Oh #NoScarJo: Scarlett Johansson on wrong side of history, USPCN calls for #OperationAmazon to #BoycottSodaStream

The call to boycott SodaStream, a company whose main plant sits in an illegal Israeli settlement, Ma’ale Adumim, built on stolen Palestinian land, was officially endorsed by USPCN last fall. We have organized and participated in boycott actions across the U.S., and last week, Dina Kennedy, coordinator of our DC chapter, joined ally organizations U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation, Code Pink, and Jewish Voice for Peace at Oxfam’s America Office, calling on the organization to end its relationship with Johansson.

Although this is a well deserved victory for all of us in the BDS movement, the fact remains that SodaStream is still a functioning corporation and its products are still sold by major retailers such as Macy’s and Target. We urge all our members and supporters to use the momentum from this victory to further our campaign against SodaStream!

SodaStream home beverage carbonating devices are fraudulently labeled as “Made in Israel,” but most of its products are in fact produced in an illegal Israeli settlement in the occupied West Bank, on stolen Palestinian territory.

Settlement production relies on and supports the occupation, an illegal activity under international law. Outside official state borders, Israeli companies operating in the West Bank enjoy cheap land and water from land that was confiscated from its indigenous Palestinian owners; a captive Palestinian labor force, under severe restrictions of movement and organization; vast tax incentives; and lax regulation of environmental and labor protection laws.

Take to the largest U.S. wholesale seller, Amazon, and provide an honest review of this occupying entity on our land.

Last holiday season, we successfully urged Christmas shoppers to stay away from SodaStream, and were able to bring two of SodaStream’s products down from 4 stars to 2.5 stars. However, many of its products still have positive reviews, so join us on Amazon in our fight against occupation!

How to do it:

• Log into your amazon.com account, or register if you don’t have one.
• Go to items at this SodaStream link.
• Click on the review stars.
• Click on: write a product review.
• Then insert one of the reviews provided below or one of your own.
• Use these hashtags and handles when tweeting to get others to review on Amazon: @amazon, @SodaStreamUSA, #BoycottSodaStream, #OperationAmazon, #NoScarJo, #BDS, #USPCN, #PalestineWillBeFree.
• Lastly, email your review to [email protected] so we can track the number of folks participating in this quick and easy way to help end Israeli occupation of Palestinian land.

SodaStream is produced in an illegal Israeli settlement, built on stolen Palestinian land in the militarily occupied West Bank.

The SodaStream factory employs Palestinian workers under the discriminatory and exploitative conditions of the occupation. Shame on SodaStream for flouting international law and profiting from Israel’s occupation of the West Bank, which is responsible for massive violations of the Palestinian people’s human, civil, and national rights.

• Cuisinart: Priced at $99.95, the machine is in stock now at Bed Bath & Beyond retail outlets as well as on Amazon.
• SodaSparkle: it’s not a countertop appliance, but a smaller contraption, containing a single-use CO2 cartridge, that you screw into the bottle that comes with it to carbonate its contents. The company offers two starter kits on Amazon and on its own website: the standard one, priced at $50, includes the charger, a 1.3-liter BPA-free reusable plastic bottle, five single-use CO2 cartridges (each one good for one bottle of soda water), and 15 single-glass flavor packs; a $60 “deluxe” kit is identical except that it also includes a 1-liter bottle.
• Pat’s Backcountry Beverages: Instead of CO2 cartridges, Pat’s eco2SYSTEM relies on a combination of food-grade potassium bicarbonate and citric acid powders to produce CO2: to make carbonated water, you fill a special .6-liter (20 oz.) plastic bottle with water, empty a packet of eco2ACTIVATOR (the powders) into the specially designed top, and shake.
• My Pop Old Fashioned Soda Shoppe: Priced at $75 and apparently available only by mail order from the company’s online store, it consists of seven plastic bottles, six of which are connected by a maze of tubes, clamps, and valves, all packed into a bright green shopping satch.

Boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) helped end apartheid in South Africa. Help the Palestinian people with their BDS movement to END the Israeli occupation and human rights violations. Don’t buy SodaStream! Its factory is built on illegally occupied Palestinian land, benefits from the occupation, and discriminates against its Palestinian workers.