Strategy Meeting next Thursday (April 18th), 7 pm, Muddy Waters C afe on Valencia Street at 16th St.

[Guest guest]

Dear Friends,

 

In February, PETA launched an international boycott of Safeway and its

subsidiaries, after 16 months of negotiation with the corporation on issues

of animal welfare on factory farms and in slaughterhouses failed to produce

tangible commitments on the part of Safeway to better conditions for

animals. PETA's undercover investigators produced documentation of truly

hideous abuse of animals on farms supplying Safeway, but the corporation was

not moved by the level of cruelty and neglect.

 

As Safeway is headquartered in Pleasanton, the response of activists in the

Bay Area to the boycott will be especially useful in motivating the company

to do the right thing. While the weekly leafleting demos at the Safeway on

Church & Market contribute in a small way to putting pressure on Safeway,

there is so much more that can be done -- much of it non-confrontational in

nature. Concerned folks are invited to attend a strategy meeting where we

will discuss some of these actions, and draw up a blueprint for organizing a

strong and concerted local campaign against Safeway. Presently, I'm thinking

of mobilizing efforts to write letters to Safeway HQ; letters to store

managers of all the Safeway stores in the Bay Area; letters to the editors

of local media outlets; encouraging the local weeklies to do an expose of

Safeway's lack of concern; meetings with store managers; perhaps a postcard

mailing (there's an especially moving photograph of an emaciated pig, left

to starve to death at one of the farms supplying Safeway, which I think

would be effective) to make it easy for people to contact Safeway (and with

a dual benefit being public education); and so on. I'm sure I'm missing a

lot. Hope many of you can make it.

 

Cheers,

Alka

 

P.S. -- I still don't have access to the /veg-sf/ar-sf lists (and

won't until Monday). If you want to write me an email in response to this

post, kindly cc a copy to alkachandna. Thanks!

 

-------------------------------

 

STRATEGY MEETING TO DISCUSS LOCAL CAMPAIGN TO ENCOURAGE SAFEWAY TO DO THE

RIGHT THING

 

When: Thursday, April 18th at 7 pm (meeting should last 60-75 minutes - if

people are so inclined, we may have a late dinner afterwards at a local

restaurant)

Where: Muddy Waters Cafe at 521Valencia Street (at 16th Street)

Additional Details: For coffee connoisseurs, Muddy Waters does have soymilk,

and they also carry Kerry's Creation vegan cookies. Occasionally, they stock

vegan calzones, and sometimes they have bagels (which you can have with

hummus/tomatoes/onions)

For more info on the international campaign: http://www.shameway.com