There is probably no effective action that is guaranteed not to affect innocent third parties negatively. Strikes, civil disobedience, etc., if they are really large-scale or shut down strategic choke points, will probably hurt fellow workers more than big investors in the immediate term, but they are still worthwhile, especially if they are successful.
That said, at this point, campaigns for boycotts, divestment, etc., whose scope vary greatly, do not collectively amount to any significant economic costs to any part of Israeli society.
They, especially when undertaken by unions and churches that have sizable members, are mainly useful as a tools to begin discussion, just as the article about CUPE got you to post on this subject here.
Given that Washington has a veto power at the UN SC, I doubt that there will ever be an international punitive sanction on Israel that would merit the term "collective punishment" in reality. The ongoing grassroots campaign is more a war of position than a war of maneuver, to use Gramsci's terms.
>The campaign to divest shareholder stock in
> Caterpillar - led by Jewish Voice for Peace and the Presbyterian
> Church USA has been particularly interesting - and worth supporting
> in my view - given the US of Caterpillar products to destroy
> Palestinian homes.
The Presbyterians are under pressure to rescind that selective divestment resolution -- perhaps you as an individual or Tikkun as a magazine-centered community -- can take action like what Norman G. Finkelstein just did:
Presbyterians of the World, Unite! by Norman G. Finkelstein
In June 2004, the General Assembly, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), resolved to consider a phased, selective divestment from companies profiting from Israel's occupation. Subsequently it came under intense pressure from Jewish organizations (and their allies) and will consider rescinding the resolution at the next General Assembly meeting on June 15-22 in Birmingham, Alabama. To firm up support for the original initiative, I wrote this letter. Generous financial contributors and activists then sent along with my letter a copy of my book Beyond Chutzpah to each of the 700 voting delegates and alternates.
FULL TEXT: <http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/finkelstein020606.html>.
-- Yoshie <http://montages.blogspot.com/> <http://mrzine.org> <http://monthlyreview.org/>