Dear comrades ,
Recently the Co-operative Group banned products from the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) along with those from the Russian Federation , Israel and other countries.
By doing this the Co-op is siding with US and British government sanctions against the DPRK and helping to implement them .
It is absurd and politically illiterate to equate the DPRK with Israel . The DPRK has not engaged in perpetual war against its neighbours , nor has it committed genocide.The DPRK was founded by Koreans on the land they had occupied for 5,000 years.
The irony is that the Co-Op is supposed to be a "working class shop " and even a "socialist shop " . I grew up in a Co-op household ; we had Co-op bread , Co-op milk delivered to the door , Co-op groceries , Co-op laundry . By saving up Co-op dividend stamps we even bought a lawnmower and a TV set . A distant relative on my mothers side was elected to the local council on a ticket sponsored by the Co-op !.
All that came to an end . The Co-op got into trouble in the late 70s and early 80s and went into decline . The big Co-op department stores and supermarkets disappeared . Co-op societies merged , Co-op dividend stamps were ended and the Co-op became a capitalist retailer . These days I rarely go to the Co-op because it is so expensive and I have not bought anything in a Co-op for two years .
The old Co-Op that I used to know imported many goods from the socialist countries such as Hungarian jam, Polish shoes and a suit from the former GDR.
Instead of blindly implementing US and British government policy the Co-op could have imported cheap goods from the DPRK to benefit consumers.
Yours fraternally
Dermot Hudson
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