blake 3:17
3rd December 2013, 02:38
United Church members to launch boycott campaign tomorrow!
unsettling goods poster
The United Network for Justice and Peace in Palestine/Israel (UNJPPI), made up of United Church of Canada members and supporters, is launching the United Church-endorsed campaign aimed at boycotting products from illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank of Palestine.
IJV Canada is part of a national boycott coalition focusing primarily on products from illegal Israeli settlements, and we're calling on our members and supporters to participate in UNJPPI's launch and actions across the country.
disappearing palestine
Please participate in one of the following local actions:
St. John’s, Newfoundland
Coordinator: Patricia Mercer
Will circulate a letter for the people in the congregation to sign December 1. Same letter will be offered to the other churches in the area and hopefully find someone who will speak to it in the churches. The letter will be delivered on Monday and put flyers on windshields on Tuesday.
Two professors at Memorial University are planning to have an information session at the university for an hour on December 3. They are planning to try and involve the Muslim group.
Gander, Newfoundland
Coordinator: Desmond Jagger-Parsons
Planning a public witness event at the Wal-Mart store in Gander. Placement of SodaStream flyers under car windshield wipers, hope prayer banners at street side. Will reach out to local media.
Halifax, Nova Scotia
Coordinator: Linda Scherzinger
During the noon hour (11:30-12:30) United Church members and supporters will gather at a small public park beside St Andrew’s United Church which is in downtown Halifax. Some people will stand quietly holding posters for the public to see while others will hand out post cards and flyers on ethical shopping / ‘unsettling goods’ and boycott SodaStream. Distribution of postcards as sent by UNJPPI – wise men at the wall on one side and boycott SodaStream on the other; also boycott SodaStream information flyers as created by the Halifax Presbytery Church in Action Committee. Press release to media, possible press conference.
Moncton, Nova Scotia
Coordinator: Steve Berube
TBC
Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island
Coordinator: Jim Wicks
December 3 plans include meetings with the managers at Walmart and Canadian Tire and then hand out literature at the front of the store.
Montreal, Quebec
Coordinator: Michaël Séguin
Planning to have a bilingual press conference at St. James United Church (Salle Douglas Hall, 1435 City Councillor St.) at 11 a.m. and then move to downtown Bay store for act of public witness singing carols or meeting a store manager if we can get an appointment.
For the material, for the press conference, we will use a longer version of the press release and a postcard, as well material from the UCC website about the products we chose to boycott.
Toronto, Ontario
Coordinator: George Bartlet
News conference for approximately 20 minutes at 11:30 a.m. at Metropolitan United Church in downtown Toronto and then proceed to the Canadian Tire store at the corner of Dundas and Bay Streets to hold a public witness event from 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m.
Media work also includes a news release on December 2nd and invitation to Toronto Star journalist Haroon Siddiqui to write a column on the campaign in the Toronto Star.
Plan to hold two additional public witness events on Saturdays December 7th and December 14th at the Bay store at Yonge and Bloor.
Hamilton, Ontario
Coordinator: Christina Paradela
Act of public witness at mall from 11 – 12 noon. Meet at noon at the Federal building in downtown Hamilton from noon until 1pm. Distribute information on SodaStream. All of Presbytery has been invited. Media releases will be done in conjunction with CJPME.
London, Ontario
Coordinator: Dave Whiting/Carolyn Murray
Information display set up in the Galleria Mall, downtown London, on the public concourse in front of the Central Library, an area that is often used for public information displays, and it gets a large amount of foot traffic at lunchtime. No boycott of any store in the mall, but information sharing and publicizing event. 11 until 2 on Tuesday Dec 3.
Will distribute information about the companies and products being targeted; letters for store managers; and general information about the Unsettling Goods campaign.
All United Churches in London and area invited to attend via a bulletin announcement in the Dec 1 bulletin. Media work involves contacting people we know in the local newspaper, TV station and radio stations.
Ottawa, Ontario Coordinator: Norma McCord No store public event being planned. There will be a regular meeting of Ottawa Presbytery Global Partners Committee at noon at Parkdale United Church, Parkdale at Gladstone. This is always an open meeting with a speaker or film.
We will open with a brief worship using the Unsettling Goods resource. Norman Williams will speak about his recent participation in EAPPI. We will then introduce Unsettling Goods and UNJPPI material. IJV and some local Unitarians plan to join us. Notices have gone to 60 UCC pastoral charges and to other “friends” of Global Partners.
Winnipeg, Manitoba Coordinator: Dianne Baker Hosting a ‘letter writing day’ at one local church and handing out information for those who come. This will happen on November 30th from 1 to 4. People to sign letters and take them to deliver to the various retailers in the city associated with various products. (ie: to The Bay highlighting SodaStream, to Canadian Tire highlighting Keter Plastics and SodaStream. There are currently no major retailers in Winnipeg selling Ahava. IJV has done a lot of targeted research and exploration in that area.)
Postcards available so that individuals can take those as well. People encouraged to use the cards as hand outs to their congregations, and to carry some with them to the retailer, either handing them out en route, or placing them on windscreens in the retailer’s parking lot.
Also an EAPPI slide show, some of the alternative carols being sung, crèche with the wall in place to prevent the Wise Men from reaching Bethlehem.
This event was announced to all congregations in MNWO conference, in an email that highlighted the UCC campaign, and the fact that there is a letter from the moderator and other resources mailed to every congregation.
Later in December, I will gather with some of my IJV and CAIA colleagues to encourage a large scale leafleting action in a couple of malls.
Vancouver, B.C.
Coordinator: Marianna Harris
Noon - 1pm at London Drugs in downtown Vancouver (Granville & Georgia). Pray, speak, act and offer people the UNJPPI postcard. Visit to the head office of London Drugs and this particular store ahead of time. Possible singing of alternate Christmas carols.
Other partner invited: Streams of Justice, IJV, Boycott Israeli Apartheid Committee, Canpalnet, Building Bridges Vancouver, some Anglicans.
Nanaimo, B.C.
Coordinator: John Bullas/Scott Agur
Information / public witness event at Port Place Mall in Nanaimo (home of a London Drugs). This includes a gathering, postcards, UCC fact sheets, signs and possible singing. Also meeting with London Drugs this week.
Press release and possible on-site interviews
unsettling goods poster
The United Network for Justice and Peace in Palestine/Israel (UNJPPI), made up of United Church of Canada members and supporters, is launching the United Church-endorsed campaign aimed at boycotting products from illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank of Palestine.
IJV Canada is part of a national boycott coalition focusing primarily on products from illegal Israeli settlements, and we're calling on our members and supporters to participate in UNJPPI's launch and actions across the country.
disappearing palestine
Please participate in one of the following local actions:
St. John’s, Newfoundland
Coordinator: Patricia Mercer
Will circulate a letter for the people in the congregation to sign December 1. Same letter will be offered to the other churches in the area and hopefully find someone who will speak to it in the churches. The letter will be delivered on Monday and put flyers on windshields on Tuesday.
Two professors at Memorial University are planning to have an information session at the university for an hour on December 3. They are planning to try and involve the Muslim group.
Gander, Newfoundland
Coordinator: Desmond Jagger-Parsons
Planning a public witness event at the Wal-Mart store in Gander. Placement of SodaStream flyers under car windshield wipers, hope prayer banners at street side. Will reach out to local media.
Halifax, Nova Scotia
Coordinator: Linda Scherzinger
During the noon hour (11:30-12:30) United Church members and supporters will gather at a small public park beside St Andrew’s United Church which is in downtown Halifax. Some people will stand quietly holding posters for the public to see while others will hand out post cards and flyers on ethical shopping / ‘unsettling goods’ and boycott SodaStream. Distribution of postcards as sent by UNJPPI – wise men at the wall on one side and boycott SodaStream on the other; also boycott SodaStream information flyers as created by the Halifax Presbytery Church in Action Committee. Press release to media, possible press conference.
Moncton, Nova Scotia
Coordinator: Steve Berube
TBC
Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island
Coordinator: Jim Wicks
December 3 plans include meetings with the managers at Walmart and Canadian Tire and then hand out literature at the front of the store.
Montreal, Quebec
Coordinator: Michaël Séguin
Planning to have a bilingual press conference at St. James United Church (Salle Douglas Hall, 1435 City Councillor St.) at 11 a.m. and then move to downtown Bay store for act of public witness singing carols or meeting a store manager if we can get an appointment.
For the material, for the press conference, we will use a longer version of the press release and a postcard, as well material from the UCC website about the products we chose to boycott.
Toronto, Ontario
Coordinator: George Bartlet
News conference for approximately 20 minutes at 11:30 a.m. at Metropolitan United Church in downtown Toronto and then proceed to the Canadian Tire store at the corner of Dundas and Bay Streets to hold a public witness event from 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m.
Media work also includes a news release on December 2nd and invitation to Toronto Star journalist Haroon Siddiqui to write a column on the campaign in the Toronto Star.
Plan to hold two additional public witness events on Saturdays December 7th and December 14th at the Bay store at Yonge and Bloor.
Hamilton, Ontario
Coordinator: Christina Paradela
Act of public witness at mall from 11 – 12 noon. Meet at noon at the Federal building in downtown Hamilton from noon until 1pm. Distribute information on SodaStream. All of Presbytery has been invited. Media releases will be done in conjunction with CJPME.
London, Ontario
Coordinator: Dave Whiting/Carolyn Murray
Information display set up in the Galleria Mall, downtown London, on the public concourse in front of the Central Library, an area that is often used for public information displays, and it gets a large amount of foot traffic at lunchtime. No boycott of any store in the mall, but information sharing and publicizing event. 11 until 2 on Tuesday Dec 3.
Will distribute information about the companies and products being targeted; letters for store managers; and general information about the Unsettling Goods campaign.
All United Churches in London and area invited to attend via a bulletin announcement in the Dec 1 bulletin. Media work involves contacting people we know in the local newspaper, TV station and radio stations.
Ottawa, Ontario Coordinator: Norma McCord No store public event being planned. There will be a regular meeting of Ottawa Presbytery Global Partners Committee at noon at Parkdale United Church, Parkdale at Gladstone. This is always an open meeting with a speaker or film.
We will open with a brief worship using the Unsettling Goods resource. Norman Williams will speak about his recent participation in EAPPI. We will then introduce Unsettling Goods and UNJPPI material. IJV and some local Unitarians plan to join us. Notices have gone to 60 UCC pastoral charges and to other “friends” of Global Partners.
Winnipeg, Manitoba Coordinator: Dianne Baker Hosting a ‘letter writing day’ at one local church and handing out information for those who come. This will happen on November 30th from 1 to 4. People to sign letters and take them to deliver to the various retailers in the city associated with various products. (ie: to The Bay highlighting SodaStream, to Canadian Tire highlighting Keter Plastics and SodaStream. There are currently no major retailers in Winnipeg selling Ahava. IJV has done a lot of targeted research and exploration in that area.)
Postcards available so that individuals can take those as well. People encouraged to use the cards as hand outs to their congregations, and to carry some with them to the retailer, either handing them out en route, or placing them on windscreens in the retailer’s parking lot.
Also an EAPPI slide show, some of the alternative carols being sung, crèche with the wall in place to prevent the Wise Men from reaching Bethlehem.
This event was announced to all congregations in MNWO conference, in an email that highlighted the UCC campaign, and the fact that there is a letter from the moderator and other resources mailed to every congregation.
Later in December, I will gather with some of my IJV and CAIA colleagues to encourage a large scale leafleting action in a couple of malls.
Vancouver, B.C.
Coordinator: Marianna Harris
Noon - 1pm at London Drugs in downtown Vancouver (Granville & Georgia). Pray, speak, act and offer people the UNJPPI postcard. Visit to the head office of London Drugs and this particular store ahead of time. Possible singing of alternate Christmas carols.
Other partner invited: Streams of Justice, IJV, Boycott Israeli Apartheid Committee, Canpalnet, Building Bridges Vancouver, some Anglicans.
Nanaimo, B.C.
Coordinator: John Bullas/Scott Agur
Information / public witness event at Port Place Mall in Nanaimo (home of a London Drugs). This includes a gathering, postcards, UCC fact sheets, signs and possible singing. Also meeting with London Drugs this week.
Press release and possible on-site interviews