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Wasn't Philz the only Pro-Palestine coffee chain. That's too bad.
by asadm 1y ago
Wasn't Philz the only Pro-Palestine coffee chain. That's too bad.
- adastra22 1y agoI fail to understand why a coffee shop should be taking sides on geopolitical conflicts.
- asadm 1y agoI agree. No idea why Starbucks, McDonalds, Zara etc. came out shouting support for Israel out of nowhere. Requiring a boycott from sane people.
- idontwantthis 1y agoIs that a thing that happened?
- asadm 1y agoyes. prompting listings/apps for finding brands to boycott, one which i use very much: https://www.boycat.io/ https://www.boycat.io/
- onetimeusename 1y agoMcDonalds did not officially endorse Israel. The franchise owner of all the McDonalds restaurants in Israel did. McDonalds corporate did not approve the message although it seems like it did not really matter what the facts were. (https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/apr/05/mcdonalds-israel-franchise-boycott https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/apr/05/mcdonalds-i...)
- adastra22 1y ago> Requiring a boycott from sane people. It sounds like you don't agree.
- asadm 1y agoi guess we don’t agree on sanity itself.
- growzontreez 1y ago[dead]
- thornewolf 1y agoeveryone takes a side on everything. explicitly or implicitly. intentionally or unintentionally. due to the interconnected nature of the world, it is impossible to construct a true-neutral position. the appearance of neutrality becomes more difficult the more important an issue is to those you interact with. so, it's not really well-defined to ask whether or not a coffee shop "should" be taking sides, it will take one in all situations. it is a (slightly) more tractable question to ask "how should a coffee shop take a side?" Given how difficult this question is to answer still, I like to answer it with, "doing good is generally aligned with the long-term profit-motive." this is also why boycotts are actually useful! though collective action, you can align the profit-motive with "good" clearly. this makes it easier for a coffee shop to move in-line.
- thornewolf 1y agoI'm actually surprised this went negative, I thought HN was gonna love this
- mingus88 1y agoBecause all businesses are run by people and everything is inherently political Coffee production by itself is already mired in geopolitics. And as a customer, where we spend our money matters. It’s often the only voice we have. Take a look at Black Rifle Coffee Company. Their brand attracts a certain type of customer. It’s a market differentiator.
- jajuuka 1y agoThe founders immigrated from Palestine so that's not surprising. They even donate a portion of proceeds to Palestinian aid efforts. Surprised to see they are going under though. They have been a grocery store staple for a while.
- yapyap 1y agoif you make coffee at home you can decide yourself whether it’s pro Palestine or pro Israel
- asadm 1y agowho needs coffee, i rawdog my days.
- School-Cotton 1y agoApparently not all that pro-Palestine, if Wikipedia is to be believed: > At the end of 2023, five employees were sent home from the Gilman Street location for wearing Pro-Palestine pins. Despite asking for a written statement from management about why the pins were not allowed, the employees never received any information from management. The employees were sent home and the entire staff unionized.
- asadm 1y agoi assume this was AFTER this takeover?
- School-Cotton 1y agoUnless I'm misunderstanding something, the takeover has still not happened.
- naet 1y agoIn my experience around the SF bay area the vast majority of local or independent coffee shops have a Palestinian flag or stand with Palestine poster right on the front glass. While I think that your choice in coffee shop has little to no effect on the actual Palestinian country or people, you can always try going local instead of supporting these multi million dollar chains.
- asadm 1y agoindeed. I love the late night Yemeni shops that have popped up.