Starbucks Supports Human Rights Violations??

Starting a few years ago many Muslims, Arabs, and other activists who were disgusted with the Israeli Defense Force’s gross human rights violations against the Palestinian people began boycotting Starbucks coffee. Howard Schultz, the chairman and CEO of Starbucks, was believed to be diverting some of its profits to the Israeli Defense Forces (as an international donation)—forces that have sustained a 41 year occupation of Palestinian land, and are guilty of building illegal settlements, instituting hundreds of checkpoints, as well as building a wall that cuts through villages in the West Bank—all actions that are illegal under international law, and under the 4^th Geneva Convention.

The movement against Starbucks has spread all over the world, even in the Middle East. Contrary to the fact that its easy to find a Starbucks in Jordan, last summer when I was there, I found that there are a great number of Arabs who absolutely refuse to drink it, and have equated it to the drinking of Palestinian blood.

This all started with a letter, (that was circulated through various blogs on the web), supposedly written by CEO Howard Schultz. The letter was addressed to all customers thanking them for buying Starbucks because ‘with every cup of coffee’ that customers drink they are sponsoring Israeli arms affairs against anti-Semitic Muslims in Palestine. This letter was first posted on this blog:

http://www.ziopedia.org/articles/editorial/a_thankyou_to_all_starbucks_customers/

But right below the letter, something that didn’t reach many inboxes, was a comment written by the blogger who fabricated the letter: “Howard Schultz never wrote that letter, I did. However, all the statements I made in that letter about donations, sponsorships, political views etc. – are based on factual Howard Schultz actions and quotes.”

Its true, upon looking up Howard Schultz- his actions and quotes are highly sympathetic to the occupation and its atrocities against as he states “anti-Semites.” Well, I would probably disagree with all of his political views. But what does this say about the multi-billion dollar corporation that is Starbucks? It’s hard to tell. But according to my research this is what I found.

When I viewed a few accountability reports in the past few years, it was clear to me that Starbucks does not invest in Israel. –Notice, I could be wrong—this is all public information that is available on the website- there could be private donations that we don’t know  about. However, according to the 2006 Corporate Accountability Report, Turkey was the only country in the Middle East that Starbucks invested in– in promoting local schooling through the Ministry of Education. On the Starbucks website, in the Rumors section it also states that the allegation against Starbucks that it supports the IDF is false, and that Starbucks is a non-political organization and does not support political causes.

Furthermore, there are no Starbucks in Israel– as of the year 2003, all 6 of them closed. The reasons for closure were “poor sales and” a “failure to find an investor to bail it out of a losing venture.” It makes little sense for me that the Starbucks company would be so supportive of Israel, and at the same time Israelis would not even be mildly supportive of it.

Now I could subscribe to the view that if much of the world is pointing a finger at Starbucks as being an evil corporation that disrespects human rights that I should too, but unless I see proof it will remain hard for me to do that.I promise I’m not some coffee freak, but it just annoys me when people make claims and have little but nothing to back themselves up with.

For example, Motorola does indeed support Israeli human rights violations; that is a fact that is undebatable. There is proof. Motorola Inc. and Motorola Israel make the fuses for Israeli cluster bombs (the ones used in the Lebanon war of 2006), as well the radar devices for the 47 illegal settlements that are located on Palestinian land, and it is also the supplier of the Mountain Rose communication system that enhances the monitoring capabilities of the Israeli army—satellite technology that has been used by Israel in maintaining its 41 year illegal occupation. Motorola has also been profiting from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and has signed multi-million dollar deals with the U.S. Army for , It has created Tactical Operation Centers for the army: centers that provide “real time battlefield awareness” and more efficient visualization, allowing “commanders and staff to communicate directly with various users of airspace.” Motorola also has built Tactical Airspace Integration Systems, which have contributed to Operation Iraqi Freedom “by empowering Joint and Coalition forces with real-time decision systems.” In the year 2000, the U.S. Army awarded Motorola a contract to continue fielding the TAIS whose total values is 150 million dollars over a five-year period. The deal for the TOCs was made in 1999, also for a five year period, and for a whopping value of $448 million dollars.

For more information GO TO hanguponmotorola.com – Hang Up On Motorola is a campaign that has been launched by the U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation– a coalition of over 250 organizations that work to challenge US policy towards the Israel-Palestine Conflict to promote international law and justice, and an end to the occupation.

Another example: Caterpillar Inc. supplies the Israeli Defense Forces with CAT D9 bulldozers that come with a front blade that is more than 6 feet high and 15 feet wide and has a “claw-like hydraulic ‘ripper’ in the back”, made especially for the IDF. Since 1967 Israel has used these bulldozers to demolish over 12,000 Palestinian homes, leaving 70,000 people home-less; at times people have been killed because the IDF did not give fare warning before proceeding with the demolition. The story of Rachel Corrie, a 23-year old American International Solidarity Movement Activist who was run over by an Israeli bulldozer- twice-, as her friends screamed for the driver to stop. For more information: http://www.endtheoccupation.org/downloads/CAT%201-2006.pdf

Now although CATERPILLAR inc does not sell consumer products therefore making it impossible to start a boycott, Motorola does. Boycotting and divestment and activism should start with these two companies as they already have.

Now as for Starbucks, maybe it does contribute to the IDF; Howard Schultz clearly has nothing but the utmost respect for the Israeli Defense Forces.But the fact that it is considered a false rumor on Starbucks website, and has been denied on several occasions is worth considering and looking into.

When we analyze the response by Motorola’s Business and Human Rights Resource Center to allegations made against it and those of Starbucks, we see fundamental differences that explain a lot. In a response to a letter sent to CEO Greg Brown by the US Campaign to the Israeli Occupation, the Business and Human Rights Center never specifically denied Motorola’s contributions to the IDF. In their letter their only defense was that : Motorola strives to uphold ethical standards. They also posted a few links in the letter to websites containing Motorola’s human rights policies. This response is the epitome of sketchiness.

As for Starbucks, I think more research needs to be done, and if the truth is that it does indeed fund human rights abuses, then a REAL campaign should begin—it shouldn’t just be a group of individuals circulating rumors of how bad Starbucks is yet not even able to give one single quote or piece of evidence to support their claim.

~ by nollla on August 7, 2008.