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Friday 19 August 2011

Should we all boycott LUSH products?

LUSH cosmetics, the stores that smell so sweetly are seemingly not that sweet themselves. I have been reading some rather distressing news about  Lush's Middle East views. The JC informs me that whilst 'Skincare company Lush says concerns about the lack of a "mixed" workforce would prevent it opening a store in Israel... it operates stores in Saudi Arabia.' Lush have also been promoting a pro-Palestinian song on its website.'On the Lush website, under "Our Ethical Campaigns" it says: "The catastrophe facing the Palestinian people is one of the defining global justice issues of our time."' Lush defended their decision to not open a store in Israel with these words:
"But we don't feel it's a safe environment to have a store. Would we want a shop where we couldn't have a mix? We have a multicultural attitude to everything we do; we want everyone in the country where we are trading to be on an equal footing as far as basic human rights go. Some of the team would have to come through checkpoints and be treated differently on their way to work – that would be our worry."
Leaving aside the fact that Israeli checkpoints do not distinguish between Israeli Jews and Israeli Arabs; how could they, it is not that easy to always tell the two apart, I note that Lush has no problem operating two stores in Saudi Arabia. That's the Saudi Arabia where non-Muslims are not allowed to practice their religion, where the bible is banned and where non-Muslims are banned from Mecca under penalty of death. 

So the 'ethical' Lush are happy trading in the theocratic non-democratic state of Saudi Arabia but not in the pluralistic democracy that is Israel - how very right-on!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Also whilst we are on how ethical lush are. How about there store in Sri Lanka