Pink Peacock facts for kids
|
די ראָזעווע פּאַווע
|
|
 |
|
 |
|
 Location in Central Glasgow
|
|
| Formation | 2019 |
|---|---|
| Founder |
|
| Purpose | Pay-what-you-can queer Yiddish anarchist cafe |
| Location |
|
| Website | pinkpeacock.gay |
Pink Peacock (Yiddish: די ראָזעווע פּאַווע, Di Rozeve Pave) is a café and infoshop in the Govanhill area of Glasgow. Described by its founders as "the only queer Yiddish anarchist vegan pay-what-you-can café in the world" and "anti-Zionist", it opened physically in 2021 after being delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Establishment
Pink Peacock was founded by Morgan Holleb and Joe Isaac, both active participants in Irn-Ju, a Jewish anarchist collective in Scotland. The founders formed plans to open a queer and Yiddish café in 2019. They chose the name Pink Peacock, or די ראָזעווע פּאַווע (di rozeve pave) in Yiddish, after the golden peacock that is a traditional Yiddish symbol. They were motivated by the lack of queer and Jewish spaces in Govanhill, and the lack of Yiddish spaces in Scotland; the café is the country's first physical Yiddish-focused space to open in decades.
In July 2020, Pink Peacock campaigned to crowdfund £10,000 to cover the costs of running the café for three months. They successfully raised a total of £15,885 by the end of the campaign in August 2020.
The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the planned opening of the café. During the COVID-19 lockdowns, Isaac and Holleb distributed packages of food in Govanhill and organized various queer and Jewish online events.
Operation
Pink Peacock operates on a pay-what-you-can model, telling customers the break-even price but allowing them to pay any amount. The café is alcohol-free and vegan, and has a community fridge outside the café stocked with food. In addition to food, they sell what Jewish Currents described in 2021 as "Jewish lefty merch". The café is run as a cooperative by workers and community members.
Use of Yiddish
Pink Peacock maintains a Yiddish version of its website, and uses the language on Twitter, unlike many other Yiddish-focused organizations. In a 2020 article for the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Holleb explained that "Yiddish is a way of connecting with a Jewish language that isn’t modern Hebrew. There isn’t Yiddish nationhood. It is a diasporic language."
Handcuff key sales
On 30 September, the café launched the sale of universal handcuff keys. They were met with criticism online as this coincided with the sentencing of a police officer convicted of the murder of Sarah Everard after falsely arresting her and restraining her in handcuffs. The café later issued a statement claiming the keys had been promoted with the upcoming 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference protests in mind and not the Sarah Everard case and said the timing was insensitive.
