For the last year, an earnest and at times sadly acrimonious debate at the Sacramento Natural Foods Co-op has focused on whether and how the co-op should officially participate in a boycott or selective buying campaign to challenge Israeli government policies and promote peace in the Middle East. While the 110-year conflict now known as the Israel/Palestine question continues to attract the attention of the world, observers in Sacramento may wonder whether peace at the co-op is possible. The co-op debate is a multilayered one. What are the merits of the Israel/Palestine conflict itself? What kinds of boycott or selective buying strategies, if any, might move this conflict in the direction

David Barton’s opinion piece, “The view from downtown on BDS”, unfortunately relies on considerable misinformation, fact twisting, and ultimately resorts to the weakness of name calling. Mr. Barton says “the Co-op would like to leave politics out” of its choice of products. However, the Co-op makes political decisions all the time about products based on sustainability, supporting local farms, supporting fair trade, etc. Mr. Barton acknowledges that the Co-op is political: "The co-op … is subversive of the whole factory farming, corporate, pesticide-dependent, nonlocal, unsustainable farming and grocery model that many of us grew up with.” This is not an issue about keeping “politics” ou

This weekend, the sidewalk in front of the Sacramento Natural Foods Co-op was defaced with graffiti that included attacks on three individual members of the Co-op, two of whom are Board candidates and one is the sponsor of the Human Rights Initiative. One of the several graffiti statements read “Cody Potter and Susan Bush are bad news.” Potter and Bush are running for two open seats on the Board along with Phyllis Ehlert and two incumbents, Alicia Dienst and Ann Richardson. When asked whether employees were responsible for the graffiti, on-duty store manager Dan Shearer declined to answer on Saturday. Incumbent Board member Alicia Dienst was campaigning in front of the store on Sunday wh

The ongoing controversy about members’ democratic rights continues with a new twist at the Sacramento Natural Foods Co-op. This week the Co-op Board placed a ballot argument on its website that many of its members are calling a fake. Charles Steven Arevalo is listed as its author. The ballot argument addresses a Board-proposed Bylaws amendment, which would prohibit the Co-op from using criteria related to “political opinion” or “national origin” in making purchasing or any other decisions. The Board's amendment was drafted in apparent response to members, who were trying to put a proposed human rights-based boycott initiative on the Co-op's ballot. “After refusing to allow Sacramento Nat

It's been quite frustrating to watch the leader(s) of the ill-informed and misguided boycott campaign at the Sacramento Natural Foods Cooperative rant and rave about the alleged lack of democracy at our member-owned Co-op. For months, the chief protagonist and a handful of her followers have picketed the store, harassed customers, and generally tried to create mayhem within the Co-op community. Last Saturday, they wore Statue of Liberty hats in some sort of convoluted attempt to convince people that democracy isn't alive and well at the store. And now, after having exhausted every available option permitted within the Cooperatives by-laws, they are trying to sue their way onto our Co-op's

A proposed amendment to the Sacramento Natural Foods Co-op bylaws is being seen by some as a necessary procedure to ensure equality, while others see it as an attempt to take the members’ voice away on certain issues. All 12,000 co-op members will have the chance to vote on the amendment, which must pass with at least a two-thirds majority in the next election cycle, scheduled for late summer or fall, said Board Member and Policy Committee chairwoman Michelle Reynolds. According to Reynolds, the amendment proposed at the June 7 board meeting is a procedural process designed to ensure that the co-op has written anti-discrimination policies in its bylaws after a restructuring of its polici

The Sacramento Natural Foods Co-op has become a battleground for Middle East politics as some members are trying to get the board of directors to sign off on a boycott of Israeli products. Arguing that Israel is violating human rights by occupying Palestinian territories, the group of members says that the co-op should not sell products from Israel because that supports human rights violations. All co-op members are considered partial owners as well. Co-op General Manager Paul Cultrera said he does not support the boycott in the store. “We’re here to run a store,” he told The Sacramento Press Wednesday. “I think that the issue about Israeli human rights violations – it’s a valid issue.

Watching Maggie Coulter in action at the Sacramento Natural Foods Co-Op becomes a study in the use of propaganda, and a challenge to those of us committed to the idea that reasonable people can work out their differences. The challenge, one soon learns, is that Maggie’s BDS ensemble is simply not available for a reasoned search for agreement. Instead, dialogue is a mere platform for additional misinformation and historical distortion, offered loudly and dramatically, in search of their audience. While it may be tempting to ignore this behavior and hope it goes away, when the lies and distortions get big enough, it is necessary to speak out and help people figure out what’s going on. So, fo

Over 50 members of the Sacramento Natural Foods Co-op serenaded Co-op shoppers on the public sidewalk next to the Co-op on Friday afternoon, June 3, with back-up guitar, base, and tambourines. Holding colorful balloons and signs, members sang, “This is my coop; This is your Co-op” to the tune of “This Land is Your Land”. Several shoppers stopped and joined in: “We’re member owners, Our voices m-a-t-t-er, This co-op belongs to you and me.” The group also sang “Co-op Democracy” to the tune of “Personality”. Both songs are expected to be posted on YouTube soon (check www.coopdemocracy.org for an update.) Rally organizers, part of Sacramento Co-op Owners for Democracy and Free Speech, chose

Co-op General Manager Paul Cultrera reportedly allowed the "Save Our Co-op" group to present the Israel lobby's perspective on Israel/Palestine in front of the Co-op again today, May 23. However, Cultrera is continuing his ban against any groups tabling with a different viewpoint on this issue, including Co-op Members supporting the Human Rights initiative. The Initiative would allow Members of the Co-op to vote on whether they want the store to support Palestinian human rights by not carrying Israeli products until Israel stops violating those rights. Cultrera banned Save Our Co-op co-founder Barry Broad from tabling after a woman reported to the Co-op and the police that Broad forcefull

Despite the rain, Sunday afternoon, the Palestinian festival to remember the Nakba occurred at The Grand. The festival, originally set to take place on the north Capitol steps, was organized to commemorate the historical events that took place on May 15, 1948 in what is now Israel. In Arabic, the word “Nakba” means catastrophe. This term is used to refer to the Israeli occupation and the displacement of the Palestinian people. Between the years of 1947 and 1948, over 750,000 Palestinians were forced to move from their homes and 531 villages were destroyed. On May 15 each year, Palestinians come together to commemorate these events and reflect upon the past. Palestinians have been observin

Sitting on the edge of wonder, it is time to build the sukkah and dine under the stars with the region's young Jewish professionals, leaders, community, family, and friends. It’s harvest time. In Sacramento, perhaps more than many cities or regions around the world, we can very much identify with the spirit of Sukkot. Tomorrow evening, Friday, Sept. 24, join NextDor and PJ Library in Sacramento for a Shabbat Sukkot dinner together! We'll dine outside in the sukkah, learn about Sukkot traditions, shake a few lulavs, and read stories. PJ Library is even providing the food! This event is the evening before NextDor's own big Sukkot dinner, so take advantage of both chances to make friends and

Imagine being held at a security checkpoint for seven hours, told you can't return to where you have lived for the past four years, blindfolded, handcuffed and dropped at the border of a rough neighborhood in the middle of the night. This is Berlanti Azzam's story, as told by her to a diverse audience including Palestinians and Jews Wednesday night at the Sierra Arden United Church of Christ. The 22-year-old was six weeks away from graduating with a bachelor's degree in business administration from Bethlehem University when deported from the West Bank to her homeland, Gaza. Azzam was given legal aid from GISHA, an Israeli legal team dealing mostly with freedom of movement issues, but wa

About 800 people cheered speeches, clapped to music, and celebrated a new era of Christian - Jewish relations on Sunday night. Eager African-American children and elderly Jewish Holocaust survivors waved Israeli and American flags. Whites, blacks, Asians and Hispanics basked in a glow of brotherhood. (See the previous story in this storyline.) The event was Sacramento’s fourth annual Night to Honor Israel, sponsored by Christians United for Israel (CUFI), and held at the Radisson Hotel. CUFI rejects anti-Semitism, and specifically abhors the Church-sponsored anti-Semitism of the past, such as the Crusades, the Inquisition, pogroms, and the Holocaust. As the audience took their seats, a s

"Sacramento became an epicenter for a new millennium."   Ten years ago, Randy Neal and Victor Styrsky didn’t know each other. What they did know, however, was that Christianity should reject part of its past and move in a new direction. Neal had founded Bridges Ministry and was reaching out to Native Americans, Jews, and other ethnic communities. Pastor Styrsky had co-founded a church that rapidly grew to 325 members. Most dear to these religious leaders, however, were Jews — the apple of God's eye, the very people who gave Christians their savior. Accordingly, what most tormented these men was the long, sad record of Jewish persecution. Finally, what most galled them was that 2,000 yea

Judaism has always left its constituency with an interesting morale dilemma. While we grow up proud of our heritage, appreciative of our traditions, there is always some sort of inhibition when it comes to public displays of our culture and religion.   Growing up in a Hebrew speaking home, I remember vividly how I would be “embarrassed” when my mother would yell across the grocery store in Hebrew, not because I was being yelled at, growing up with an Israeli mother I became used to this type of public “affection,” but everybody would turn and look with a perplexed look on their face thinking “What language is she speaking in?” I grew up having to explain over and over to my friends why

Kings fans proudly received the three newest members of the team Saturday evening at Marshall Park. The park was a festive sight with families and fans clad in purple and white awaiting the arrival of University of Memphis guard Tyreke Evans, Israeli forward Omri Casspi and University of Washington forward Jon Brockman. The players were bestowed with numbered jerseys for the first time since the draft picks were announced. Evans wearing number 13, Casspi with number 18, and Brockman number 40. Season ticket holder Joseph Smith expressed his admiration for the Kings and the Maloof brothers for bringing the community and families together at such an event. "It keeps us going as a family,

Approximately 100 Protesters chanting "Free Free Palestine" and holding large Palestinian, American, and UN flags assembled outside the Robert Matsui courthouse on the corner of 5th and I Streets yesterday, in the latest of a series of gatherings to protest the ongoing Israeli incursion into the Gaza Strip. Protesters said they were there to raise awareness of the aggressive actions of Israel, and the US policy of support for Israel in the form of arms shipments. Naseer Abboushi, of the Palestinian - American Congress, said "We want a diplomatic solution to end the fighting and get a long- term solution. We believe that this can be achieved diplomatically." Not all protesters were Palest