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Carol Stein is moving and bringing her own unique brand of Disney magic to a new location!

Disney Parks are renowned for their entertainment offerings. The Walt Disney Companys biggest theme park Resort, Walt Disney World, hosts multiple offerings across its many locations.

While there are the big nighttime spectaculars like Disney Enchantment at Magic Kingdom Parks Cinderella Castle and Main Street, U.S.A., Harmonious fireworks at EPCOTs World Showcase Lagoon, and (currently suspended) Fantasmic! at Disneys Hollywood Studios Hollywood Hills Amphitheater, other offerings are dotted around the Disney Resort.

Related: Cast Members in Trouble, Hated Over Mask-Wearing Incidents at Disney World

One such offering is the Voices of Liberty at the American Adventure Rotunda. The singing group presents 15 minutes of timeless classics decked out in 1800s period clothing. The Voices of Liberty have also performed at the America Gardens Theater with the Disney Songbook.

Soon, another talented musician will enter the American Adventure Pavilion when beloved Piano Lady, Carol Stein, takes to the iconic location at the Disney Park.

In an emotional Facebook post, Stein announced the move from the United Kingdom pavilions gazebo area to the American Adventure Rotunda. She said:

My last set at the UK pavilion and EPCOT was a bit more emotional than I anticipated. tears of joy and tears of sadness at the same time. It is said that Spring is a time of growth, renewal and a time to embark on new endeavors!With excitement (and apprehension that comes with change) I am looking forward to opening the new musical presentation at the American Adventure Rotunda in EPCOT this Sunday, April 10, at 11:30 AM!! I am so grateful for this opportunity.

Guests wanting to see Stein perform on her piano at the American Adventure Rotunda at the Walt Disney World Resort should note that the musician will not be at the pavilion on selected dates, as seen on her official website. This month, the long-standing Walt Disney Community Cast Member will not be playing the piano from April 21 through April 26, returning to the rotunda on April 27.

Walt Disney World describes the American Adventure at EPCOTs World Showcase as:

In this dramatic production featuring 35 Audio-Animatronics figures, digital rear-projection images on a 72-foot screen and stirring patriotic songs, youll watch firsthand as Americas story unfolds.

Take your seat in a stately Colonial theater and meet Benjamin Franklin and Mark Twainyour guides on this trip through time.

Witness landmark events like landing of theMayflower, the Boston Tea Party, the winter at Valley Forge, the penning of the Declaration of Independence, the Civil War and the Great Depression.

Youll even encounter luminaries like Susan B. Anthony, Frederick Douglass, Thomas Jefferson, Chief Joseph and Teddy Roosevelt, among others.

Will you hope to see Carol Stein at EPCOTs American Adventure Pavilion? Let us know in the comments down below!

Let the expert team at Academy Travel help you planyour next magical vacation to Walt Disney World Resorts theme parks Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, Disneys Animal Kingdom, Disneys Hollywood Studios, and the Disney water parks, Disneys Typhoon Lagoon Water Park and Disneys Blizzard Beach Water Park and the Disney Springs shopping and dining district!

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New Entertainment Coming to EPCOT's American Adventure THIS Weekend - Inside the Magic

Eden Elisse (left), Celeste Alisse and Rell Gentzler pretend to be bunnies as they wait for face-painting at the Spring Eggstravaganza in San Francisco. Photo: Alex Washburn / The Chronicle

Have you and the little ones in your life been longing for community Easter egg hunts? Well, its time to dapper up, don your frilliest frocks and dust off that Easter bonnet, because they are back in full force in 2022.

For those seeking sweets with less hunting involved, note that many local bakeries plan to offer special spring and Easter-themed treats. Take for example, the limited-edition doughnut hole Easter eggs and other seasonally inspired flavors that North Bay native Johnny Doughnuts will be whipping up just for the holiday weekend. Be sure to check in with your favorite neighborhood shops and support local businesses.

Check out The Chronicles guide to the Bay Areas public Easter egg hunts, which cater to the under-12 set along with their adoring caregiver paparazzi.

Easter 2022: Carnivals, Hunky Jesus comeback and more ways to celebrate in the Bay Area

Bring the family out for an afternoon event featuring an Easter egg hunt for the little ones, with eggs hand-painted by members of the SOMA Pilipinas community, a photo booth, Easter egg tag and scavenger hunt, a petting zoo and more.

1-4 p.m. Sunday, April 10. Free, registration required for egg hunt. Kapwa Gardens, 967 Mission St., S.F. kapwagardens.com

A morning event featuring egg hunts, face-painting, carnival games, balloon animals, live music, candy and a visit from the Easter Bunny.

9 a.m. Saturday, April 16. $5 donation. Livorna Park, Livorna Road and Miranda Avenue, Alamo. 925-718-6601. alamorotary.org

Enjoy a day filled with fun activities, including a petting zoo; a visit with the Spring Bunny; arts and crafts activities; an interactive kids carnival; and Bunny Hop dance lessons. Participating youths will receive a basket to collect their goodies. There will be egg hunts for kids ages 1-10 and a scavenger hunt for prizes for children over 10.

9 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturday, April 16. Williard Park, 2730 Hillegass Ave., Berkeley. 510-981-2489. cityofberkeley.info

The Easter Bunny will lead a parade with young participants wearing their homemade bonnets. A bonnet competition with multiple categories and an egg hunt will follow the parade. Bonnet contest participants must be 6 years old or under, and bonnets must be worn by the participants during the parade to qualify.

9 a.m. Saturday, April 16. Free to attend. Registration required to march in parade and enter the bonnet competition. Kennedy Park, 19501 Hesperian Blvd., Hayward. 510-881-6768. haywardrec.org

Enjoy springtime fun with egg hunts at 9, 10:15 and 11:30 a.m.; visit and take photos with Peter Rabbit and Flopsy, participate in arts and crafts activities, games and more.

9 a.m.-noon Saturday, April 16. $15-$18, registration required. Heritage Park and Museums, 6600 Donlon Way, Dublin. 925-833-6650. dublin.ca.gov

The annual spring-themed event will feature a community parade, live entertainment with Andy Z and the Puppet Art Theater Company, magic shows, egg hunts for those ages 4-9, Easter Bunny photo ops and more.

9 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturday, April 16. Free. Registration required for egg hunt. Central Park, 50 E. Fifth Ave., San Mateo. cityofsanmateo.org

Take photos with the Easter Bunny and participate in an egg hunt divided by age for kids under 11.

9 a.m.-noon Saturday, April 16. Free. Corte Madera Town Park, 498 Tamalpais Drive, Corte Madera. townofcortemadera.org

Kids ages 3-10 are invited to bring their own baskets and help the bunny find 10,000 eggs hidden around the park.

9:15-11 a.m. Saturday, April 16. Free. Twin Pines Park, One Twin Pines Lane, Belmont. 650-595-7441. belmont.gov

Event will feature childrens games, arts and crafts, story time, a silent auction, live music and an egg hunt.

10 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday, April 16. Sports Field at Memorial Park, 1325 Portland Ave., Albany. 510-600-3416. albanypreschool.org

Get an Easter egg right from the big bunny after they arrive to the outdoor site by helicopter at 11 a.m.. The after is also set to include face-painting, a bounce house and slide, and a model train display.

10 a.m.-noon Saturday, April 16. Included with museum admission. Registration encouraged. Hiller Aviation Museum, 601 Skyway Road, San Carlos. hiller.org

The parade begins at 10 a.m. down Caledonia. Lineup begins at 9:45 a.m. at the Johnson Street Fire Station. The egg hunt starts at 10:15 in Dunphy Park, followed by live childrens music with In Harmony Music and an 11 a.m. Easter bonnet competition judged by the Sausalito Womens Club.

10 a.m.-noon Saturday, April 16. Free. Johnson Street Fire Station, 333 Johnson St., Sausalito. Dunphy Park, Bridgeway and Napa streets, Sausalito. 415-289-4152. sausalito.gov

Join the family-friendly East Cut event with egg hunts for kids 5 and younger and 6 to 12, food and beverage vendors, live music, craft activities, photos with Mr. Bunny and more.

10 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturday, April 16. Free, registration required for egg hunts. The Crossing at East Cut, 250 Main St., S.F. 415-536-5880. theeastcut.org

Visit the farmers market on Easter weekend and pet chicks and bunnies, work on some Easter crafts for kids, pose for a photo with the Easter Bunny and more.

10 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday, April 16. Free, registration required for Easter bunny visits. Marin Country Mart, 2257 Larkspur Landing Circle, Larkspur. marincountrymart.com

The free, fun and educational event organized by UC Berkeley students consists of activity booths, live performances and egg hunts, with the goal of inspiring younger children to explore the benefits of higher education. The event is wheelchair-accessible, and there are hunts especially suited for toddlers and children in wheelchairs.

10 a.m.-noon, 12:30-2:30 p.m. and 3-5 p.m. Saturday, April 16. Free, registration encouraged. Campanile Esplanade, UC Berkeley. 510-519-1856. eggster.org

Enjoy vendor booths; bounce houses; childrens arts and crafts activities, including egg-decorating, Easter bunny visit and photo op; egg hunt; raffles; Fur, Scales and Tales live animal show; live music and more.

10 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday, April 16. $5, registration encouraged. Marina Park, 13801 Monarch Bay Drive, San Leandro. 415-571-9718.

Get the jump on registering the kids for summer camp and swim lessons. Enjoy local food vendors; Oakland mobile library; free bicycle tune-ups; community resources; youth arts and crafts activities and more.

10 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturday, April 16. Free, registration required for egg hunt. Emeryville Center, 4727 San Pablo Ave., Emeryville. 510-596-4300. ci.emeryville.ca.us

Score a table for brunch and enjoy live entertainment, Easter bunnies and treats. If there are no seats, visit with the Easter Bunny for a photo op and factory tour from 10 a.m.-4 p.m., April 8-15 and 2-4 p.m. Saturday, April 16.

10-11:30 a.m. Saturday, April 16. Limited seating; email jbevents@jellybelly.com to reserve a table. Jelly Belly Visitor Center, One Jelly Belly Lane, Fairfield. 707-399-2390. jellybelly.com

A spring event for the family features egg hunts, live entertainment, official city trucks and vehicles to explore, kids activities and food trucks. Free bike valet parking courtesy of the San Francisco Bike Coalition.

11 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday, April 16. Free. Crocker Amazon Park, 799 Moscow St., S.F. 415-831-6834. sfrecpark.org

Experience a display of beautiful blooms and celebrate with the Easter Bunny, as the zoo hosts a holiday event with four egg hunts organized by age (for those 3-8) featuring chocolate treats and toys. Learn fascinating facts about different animal eggs while strolling around the grounds and take a crack at prizes with their online Eggs Gone Wild quiz.

11 a.m. Saturday, April 16. Included with zoo admission. Reservations required. San Francisco Zoo, Sloat Boulevard at the Great Highway, S.F.415-753-7080. sfzoo.org

Both events include a private Easter egg hunt and basket scavenger hunt, buffet-style breakfast or afternoon tea and snacks, unlimited rides on the carousel, visit/photos with the Easter Bunny.

9-11 a.m. breakfast; 3-5 p.m. tea party Sunday, April 17. $35-$55, reservations required. Tilden Park Merry Go Round, Central Park Drive, Berkeley. 510-559-1004. tildenmerrygoround.org

Join the Easter Bunny and hunt for surprises where the Pacific Ocean meets up with Golden Gate Park. A holiday menu with Easter- and spring-inspired specials will be available for dine-in or to-go dining. The restaurant will be open from 10 a.m.-6 p.m.

10-11 a.m. Sunday, April 17. Free for egg hunt, registration required. Dining reservations are highly recommended. Park Chalet, 1000 Great Highway, S.F. 415-386-8439. parkchalet.com

The event includes an arts and crafts event at Unity, followed by an Easter egg hunt across the street in the mini-park.

11 a.m. Sunday, April 17. Unity, 240 Page St., S.F. 415-474-0440. unitysf.com

Have your little ones, ages 1-8, bring a basket to collect treats as they disembark from rides for a meet-and-greet with the Easter Bunny.

11 a.m.-4 p.m. Sunday, April 17. Pixieland Amusement Park, 2740 E. Olivera Road, Concord. 925-676-9612. pixieland.com

Get your young children, ages 1-8, ready to hop into action, rain or shine, with egg hunts, face-painting, games, craft activities and a visit from the Easter Bunny.

Noon-2 p.m. Sunday, April 17. City Park, 150 Military W, Benicia. 707-580-4572. beniciakiwanis.org

Children are invited to join an Easter egg hunt to celebrate the holiday. It will take place around the outdoor plaza.

12:30-1:30 p.m. Sunday, April 17. Free, registration encouraged. Grace Cathedral, 1100 California St., S.F. 415-749-6300. gracecathedral.org

See original here:
Where to find public Easter egg hunts in the Bay Area in 2022 - SF Chronicle Datebook

A conversation and performance by The Queen of Percussion, Sheila E.In the midst of practicing for her appearance at the Oscars, which took place the following day, Sheila E. took time to join the Tea Party to discuss her incredible life journey and the things she has learned along the way, including the importance of being prepared. Sheila shared: "Know what you're going to do when you walk into a room. Make sure that you have all of the tools that you need. It's about doing the homework before you step into the room. Because then that allows you to have confidence. You walk in with confidence because you're prepared. Being prepared makes you feel free and then allows you to be yourself."

Announcement of The Sister Accord Dreamwalking & Love Virtual Museum. Jackson Myles unveiled The Sister Accord Dreamwalking & Love Virtual Museum, which was introduced in the Metaverse during the Tea Party. Participants toured the first exhibit, which features a pair of pants designed for Prince right after he changed his name from Prince to the love symbol. Future exhibits will focus on Whitney Houston, Janet Jackson, and Bruno Mars.

ABC's of Self-Defense Workshop.Jenn Cassetta shared her ABC's of self-defense, leading participants through a workshop where she highlighted the importance of Awareness, Boundaries & Communication when we find ourselves in challenging situations. Cassetta shared: "Remember that your intuition always has your best interest at heart. Remember that no is a complete sentence and remember what you say makes a difference in building your confidence. Your affirmation should be I am strong. I am safe. I am powerful beyond measure."

Conversation on Entrepreneurship with LatinUS (Lu) Beauty Leaders. LuCEO Carol Teter and Co-Founder Cesar Alejandro Jaramillo, sponsors of the Tea Party, joined Jackson Myles for a compelling discussion on how to meet consumers' needs and create a highly desirable product and business where love permeates every aspect of the offering.

Support from the Cincinnati Community, the Home of The Sister AccordFoundation. During the Tea Party, Jackson Myles was joined by Rasheda Cromwell, Vice President of Community Strategies for Greater Cincinnati Foundation, and Denisha Porter, Executive Director, All-In Cincinnati and Director, Greater Cincinnati Foundation, a sponsor of the Tea Party, who spoke to an aligned mission with The Sister Accord Foundation.

Announcement of three $5,000 Nella D. Jackson Memorial Scholarships. Jackson Myles announced three scholarships for female college students which were made possible by the ongoing generosity and support of the 7 Principles Foundation as well as entrepreneur Daymond John and philanthropists Paul and Annette Venables. Only those students who attended the virtual Tea Party on March 26th are eligible to apply. The acceptance of applications will be announced within the next week.

"This was our 24th Tea Party, and as the world and technology has evolved, so have we. I am truly honored to have had such amazing leaders join me to share their wisdom and support, as part of The Sister Accord's journey of having one billion girls and women learn how to love themselves and each other," said Jackson Myles.

About The Sister Accord: A Celebration of Sisterhood Tea Party ProgramThe Sister Accord Tea Party Program is a leadership development program presented by The Sister Accord Foundation, focused on helping young women understand the importance of strong, healthy, positive relationships with other young women in their development as exceptional leaders. For more information: http://www.thesisteraccordfoundation.org.

CONTACT: Victoria Stinson, [emailprotected]

SOURCE The Sister Accord Foundation

Read more:
THE SISTER ACCORD FOUNDATION'S "CELEBRATION OF SISTERHOOD" TEA PARTY WAS A DAY OF LEARNING AND INSPIRATION - PR Newswire

I have two questions for you. The first is, when was the last time you watched Alice in Wonderland? The second question is what was the last time you went to a tea party? Well, the Valley Mall in Union Gap wants to help make two of those things happen for you in just a few days! They are hosting something wild and wonderful called the Mad Hatter's Tea Party.

On Saturday, April 9th, 2022, the folks at the Valley Mall in Union Gap are planning a wonderful event designed to delight kids of all ages! There will be special guests in attendance at the party including the Mad Hatter from Alice in Wonderland!

The Mad Hatter is that crazy guy wearing a big tall black hat and wearing a bunch of clocks around his neck in his hands all over his jacket. I like to think of him as the Flavor Flav of the fiction world. Instead of running around yelling, "It's Flavor Flav!", the Mad Hatter runs around yelling, "Oh no, I'm late, I'm late!"

There is no dress code for the event but I'm sure if you want to dress up as one of the characters from Alice in Wonderland no one will turn you away. In fact, they might even make you part of the action, too. You could dress up as Alice and wear a dress with a blue apron and a blonde wig or you could dress up as the queen of hearts and run around telling everyone, "Off with their head!"

For more details on the Mad Hatter's tea party at the Valley Mall in Union Gap, click here.

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Mad Hatter's Tea Party Coming Soon to the Valley Mall in Union Gap - newstalkkit.com

A couple of weeks into the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Alexei Zimin realised something unfortunate about his London restaurant, Zima: there was a capital Z right above the entrance. Zimin, who comes from a small town two hours north of Moscow, was horrified by the association with the dominant symbol of an imperialist adventure that disgusted him, and he ordered its removal. But it wasnt enough to exempt his business from the boycotts that have become a central feature of western outrage at Vladimir Putins war.

Bookings at Zima, which has recently added chicken kyiv to its menu of Russian staples such as borscht, pirozhki and blinis with sour cream, had already started to drop off. Staff were fielding abusive phone messages from anonymous callers who had concluded that they must be supporters of Putin, and were perhaps unaware that 80% of kitchen staff there are from Ukraine. Zimin didnt really take it seriously, but he put security on the door just in case.

Seeking a way to express his opposition to the war, he posted a series of videos on Instagram of him smoking at his kitchen table as he sang anti-war songs, a gesture that led swiftly to the cancellation of the cooking show he had hosted for 12 years on the Russian broadcaster NTV. It wasnt surprising, but, he reflected as he drank a vodka tonic in the Zima dining room last week, he doesnt think he can go home now. I never wanted to be an emigrant, he said. But Im not a fool. Every action has a reaction.

Zima is donating 10% of its revenues to the Red Cross in solidarity with Ukrainian refugees. Zimin cooked Ukrainian dishes super-delicious, the fattest food in the world for a special fundraising night. All the same, there were those who demanded further clarification of the restaurants loyalties. The food was great! one poster wrote in Russian on Instagram. Unfortunately, Putin spoiled our appetites by invading Ukraine. Stand up to your dictator, stop killing innocent people!

For a gentle, dishevelled chef who has never voted for Putin in his life, all of this is as painful as it is surreal. But even if boycotts are a blunt instrument, Zimin understands why they are happening and knows that his troubles are trivial compared to the devastation wreaked on the residents of Kyiv and Mariupol. While he is not sure what anyone cancelling a booking at Zima would hope to achieve, he recognises the urge to act, the same urge he has wrestled with himself. Its not helpful, exactly. In Russia its the small people who are in pain. But I dont know a different way. You know?

Zimin is describing the central dilemma of boycotts, a tool aimed at bringing about political change that can be extraordinarily effective expressions of disgust precisely because they prioritise impact above fairness. Boycott movements often try to make a distinction between boycotting responsible entities and boycotting individuals, says David Feldman, the director of the Birkbeck Institute for the Study of Antisemitism,University of London, and editor of a history of the subject, Boycotts Past and Present. That is a very fine principle. But in practice its often hard to maintain that kind of distinction.

While government sanctions are a kind of boycott, they are distinguished by their coordination and relative deliberation; boycotts instigated by private citizens, civil society and companies have always been noisier, messier and more expressive. And, even as businesses with a Russian connection in the UK were beginning to feel the impact of anti-Putin campaigns in the past month, something similar was beginning to touch Russian consumers, Russian celebrities and even Russian cats.

A swathe of major brands from Apple to Uniqlo to LVMH shut outlets in Moscow and St Petersburg. British supermarkets dropped Russian products. The new Batman movie and Pixars Turning Red were pulled from Russian cinemas. Russian athletes were barred from international competition, and the World Taekwondo governing body stripped Putin of his honorary black belt.

Netflix halted work on a slate of Russian-produced dramas, from a neo-noir detective drama to a reimagining of Tolstoys Anna Karenina. Comparethemarket pulled its meerkat ads from news bulletins lest Aleksandr Orlovs accent cause offence. Russian artists were asked to disavow the invasion, and in some cases such as that of Valery Gergiev, the greatest conductor alive but also a friend and supporter of Putin dropped from major appearances if they failed to do so. The Cardiff Philharmonic Orchestra removed Tchaikovskys 1812 overture from its programme because of its genesis in commemoration of Russian military success. And the Fdration Internationale Fline banned all Russian-owned competitors from its international cat shows. To critics, it seemed as if 144 million ordinary Russians had been cancelled a claim made on Friday by Putin himself. But to supporters, the sheer breadth of responses was a powerful sign of how widely the invasion of Ukraine had outraged the world.

Boycotts got their name in 1880, but they were a vital tool of dissent for at least a century before that. The Boston Tea Party, wherein 342 chests of imported tea were dumped into Boston Harbor in 1773 by protesters furious at unfair British taxes on the American colonies, was a kind of boycott; a few years later, so was the free-produce movement, a British and American campaign to reject sugar made by enslaved people. Crucially, Feldman writes, these proto-boycotts were both expressive and instrumental, a way of doing something but also declaring who you were. Tactics pursued with the aim of achieving concessions but at the same time [helping] to constitute and consolidate a political identity.

The term we use today was coined in 1880, when Irish tenant farmers facing ruin because of a global agricultural depression sought reductions in rent to English landowners, an end to evictions of those who could not pay it and ultimately the complete removal of the landlords. The president of the Irish Land League, Charles Stewart Parnell, urged supporters to shun anyone profiting from evictions by isolating [him] from the rest of his country as if he were the leper of old.

A week later, an English land agent, Capt Charles Boycott, was targeted over the eviction of 11 tenants who could not pay their rents. He wrote a letter to the Times, complaining that even my laundress has been ordered to give up my washing. Considering what to name the practice over a whiskey with a visiting American journalist, a campaigning local priest, Father John OMalley, proposed: How would it be to call it to boycott him? Two years later, the term was in the dictionary, and spreading rapidly over Europe.

If we tend to view boycotts as a means of punching up a way for ordinary people to pool their resources in opposition to an oppressive policy or regime we should note that they have also been used to more sinister ends. In the US, the far right has sought to boycott businesses that have expressed support for the Black Lives Matter movement. The boycott of Jewish businesses in Nazi Germany was an early manifestation of the hatred that would culminate in genocide.

Still, the campaign that formed our modern understanding of what boycotts can do was one of unimpeachable moral clarity: the anti-apartheid movement. It began with the boycott of potatoes produced in slave-like conditions in the farming town of Bethal in 1959, and grew to a crippling rejection of South African goods, services and cultural output by the time of Nelson Mandelas release from prison in 1990.

Christabel Gurney, who joined the movement in the 60s at the age of 26 and edited the journal Anti-Apartheid News for 21 years, expected it to be like most boycotts: unsuccessful, at least in terms of achieving its formal aims. It was a long game, she said. I never really thought about whether it was going to change the government seemed so strong but it was a way of life. And we felt we were supporting a peoples struggle. The boycotts did not bring about change on their own, she added, but they were a very good campaign tactic, because everyone can not buy South African fruit. It helped to create a more general atmosphere.

The anti-apartheid example is a helpful frame for thinking about boycotts of Russia, Gurney said, more because of the differences than the similarities. It took years to exert the pressure that forced major corporations to ostracise the South African regime; today, in an era in which even the most ruthlessly profit-driven businesses seek to burnish their ethical credentials, many businesses severed their ties to Russia before most of their customers had thought to demand it. We might note another critical difference, one almost unprecedented in the history: ordinarily, boycotters hope to persuade their own governments to change their stances. In this case, boycott and sanction are acting in unity. The question is whether that makes them more likely to succeed, or pointless.

Inspired by the anti-apartheid campaign, the movement for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) which seeks the end of Israels occupation of Gaza and the West Bank and the restoration of the rights of the Palestinian people has a far more contested reputation.

BDS has targeted companies from SodaStream, over a factory in an illegal West Bank settlement, to Caterpillar, for selling the Israeli government bulldozers used to demolish Palestinian homes; it also advocates an academic boycott of Israeli universities and urges artists to refuse to perform there. Supporters say that since the movement began in 2006, it has been instrumental in mobilising global opposition to the Israeli government, as well as communicating to the Palestinian people that they are not alone. On the other hand, critics argue that the campaign has not benefited Palestinians or made a serious impact on the Israeli economy; Israel and its allies say that the campaign is antisemitic.

Feldman is neutral on BDS. The important thing to say is that boycotts are the point at which politics become personal they force painful choices on people, he said. But he argues that while there are those engaged in the movement who are guilty of antisemitism, that is not typical of BDS as a whole and that the sense of many Jews that the movement is antisemitic must be reckoned with, but is not enough to prove the case on its own. The argument he makes can be extended to the boycotts being faced by Russians today: Theres always the potential to slip into racialised forms of enmity, but even when that doesnt happen people who are boycotted feel got at personally. And sometimes, thats what boycotts are meant to do.

In reporting this piece, I contacted seven people in the UK who have faced boycotts in connection to the invasion of Ukraine. Other than Zimin, they all declined to be interviewed on the record. One woman, whose shops name includes the word Russian but also sells produce from Latvia, Lithuania and Ukraine, wished that those who had called her to say that they would not be visiting again had been aware that she is Lithuanian herself. The same man has come in to shout Slava Ukraini glory to Ukraine at her three times. Ive stopped buying from Russian companies, she added. What else can I do? I just run a shop. Another played a recording of a voicemail calling her a Russian cunt and threatening to kill her. A third has recently changed the name of their food business to remove the Russian connection and emphasise the quality of the produce instead.

Against those grim examples is the inescapable fact that as power has become ever more remote from ordinary people, even the most targeted boycott movements have been bound to rely on collateral damage as a means of raising pressure on the real targets. The abusive treatment of individuals whose businesses happen to have the wrong name has little in common with a more concerted campaign against major companies or institutions. And when executed carefully and separated from xenophobia, boycotts have an urgent moral force.

Take Marko Husak, the owner of Bundobust, a chain of Indian street food and beer halls. Husak has family in Ukraine one cousin who has joined the army, another forced to flee the country with her baby son. When the war began, he set about organising a boycott of Russian products among hospitality businesses. Its just a small thing, he said. But its about making a stand, showing solidarity. And showing that to Russians who feel the same way.

The image he shared on Twitter promoting his idea features a crossed-out bottle of Stolichnaya vodka which has a complicated history in Russia, and until recently used grain sourced there. But as the brand has been at pains to point out to its multiple boycotters, the company is owned by an opponent of Putin, produced in Latvia, headquartered in Luxembourg, and has declared its opposition to the war.

Damian McKinney, the companys CEO, said on a Zoom call from his home in Barbados that the impact of the boycott was such that in the first week, it looked like we were going down. Even so, he understands the response. When I saw people pouring vodka down the drain and governors in the US saying were going to boycott, honestly my reaction was, I get it, I dont blame you at all.

McKinney embarked on an urgent round of explanatory phone calls, including one where a British supermarket boss mistook him for the CEO of Grey Goose. Now the Russian grain is being replaced by a Serbian alternative and the company is rebranding as Stoli to emphasise the change. In this situation, boycotts, theres this mob lets all get behind it feeling, McKinney said. He spoke in front of an image of the Ukrainian flag. And I think thats where we need to be a bit calmer and say, making a stand is a good thing, but lets understand why were doing it.

Stolichnayas (sorry, Stolis) story is a parable of the baffling nature of global supply chains for those seeking to make a difference but its response also emphasises that, however messily, boycotts can do exactly that. At Zima, Alexei Zimin took a last sip of vodka before taking me to the bar to meet a group of Russian expats, all of them a little shaken by how they are viewed in the world, but willing to accept that their discomfort may be necessary, or at least inevitable. The problems of the Ukrainian people who lose everything are much worse, Zimin said. I should not be crying in Soho Square. I understand your feelings. I dont believe in collective guilt, but I can understand collective anger.

Link:
Should we ditch the vodka? What we can learn from the turbulent history of boycotts - The Guardian