Boycott coalition products

I’ve been feeling pretty helpless lately. The war is hard to swallow. What can I do?
Protests do nothing to sway the madmen who are running the show. They couldn’t care less if a 100,000 people wave banners peacefully or play dead in the streets.
I have no Congressmen to appeal to, and even if I did, Congress gave up its power regarding wars to the president after 9/11, if not before, but that’s another blog.
I could write articles (well-reaasoned or ranting) about how wrong the war is, how it hurts the stability or the entire world, how foolish I think Bush is. How America is going down the tubes. But there are scads of them out there all being read by people who agree. It’s like preaching to the choir.
But I can do something.
I will boycott American and coalition products.
Maybe a boycott will gain the attention of the corporations that usually wield so much power. Perhaps they can pressure the coalition into stopping the war.
At first, I thought this might be a no-pain gesture for me, since I live in another country anyway. Then I started to think about it, and there’s more American, Britsh and Australian stuff in my life than I expected. So no more American junk food, no British tea or Australian cookies. No Autralian wines. No properly-sized American clothes. No new computer hardware or software. No English-language books or movies.
We could sell off our American-based investments. Not that it would make much of a difference to the market, but it might feel good. There are other places to put our money.
I could take it a step farther and stop using what American things I already own–but that would mean no computers. And I’d be going around more or less naked. Since I like being dressed in public and I like working, I have to think more about that before acting.
But it’s an empty gesture if I’m the only one doing it.
If lots of people take a small stand against American and coalition economics, then there’s some power there. On the other hand, it’s probably futile. But it makes me feel a little better and a touch more powerful, so I’m going to do it anyway.
And I’m not the only one. There are quite a few similar boycotts going on around the world. They take a lot of different forms–boycotts of big brands only, not watching TV, boycotting oil companies and defense contractors, avoiding American entertainment and fast food.
Boycott Brand America 33,000 people
Boycott lists from an Aussie peace group
Consumers Against War in Germany
Boycott Bush
I think this is a gesture that you can make at a level of self-sacrifice that feels right to you. Care to join me?