The counter-protest at Lord & Taylor, Boston on December 10th raised some interesting issues.  The event was in response to a Code Pink protest outside of the store against the sale of Ahava products, which supposedly "steal from" and "exploit" Palestinians. The protest consisted of a group of eight to ten people in pink clothing and wigs singing anti-Israel 'carols', holding anti-Israel/anti-Ahava signs, and distributing anti-Israel/anti-Ahava literature outside the store on a Saturday afternoon.

Code Pink has been carrying on a campaign against Ahava (which manufactures face and body products) called "Stolen Beauty" for several years.  Apparently in some cities, including New York, Code Pink members have gone into stores and destroyed or defaced Ahava products.  In Boston last year, the Pinkies loudly marched into the store, chanting slogans about Israeli 'apartheid', 'occupation', etc., and distributed anti-Israel literature in the cosmetics department where the Ahava products are located.

In response to Code Pink's attempted boycott, the AJC and grassroots activists called for a Buycott of Ahava products for that week, with Thursday as the main day. News of the Buycott was disseminated through email lists and blogs, however as far as can be determined the JCRC did not distribute the news on its email lists (CJP did).

The store was notified of the planned protest both this and last year by a local pro-Israel activist. The Boston police were also notified last year but did not turn up. Due to the store's reaction, the unnamed activist has said that s/he does not intend to warn the store of any future protests.

The store's response to the situation, both this and last year, was to take the Ahava products off the shelf entirely. According to the sales staff, this is a directive from store headquarters. This year at least (I'm not sure about last year) store personnel were also instructed by headquarters to tell potential purchasers of Ahava products that there were none available. However, some undeterred CJUI members argued with sales staff and the department's sales manager for some time, saying that they knew there were in fact products available, until the staff finally broke down and wheeled the products out. Two plainclothes store security guards stood near the display the entire time it was out.

Many of the ten or twelve pro-Israel activists at the counter-protests came into the store at one time or another to purchase the Ahava products (the sales staff, who seemed embarrassed at and apologized for having been required to misinform us, kindly gave us an unasked-for small discount). They also asked for copies of the literature the activists were holding, read it in our presence, and seemed very sympathetic. The gathering of people around the product display also attracted also shoppers with whom we discussed the protest/counter-protest; some of them purchased products as well. Eventually, the products did sell out (there were not that many left after a week of Buycotting).

Outside the store, the Pinkies continued to sing anti-Israel songs and harass passers-by (95% of whom refused) to take their literature. The store's security personnel also came outside to watch them, possibly to see if any were planning to break loose and go raging through the store. Our group, which was equipped with signs and flags, discussed whether or not taking out these materials would limit the effect of the Pinkies' protest by providing a countervailing narrative, or whether it would attract even more unwanted attention to the Pinkies' cause. After some disagreement, we asked the security guards what they thought. The guards, who seemed sympathetic to our cause (they had taken and read literature while ignoring that of our enemies), said that people were already paying attention to the anti-semitic carolers so we might as well get our word out also. (The guards may also have been sympathetic to us because we had assured them that we were there only in response to the Pinkies, that we did not want to be there and make a spectacle of ourselves but felt we had to give a contravening viewpoint to the anti-semites, that we were definitely not there to cause any trouble, and planned to leave as soon as we could be sure the Pinkies had finally left; also, we chatted them up inside the store and had some nice conversations).

Eventually we did put our signs up and distributed some literature; more people took our literature than the Pinkies', probably because we were much more polite about asking. We also sang other songs such as Oseh Shalom, Jingle Bells, Frosty the Snowman, etc. (the Pinkies tried to taunt us about singing "Christian" songs - I personally don't believe there is anything religious about songs about snowmen or sleds - anyway, we ignored them). We were louder than they were and probably had better voices also. Several passers-by told us that they liked our signs and appreciated what we were doing. We also gave our literature to people who seemed sympathetic to the Pinkies, saying that while disagreeing with Israel's policies was fine, supporting Hamas, which is what Code Pink does, is beyond decency...