As Socialist-Republicans we are aware of the hypocrisy which exists with capitalist businesses that claim to be ethically clean. In the 21st century, this has been increasingly evident with businesses greenwashing capitalism.

We have seen businesses try to take the moral high ground on social issues such as climate change and encourage consumers to buy into their brands by making them feel that their money is going to the ‘right’ place. But in reality, the only place that money is going is straight into the back pockets of wealthy capitalists. A recent example was when Applegreen promoted their new ‘carbon neutral premium fuels’ without telling customers that it could take up to 35 years for their offsetting scheme to match the emissions generated by the production of the fuel.

More recently capitalist franchises have continued their hypocritical stance on war and genocide on the same lines as their governments. A Costa coffee shop in West Belfast of all places was openly raising money for the “Ukrainian army”. The same Ukrainian army fawned over by liberals, who fell over themselves defending their recent conflict with Russia. The same Ukrainian army that is funded to the hilt with billions of pounds of arms and ammunition packages from the EU, US and NATO. Despite liberal pressure on society to take the so-called moral high ground on this conflict, even as they act as puppets for Western governments, they will not be so quick to condemn the openly Neo-Nazi elements of some battalions of the Ukrainian army.

It will come as no surprise then that Costa Coffee, who contribute money so openly to an army sympathetic to fascism, also generate profits from stores amid illegal Zionist settlements in Palestine. Since October 2023 and the beginning of Zionism’s most recent phase of genocide, not once has the same Costa Coffee shop in West Belfast asked for a penny in support of the Palestinian people. This is despite multiple other local coffee shops and cafes across West Belfast going to huge efforts to ensure that their products do not contribute to the economy of the Zionists perpetrating genocide. The majority of these businesses have also signed up to Lasair Dhearg’s BDS campaign and have made commitments not to sell Israeli-made goods. because they understand that to do so would be tantamount to complicity in genocide.

We would encourage consumers in West Belfast to make a conscious effort to shop in areas that have been declared ‘Israeli goods free zones’. This way they can be sure that they are not funding genocide or lining Zionists’ back pockets. Many of the big franchises are very much puppets of Zionism and Western governments and act as such.

We would also encourage shoppers to be alert to where their money is going when in the big stores, and to check for themselves to make sure the things they are buying are not made in Israel. Businesses claim to be ethically clean on social issues but only in the liberal context of the pursuit of profit and ignore pressing humanitarian issues such as genocide perpetrated by Western governments and their allies. Capitalism has no moral compass; it will only respond when profits dry up.

Only in the 32-county Socialist Republic can we bring about an economic system free from the inhumanity of capitalist imperialism and be sure that we are not contributing to imperialism abroad. For the moment we ask local businesses to join our ‘Israeli goods free zones’ campaign and help to make West Belfast among the first areas in Ireland free of Zionist goods.