‘Genocide free’ cola being sold in UK
A pro-Palestinian brand of cola is being sold in the UK, after many have boycotted Coca-Coca for their association with Israelis settlements, according to Al Jazeera on November 23rd.
According to Friends of Al Aqsa, a pro-Palestinian group, Coca-Cola violates international law by having a factory in Atarot, an illegal Israeli settlement. It is due to this that its sales have declined in countries such as Turkey and Pakistan.
Now, those boycotting have an alternative – Gaza Cola, a product of Palestine House in London. Creator Osama Qashoo maintains its formula is “is totally different from the formula that Coke uses.” He wont say where the recipe originated, just that he created it last November.
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Qashoo says he had several reasons for inventing Gaza Cola, but “number one was to boycott companies that support and fuel the Israeli army and support the genocide” in Gaza. Another reason: “To find a guilt-free, genocide-free kind of taste. The real taste of freedom.”
Qashoo has been involved in Palestinian advocacy for decades – he co-founded the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), a group that uses non-violent direct action to resist the Israel’s occupation of Palestinian land.
He was forced to flee Palestine in 2003 after organising a peaceful demonstration over what he terms the “apartheid wall” in the West Bank, after which he arrived in the UK as a refugee.
In 2007, he co-founded the Free Gaza Movement, which aimed to break Israel’s illegal siege on Gaza. Three years after he helped organise the Gaza Freedom Flotilla, a mission to bring humanitarian aid from Turkey to Gaza by sea.
In May that year, one of the flotilla’s ships, the Mavi Marmara, was attacked by Israeli commandos, and 10 passengers were killed. Qashoo lost his cameraman and filming equipment, was later arrested and then detained and tortured along with almost 700 others. His family went on a hunger strike until he was safe.
Since returning to the UK , he became a restaurateur, but never expected to create a carbonated beverage. “I wasn’t even thinking about this” until late last year, Qashoo explains. He adds that he also wanted to create a product that was “an example of trade not aid”.
Hackney resident Nynke Brett, 53, discovered the drink while attending a cultural event at Palestine House. “It’s not as fizzy as Coke. It’s smoother, easier on the palate,” she says. “And it tastes even better because you’re supporting Palestine.”
George Shaw, an analyst at GlobalData, told Al Jazeera that 53% of consumers in the Middle East and North Africa are boycotting products from certain brands over recent wars and conflicts.
“These companies that fuel this genocide, when you hit them in the most important place, which is the revenue stream, it definitely makes a lot of difference and makes them think,” Qashoo said. He adds that Gaza Cola is “going to build a boycott movement” that will hit Coca-Cola financially.
This is not the first time Coca-Cola has been boycotted – the Arab League officially boycotted Coca-Cola between 1967 and 1991 due to the presence of a Coca-Cola factory in Israel.
Qashoo’s family has also been a factor in his drive to launch Gaza Cola. He isn’t currently aware of the whereabouts of his adopted 17-year-old son in the West Bank, who was shot in the head in June. “I have family in Gaza who have been decimated,” says Qashoo. “I’ve got friends, I don’t know where they are.”
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“Gaza Cola was a very hard and painful process because I’m not an expert in the drink industry,” says Qashoo. “Every potential partner was suggesting compromise: compromise the colour, compromise the font, compromise the name, compromise the flag,” he says. “And we said ‘no, we’re not compromising on any of this’.”
He began by stocking Gaza Cola in his three London restaurants, where 500,000 cans have been sold since the brand began being sold back in August. Muslim retailers such as Manchester-based Al Aqsa also sell the drink, and the store’s manager Mohammed Hussain says it recently sold out.
Gaza Cola is also being sold online, with a six-pack going for £12 ($15). For comparison, a six-pack of Coke sells for about £4.70 ($6).
Qashoo says that all profits from the drink are being donated towards rebuilding the maternity ward of the al-Karama Hospital, northwest of Gaza City.
Gaza Cola is not the first of its kind – Swedish company Palestine drinks sells an average of three to four million cans of their beverages including a cola 0per month, co-founder Mohamed Kiswani told Al Jazeera.
Jordanian brand Matrix Cola, created in 2008 as an alternative to Coca-Cola and Pepsi which operates its main SodaStream factory in the Israeli-occupied West bank, reported this January that production had doubled in recent months.
And Egypt’s oldest carbonated drinks company Spiro Spathis saw a big spike in sales during last year’s “100% made in Egypt” campaign last year.
Qashoo is currently working on the next version of Gaza Cola, a fizzier version. Meanwhile, he hopes that every sip of Gaza Cola reminds people of Palestine’s plight.
“We need to remind generations after generations of this horrible holocaust,” he says. “It’s happening and it’s been happening for 75 years.” “It just needs to be a tiny, gentle reminder, like ‘by the way, enjoy your drink, greetings from Palestine’.”
Al Jazeera, Bloomberg, The Guardian
