Five members of the Pillsbury family have joined a boycott campaign targeting the company that bears their surname. They’re calling on people to refrain from buying Pillsbury products until its parent company stops doing business on land that was illegally confiscated from Palestinians.
The boycott call was made in a Star Tribune op-ed authored by Charlie Pillsbury. It was also submitted on behalf of George, Leah, Lydia, and Sarah Pillsbury. “We take pride in seeing our family name associated with products sold around the world,” it reads. “But in these times we no longer can in good conscience buy products bearing our name.”
The article continues:
We also are disappointed by the indifference General Mills has shown to this issue in its media statements. Instead of taking responsibility for building a factory on confiscated land, General Mills has boasted that the factory employs Palestinians.
Of course, hiring Palestinians is a good thing to do; but providing jobs to a few Palestinians does little to offset the enormous costs of a brutal occupation, nor does it excuse General Mills from profiting from Israel’s war crimes.
The Boycott Pillsbury campaign was initiated by a number of human rights organizations, including American Muslims for Palestine, Jewish Voice for Peace, and the American Friends Service Committee.
The Pillsbury Company was founded by Charles Alfred Pillsbury and John S. Pillsbury in 1869, but purchased by General Mills in 2001. In 2020 the United Nations named General Mills as one of the 112 businesses that’s violating international law by operating in the occupied territories.
Since 2002, General Mills has manufactured Pillsbury products at a factory in the Atarot Industrial Zone, an illegal settlement that Israel annexed during the 1967. According to a 2019 report on the settlement put out by Al-Haq, the factory also creates problems for Palestinians who still live in the area. “When they pour the flour [into the mixers which are outdoors], the flour comes into our house. Sometimes the bags of flour overflow into the house,” explained in a resident.
“We call on General Mills to stop doing business on occupied land,” reads the op-ed. “And we call on all people of good conscience and all socially responsible organizations across the globe to join in boycotting Pillsbury products until General Mills stops this illegal and immoral practice.”
This is what happens when a family business becomes part of the financial borg. Money rules morality. Many thanks to these members of the Pillsbury family for upholding the value of justice.
It takes a lot of courage to stand up to your own family business, and speak out publicly this way.
Thank you Pillsbury family for showing others the way. BDS.
Why we must boycott Pillsbury – by a Pillsbury family member (israelpalestinenews.org)
“Why we must boycott Pillsbury – by a Pillsbury family member”
EXCERPT:
“Pillsbury is doing business in illegal Israeli settlements & profiting from Israel’s war crimes, and a member of the PIllsbury family is calling for boycott of his own family’s products.by Charlie Pillsbury, reposted from Star Tribune, April 28, 2021
“When our ancestor Charles A. Pillsbury founded the Pillsbury Company over 150 years ago, he could not have imagined that his products would one day reach every corner of the world. What started with the purchase of one flour mill on the west bank of the Mississippi River in 1869 became a household brand, which is now owned by General Mills.
“We take pride in seeing our family name associated with products sold around the world. But in these times we no longer can in good conscience buy products bearing our name.
Last year, the United Nations published a list of companies doing business in Israel’s illegal settlements in the occupied Palestinian West Bank. We were saddened to learn that General Mills was included on this list for operating a factory manufacturing Pillsbury products in an Israeli industrial zone in occupied East Jerusalem”
“We learned that General Mills built this factory on land that Israel illegally confiscated from the Palestinian town of Beit Hanina. Israeli settlements in the West Bank, including in East Jerusalem, are illegal under international law and are under investigation as war crimes by the International Criminal Court.”
Major kudos to those members of the Pillsbury family who have the guts and moral integrity to publicly declare the ugly truth, i.e., the expansionist, borderless, racist, fascistic, illegal, brutal occupier entity referred to as “Israel” is a thoroughly documented and accelerating serial violator of hard won international humanitarian law. It should have long since been booted out of the UN and treated worldwide like the pariah it most certainly is!!.
Let no one say that small town America is unaware of the Palestinian situation – this from the Whitman Wire, 2020 – https://whitmanwire.com/opinion/2020/10/29/say-no-to-pillsbury-dough/
It’s that time of year again: sweater weather, curling up around the fire with hot cocoa and eating “freshly” baked goods brought to you by Pillsbury — made in the illegally occupied West Bank since 2002. …During the holiday season, several of the traditions we have are directly connected to the products we buy. For families like my own, Pillsbury products have been used as a way to bring the family together with little to no effort in the kitchen. The Pillsbury Doughboy is a direct reflection on American consumerism, with a smile. It seems as though everyone knows the cute little Pillsbury Doughboy, but very little of how Pillsbury or General Mills makes their products. Simply put, General Mills, who makes Pillsbury products, directly profits off of the exploitation and militarized occupation of Palestinian land.