DHAKA: When the managers of a fast-food chain in Dhaka put the Palestinian flag on its coffee cups in a show of solidarity, it soon turned into a local awareness campaign.
Kudos — which has 18 branches in the Bangladeshi capital — changed the colors of its logo to black, white, green and red on Nov. 1, and started to print the pre-1947 map of Palestine on its cups, which now read “In Solidarity With Palestine.”
The idea was formulated in response to several major US food brands and chains voicing their support for the Israeli military in the wake of its deadly onslaught on Palestinian civilians in Gaza, which started in October.
“We have seen some fast-food brands promoting Israeli (aggression) indirectly through their packaging. We wanted to counter that,” said Hisham bin Mohammad Mustafa, head of business at Kudos. “It’s not a matter of business. We just wanted to do something.”
Natasha Ahmed, a resident of the upscale Bashundhara area in Dhaka, visited the cafe as soon as she heard about the initiative, which, for her, serves as a reminder to not turn a blind eye to the ongoing Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip that have killed more than 14,800 Palestinians — mostly women and children — in the past five weeks.
“The way Kudos initiated the solidarity campaign is very bold and precise,” Ahmed told Arab News. “Every time I hold their coffee cup and look at the lines on the wrapper, it reminds me of the faces of innocent Palestine children who lost their lives in the last one and a half months.”
For Mohammad Jamil, a fresh graduate from the Badda area in Dhaka, it has a similar meaning, which he hopes will spread.
“This is how the ongoing agony of our Palestinian brothers and sisters remains alive in our minds every day,” he said. “The initiative might be a small one, but I believe it may inspire many others to do the same in their own way.”
Those who work at Kudos hope for that as well, the cafe’s head, Syed Jayedul Huq, told Arab News.
“I received positive feedback,” he said. “As a Muslim and a member of the Kudos family, I feel very proud to be a part of this initiative.”
While most Bangladeshis are Muslims, the sense of solidarity runs beyond religious lines.
Limon Halder, a Kudos waiter who belongs to the Hindu community, told Arab News: “I firmly believe that it’s my moral obligation to stand against any sort of oppression anywhere in the world. If I don’t stand against it today, maybe tomorrow I will face the same,” he said.
“Kudos came forward with a protest and message of solidarity with the Palestinians. It’s a matter of great pride to me,” he continued. “I hope more and more businesses in the country will do the same.”
In solidarity with Palestine, Bangladeshis raise awareness one cup at a time
https://arab.news/rxd79
In solidarity with Palestine, Bangladeshis raise awareness one cup at a time
- Cafe chain in Dhaka prints pre-1947 map of Palestine on coffee holders
- Initiative in response to US food brands voicing support for Israeli army
Rubio says technical talks with Denmark, Greenland officials over Arctic security have begun
- US Secretary of State on Wednesday appeared eager to downplay Trump’s rift with Europe over Greenland
WASHINGTON: Technical talks between the US, Denmark and Greenland over hatching an Arctic security deal are now underway, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Wednesday.
The foreign ministers of Denmark and Greenland agreed to create a working group aimed at addressing differences with the US during a Washington meeting earlier this month with Vice President JD Vance and Rubio.
The group was created after President Donald Trump’s repeated calls for the US to take over Greenland, a Danish territory, in the name of countering threats from Russia and China — calls that Greenland, Denmark and European allies forcefully rejected.
“It begins today and it will be a regular process,” Rubio said of the working group, as he testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. “We’re going to try to do it in a way that isn’t like a media circus every time these conversations happen, because we think that creates more flexibility on both sides to arrive at a positive outcome.”
The Danish Foreign Ministry said Wednesday’s talks focused on “how we can address US concerns about security in the Arctic while respecting the red lines of the Kingdom.” Red lines refers to the sovereignty of Greenland.
Trump’s renewed threats in recent weeks to annex Greenland, which is a semiautonomous territory of a NATO ally, has roiled US-European relations.
Trump this month announced he would slap new tariffs on Denmark and seven other European countries that opposed his takeover calls, only to abruptly drop his threats after a “framework” for a deal over access to the mineral-rich island was reached, with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte’s help. Few details of the agreement have emerged.
After stiff pushback from European allies to his Greenland rhetoric, Trump also announced at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, last week that he would take off the table the possibility of using American military force to acquire Greenland.
The president backed off his tariff threats and softened his language after Wall Street suffered its biggest losses in months over concerns that Trump’s Greenland ambitions could spur a trade war and fundamentally rupture NATO, a 32-member transatlantic military alliance that’s been a linchpin of post-World War II security.
Rubio on Wednesday appeared eager to downplay Trump’s rift with Europe over Greenland.
“We’ve got a little bit of work to do, but I think we’re going to wind up in a good place, and I think you’ll hear the same from our colleagues in Europe very shortly,” Rubio said.
Rubio during Wednesday’s hearing also had a pointed exchange with Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Virginia, about Trump repeatedly referring to Greenland as Iceland while at Davos.
“Yeah, he meant to say Greenland, but I think we’re all familiar with presidents that have verbal stumbles,” Rubio said in responding to Kaine’s questions about Trump’s flub — taking a veiled dig at former President Joe Biden. “We’ve had presidents like that before. Some made a lot more than this one.”
