By Erasmus Baxter
Students looking to join activism and social justice-oriented clubs at Western didn’t have far to look at Western’s annual Red Square Info Fair on Tuesday, September 20. For around 30 minutes chants decrying Whole Foods Market could be heard among the hubbub of the fair.
A group of eight students representing four different clubs assembled next to Whole Food’s booth holding hand painted signs reading “Whole Foods Kills Co-Ops” and “Whole Foods = Gentrification.”
Western student Trisha Patterson spoke on behalf of the protestors.
“We’re out here protesting because Whole Foods takes advantage of communities across the world,” Patterson said.
“[Whole Foods] takes advantage of our community by selling us the commodified package of … quote-unquote “natural” food. It does not support local farmworkers. It takes money away from our local co-op. It also plays a major part in gentrification which is an issue in cities up and down the west coast.”
Among the clubs represented at the protest were Students for Farmworker Justice (SFJ). SFJ has been participating in a campaign to pressure Whole Foods to recognize a boycott of Driscoll’s brand berries called by berry pickers in Washington and Mexico. Last spring, SFJ participated in a protest that disrupted the Whole Foods opening ceremony as well as several other pickets at the Bellingham Whole Foods.
Olivia Yates, who does marketing for the Bellingham Whole Foods, was staffing the booth while the protesters were present.
“At Whole Foods, we’re pretty used to the protesters,” Yates said.
She said she was undisturbed by the protests as she had been at the store opening which attracted protesters, and attributed the protests to the fact that Whole Foods was a large corporation.
“There’s never been a community foods co-op that’s gone out of business because Whole Foods has come in,” Yates said.
Patterson said that the goal of the protest is to inform students and it came about organically.
“We’ve been organizing this protest for a total of 28 minutes as of 1:08 [p.m.],” Patterson said.
As quickly as it began, the protest ended. Viking Union security told the students that Red Square was reserved, and their protest violated the rules of Info Fair.
SFJ President Greta Merkel said that she felt this was unfair.
“I feel like I should have a right to demonstrate on my campus as a student, and as someone who stands for social change,” Merkel said.
However, the students complied and after around 20 minutes business continued as normal.
