One of this year’s most hotly promoted items is the
SodaStream soft drink machine. It “turns
water into sparkling water and soft drinks,” and is touted as being good for
the environment (because of the bottles and cans that aren’t going into the
landfills!)
From the Soda Steam website:
Making
carbonated water and soft drinks is simple! Turn tap water into sparkling water
in under 30 seconds, with no clean-up. Enjoy the freshness and convenience of
homemade soda and protect the environment at the same time. No heavy bottles to
carry, store at home or throw away. Fizz to your taste and add the flavor of
your choice to make your favorite drink. Simple to clean and reuse. With a
variety of colors and silhouettes, you'll be sure to find a soda maker to match
with any decor.
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| SodaStream plant in Ma'aleh Adumin settlement |
What a wonderful invention! – who could resist? People who care about human rights, that’s
who!! What the advertisements don’t tell
you about Soda Stream is that their plant is built on land stolen from
Palestinian families and occupied with military force. That’s right – it’s built in an illegal
(according to international – and even Israeli! – law!) Israeli settlement, specifically
Ma’aleh Adumin, located just outside of Jerusalem.
In the fine print, you may read that SodaStream and its
“carbonation kits” are “made in Israel.”
False – they are manufactured in Palestine. And yes, the company does hire Palestinian
workers – albeit at lower wages than their Israeli counterparts and with few,
if any, benefits. And of course those
Palestinian workers are subject to security checkpoints to get to work every
day (see March 13, 2013 blog post “Checkpoints”)!
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| Palestinian Workers waiting to pass through checkpoint |
What about those environmental claims? Maybe we should overlook the human rights
issues in favor of protecting the environment?
Well, think about it! Why is
SodaStream (and dozens of other Israeli manufacturing plants) located in
Palestine and not Israel? If you guessed
that the environmental protection laws are far more stringent in the latter –
Bingo!
The Israeli manufacturers of SodaStream are free to
pollute the water, the soil and the air.
They are free to let industrial waste run down the hills (because
settlements are always built on TOP of hills!) and into the (Palestinian)
farmland below. They’re free to use the
water that could otherwise be used to irrigate olive trees and other crops, and
power that could otherwise be used to heat and light homes.
Because of all these factors, SodaStream has become a
“poster child” for the Boycott part of the Boycott-Divest-Sanctions (BDS)
trinity that many individuals and organizations are supporting. The United Methodist Church (of which I am a
member) and the Presbyterian Church of the US have both voted to boycott
settlement-made products. The United
Methodist Kairos Response (www.kairosresponse.org),
offers, among other resources, a list of settlement-made products (including
SodaStream), as well as detailed information on the “whys” behind the boycott.
I came home from Palestine with an abiding belief that
BDS is the best chance that we in the so-called “civilized” world have of
ending the Occupation. As I often
explain, “It worked in South Africa.”
Those of you reading this in my home town of Portland (which is planning
a SodaStream Boycott demonstration for “Black Friday”), or other US cities
(many of whom have held or will hold events around this and other
settlement-made products), may want to support these efforts, either by
participating in the events or, at the very least, refusing to purchase this
product – and telling the retailers why!
(If you like the concept, there are other products that do the same
thing and are made in a much more humane environment!)
And, no matter where you are, you may want to surf the
web (www.bdsmovement.net and www.sodastreamboycott.org are good
places to start) or “Google” for information on supporting boycotts of
SodaStream and other settlement-made/Israeli labeled products.
