting terrorist gangsters with their customers’ money, that they take it, their mistake and their company associations seriously.
YOu have not taken it seriously, and expect me to be fobbed off with a cheap form reply. (Or maybe you got an assistant to cut and paste it from a form by V. Jansson).
I sincerely hope you – or rather, your COMPANY – thrills at being a direct supporter of terrorism by a group- Hamas- that is part of the Muslim Brotherhood, that is very active suipporting and facilitating terrorism in the UK, along with a whole bunch of others, every one of which wants to exterminate Jews and dominate convert and kill non-Muslims.
The UK has and will continue to suffer the effects of these jihadis. Indeed, there are many Brits who fled the UK for Australia specifically because of it.
Good luck with that!
I have sent a copy of this email to the CEO of Lush Australia.
J
Date: Tue, 21 Jun 2011
ReplyDeleteFrom: sophie.pritchard@lush.co.uk
To: j
Subject: Re: RE: Lush Palestine campaign group Friends of Al Aqsa and PSC do not think Hamas are terrorists
Dear J,
Thank you for your email. I sent our standard response to you as it explains why we support the OneWorld campaign. I would also like to make clear that we do not condone violence. I have read all your emails and listened to you for some time on the phone and feel I have given you ample opportunity to express how you feel. However, I don’t feel it is a good use of your time or mine to discuss the issue further since it is clear we don’t agree. Thanks for taking the time to let us know your thoughts.
Best wishes,
Sophie
(Tuesday, 21 June 2011)
Dear Sophie,
I’m glad you don’t condone violence.
Unfortunately the people you support actively condone and use violence, and by your support of them you enable their violence and finance it directly.
I agree with you that further discussion between us will probably not help. While the cause – Islamic jihad – of the ME conflict is actually quite simple, the ramifications are complex.
You who live in the UK, and in fact every country containing Muslims, will have AMPLE opportunity to ponder and absorb these ramifications, most of which, are in fact, horribly violent.
Regards
J
Confront them on their US Facebook page. I did. And I do not believe for a minute that they are unaware of the viiolence their pet cause supports.
ReplyDeleteIf they are proud of this cause they would support it on their US site too. They are hiding their agenda for a reason
One of the Anon messages has just been rescued from my Spam box - didn't notice it earlier. Apologies - and thanks - Anon!
ReplyDeleteFacebook page, eh? Never thought of that ...
never actually brought anything from lush anyway
ReplyDeleteGood for Lush! I'm glad to hear they're making a stand against the terrorists who run the government of Israel. This just makes me even more likely to purchase their fine products which I have enjoyed for years.
ReplyDeleteAnd before the comments about antisemitism start, let me state that I am Jewish, and proud of my heritage. That doesn't mean that I'm blind to the obvious (to everyone but Israel, the United States and Zionist fanatics) fact that the government of Israel is quite evil.