Not a Completely Ringing Endorsement

Mountain Equipment Co-op, a Canadian retailer of equipment for mountaineering, camping, hiking, etc, has been under considerable pressure to stop carrying merchandise provided or manufactured in Israel. In its most recent statement, MEC has refused to bow to this pressure. So far so good. But read the entire text of the MEC statement. It is not all that strong a rebuke of the anti-Israel letter-writers. Here is an excerpt, courtesy of a regular EclectEcon reader:

MEC is neither a political activist group nor a human rights body.  Nonetheless, we believe business can and should improve the human condition behind manufacturing.   To this end, MEC takes a Canadian and international view of our global supply chain. Just as creed and country are not barriers to being an MEC member, we do not divide our supply chain along political lines. In short, we will not take sides in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Our human rights efforts are squarely focused on our supply chain—on working to improve the factory conditions and treatment of the workers that make MEC-brand products. As much as this is cowardice to some or a sell out to others, it is our conviction and our intent is to not veer from this belief.

I must say, though, that I like the economics of their position: increasing the demand for products from a country tends to make the lives of people working there better off than they would be without the business. I have been a member of MEC for nearly 20 years. I am delighted that they didn't cave in to the anti-Israel campaign, but I wish they had taken an even stronger stand.