There's very little to boycott in terms of the military economy. Telling people to stop buying their jets from Lockheed Martin, or their bulldozers from Caterpillar because they are being used to flatten Palestinian refugee homes, won't reach a lot of people.
But you can urge for divestment of your city or campus from holdings of certain military contractors. This has been successful in several places. A group in Texas has launched the "Made in Texas" campaign (I hear it was inspired by a tour we at the Institute for Southern Studies did last year, about military contractors in Texas). Texas is the home of the nation's military-industrial complex, and divestment campaigns could be particularly successful there, especially as an educational tool.
Chris
Message: 2 To: lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org Date: Wed, 16 Apr 2003 14:45:28 -0500 From: Shane Taylor <s-t-t at juno.com> Subject: [lbo-talk] anti-war boycott Reply-To: lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org
I didn't make it, but the last time Robert Jensen spoke about the war here in Dallas, he advocated becoming truly "radical" and change our lifestyles. Here's one post from someone who was there:
> For those of you who attended Professor Jensen's lecture last
> weekend, this is exactly what he said. We must ask ourselves,
> just what are we willing to give up? One woman commented
> that she had given up healthcare and the education of the
> children already. Professor Jensen also stated that we must
> become far more radical than just showing up at a protest from
> time to time to vent in order to attract more people to the
> cause. My husband and I have already sacrificed our 401K.
> I've thought about walking to work two days a week, wearing
> a large sign that reads "I refuse to contribute to the death in
> the Middle East, therefore I am walking."
At the moment, a comprehensive boycott of companies in protest of the war is very popular with our local anti-war group. I'm skeptical. I countered that an effective boycott targets a specific company with a clear grievance that directly relates to them, whereas this is too scattershot, possibly in the wrong direction.
Liza, what do you think? I haven't read your book on sweatshops yet, so could you tell me a bit about just what boycotts are good for and what they aren't?
I thought the menacing gestures toward Syria should finally retire the notion that this is about preserving lifestyles, more than hegemony.
There's something off about this that I can't quite articulate.
-- Shane