About 30 people, as part of the global week of action against the Hewlett-Packard Company, on Sunday, Nov. 27, stood on the sidewalk outside the Manhattan Beach store of Fry’s Electronics near the corner of Sepulveda Blvd. and Rosecrans Ave., displaying a mock Israeli apartheid wall, signs and banners denouncing HP’s complicity with Israeli apartheid.
While several people held up the mock Israeli apartheid wall, others carried signs or banners, and others passed out flyers explaining why they were there and asking people to boycott HP products.
Dennis Korteuer said he and Sherna Gluck, who are Professor Emeriti of Cal State University Long Beach, met with the store’s manager, Tonya Smith, and gave her a letter, which requested the store “to stop stocking products made by Hewlett-Packard” and which explained the reasons.
Later, protesters chanted. One chant was “Hewlett-Packard you will see. Palestine will be free. A second was “Segregation is a crime, from Ferguson to Palestine.” A third was “Not another checkpoint, not another wall, end the occupation, equal rights for all.” A fourth chant was “Hewlett-Packard get in line, freedom now for Palestine.”
The Palestinian Youth Movement, which its website characterizes itself as a “transnational, independent, grassroots movement of young Palestinians in Palestine and in exile worldwide,” sent an email before the action. The email said that more than 90 actions worldwide were planned.
According to the BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions) movement website, the South Africa boycott of Polaroid inspired the global week of action. Also according to the website, the HP company provides Israel the Biometric ID Card System used to restrict Palestinians’ freedom of movement and servers for the Israel Prison Service, where Palestinian children and political prisoners are routinely held without charge and where torture is widespread; the company manages the communications centers of the Israeli Navy, which collectively punishes the civilian population of Gaza through blockade; and, the company provides services to Israeli illegal settlements in the West Bank.
HP Media Relations and the management of Fry’s Electronics were unavailable for comment.
The full text of the letter given to the store manager may be viewed at http://hpboycott.org/content/menu/take_action/letter_to_store_managers.htm.
Barry Saks 