Motley Coffeehouse participates in global strike for Lebanon

On Tuesday, Oct. 1, student employees temporarily shut down Scripps College’s Motley Coffeehouse as part of the global strike for Lebanon, where the death toll has surpassed 1,300 and 1.2 million people have been displaced following Israeli military attacks in Beirut. The strike lasted one day, with the coffeehouse’s regular operations resuming on Wednesday.

Tuesday’s strike was announced via a handwritten sign pasted on the Motley’s door. The group later posted a photo of the sign on their Instagram story, adding text that read “the Motley Coffeehouse is a college-owned and STUDENT-RUN coffee shop.”

The following story post addressed the situation more in-depth.

“The actions of the Motley employees who choose to strike today is representative of the perspectives of some Motley baristas and managers,” the post read. “It DOES NOT reflect the perspectives of all present Motley employees nor does it intend to speak on behalf of everyone previously employed at the Motley.”

The post also said that the coffeehouse’s strike did not legally represent the Motley as a student-run and college-owned business.

The strike comes nearly a month after administration requested the removal of a Palestinian flag on one of the coffeehouse’s walls, citing a lack of authorization by the college to endorse a political position that could be “erroneously attributed to Scripps College.” The flag remains hanging.

Sofia Arzola SC ’28, who goes to the Motley regularly, said that she was in complete support of the strike.

“Seeing that they went on strike was really empowering,” Arzola said. “I agree with what they support, and when I read their Instagram post, I really empathized with it.”

Arzola said that she thought it was great to see employees stand up for what they believe in. 

“For them to say ‘Hey, we don’t agree with this, we’re going to go on strike because of our views and how we feel about the situation’ is really cool,” Arzola said. “It puts an emphasis on the fact that the Motley is a student-run business and that they are able to stand up for their political beliefs.”

Beyond employees at the Motley, other community members participated in Tuesday’s strike as well, with Pomona Divest from Apartheid (PDfA) hosting a teach-in at the Smith Campus Center in solidarity with Lebanon.

“[O]ver the last week, the zionist entity expanded its genocidal campaign to lebanon, repeatedly striking the capital city of beirut and other population centers with u.s.-made missiles,” their Oct. 1 Instagram post reads. “[Y]et pomona still refuses to divest.”

The Motley did not respond to TSL and several Motley student employees declined to comment. Scripps administration failed to respond for comment.