די ראָזעווע פּאַווע | |
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  Pink Peacock (Central Glasgow) | |
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| Formation | 2019; 7 years ago (2019) |
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| Founder |
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| Dissolved | 14 June 2023; 2 years ago (2023-06-14) |
| Purpose | Pay-what-you-can queer Yiddish anarchist cafe |
| Location | |
| Coordinates | 55°50′09″N4°15′54″W / 55.8357°N 4.2649°W /55.8357; -4.2649 |
| Website | pinkpeacock.gay |
Pink Peacock (Yiddish:די ראָזעווע פּאַווע,Di Rozeve Pave) was acafé andinfoshop in theGovanhill area ofGlasgow. Described by its founders as "anti-Zionist" and "the onlyqueer Yiddishanarchist veganpay-what-you-can café in the world",[1] it opened physically in 2021, after being delayed by theCOVID-19 pandemic, and announced its closure in June 2023.
Pink Peacock was founded by Morgan Holleb and Joe Isaac,[2] both active participants inIrn-Ju, aJewish anarchist collective in Scotland. The founders formed plans to open aqueer andYiddish café in 2019. They chose the name Pink Peacock, orדי ראָזעווע פּאַווע (di rozeve pave) in Yiddish, after thegolden peacock that is a traditionalYiddish symbol. They were motivated by the lack of queer and Jewish spaces inGovanhill, and the lack of Yiddish spaces in Scotland;[1] the café was the country's first physical Yiddish-focused space to open in decades.[3]
In July 2020, Pink Peacock campaigned tocrowdfund £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.[1]
TheCOVID-19 pandemic disrupted the planned opening of the café. During theCOVID-19 lockdowns, Isaac and Holleb distributed packages of food in Govanhill and organised various queer and Jewish online events.[1]
Pink Peacock operated on apay-what-you-can model, telling customers thebreak-even price but allowing them to pay any amount.[1][4] The café was alcohol-free andvegan,[5][6] and had a community fridge outside the café stocked with food.[4] In addition to food, they sold whatJewish Currents described in 2021 as "Jewish lefty merch".[2] The café was run as acooperative by workers and community members.[7]
Pink Peacock maintained a Yiddish version of its website, and used the language onTwitter, unlike many other Yiddish-focused organisations. In a 2020 article for theJewish 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 adiasporic language."[3]
In June 2021, Pink Peacock was the subject of reporting in the tabloidThe Scottish Sun, which criticised their policy of "no cops, noterfs". Subsequently, the café's storefront was vandalised when a man painted over it.[2] The cafe had also experienced vandalism a month prior to these events, in May 2021 when a window had been smashed in an incident which also saw windows broken in adjacent branches ofFarmfoods andSemichem.[8] Additionally, the coverage led to a complaint about the café displaying in its window a pinktote bag with the words "fuck the police" in English and Yiddish, which in turn ledPolice Scotland to visit Holleb and Isaac's home.[2] Holleb was subsequently charged withbreach of the peace, and Glasgow police seized one of the tote bags from Pink Peacock as evidence.[2][8] After the seizure, which was publicised in local media and on Pink Peacock's Twitter account, the café sold out of the bags.[7]
On 30 September, the café launched the sale ofuniversal handcuff keys. They were met with criticism online as this coincided with the sentencing of a police officer convicted of themurder 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 upcoming2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference protests in mind and not the Sarah Everard case and said the timing was insensitive.[9][10] Using such keys while being arrested would count asresisting arrest, potentially creating more trouble for any potential buyer of such keys.[citation needed]
In May 2023, for the Jewish holiday ofLag BaOmer, Pink Peacock members burned a copy ofHarry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix on the pavement outside the cafe, to protest transphobia and antisemitism from authorJ. K. Rowling. A spokesperson denied that the act was similar toNazi book burnings, due to differences inpower between a government and a café.[11]
Pink Peacock closed on 14 June 2023. One of the group's co-founders said that the organisation faced more antisemitism from the left than from the right.[12][13] One volunteer said that the café had faced rumours from other left-wing groups that the members were secretly wealthyAmerican Jews exploiting workers.[13]
Co-founders Moishe Holleb and Miles Grant emigrated back to the United States, where they are citizens, and planned to re-open inBrooklyn'sCrown Heights, known for its Jewish community, in mid-2025. As of February 2025, they did not have a lease.[14]
Media related toPink Peacock at Wikimedia Commons