You Can Do Something: Boycott, Divestment, and Why Action Matters

You can make a difference. And you can start right now.


We've all seen what's happening to the people of Palestine on social media. At this stage we’ve seen footage of children being burned, being shot, being starved. And we all know that mainstream media outlets and politicians are…well, let’s be generous and say they’re underreacting, to the point of negligence.

I am starting this post with the baseline premise that killing kids, killing people of any age, is a wrong. Killing people of any religion is wrong. Killing people of any ethnicity is wrong. It defies reason and humanity. You don’t have to be pro-Palestinian to be heartbroken at the dehumanizing and brutal violence. This isn’t about hating on any group. It’s about stopping the annihilation of a people.

I don’t know about you, but I have felt devastated, sick even. I have looked at my children and been so struck by their innocence that my heart has broken even more for the children of Palestine. For their parents. I have wept. I have wondered how I can go about my daily life and have moments of joy when there is a genocide happening right in front of our eyes. I even questioned whether we should cancel our wedding. I have felt increasingly helpless and overwhelmed. But this isn’t about me or you, it’s about them.

If we feel defeated, we will be defeated. We must stand up for what we know to be right, we must stand up for all those people who are just trying to stay alive in the face of unspeakable violence. We must stand up for international law without exception. If the people of Palestine can keep the faith, then so must we.

Even if you feel like it's hopeless, even if you feel like you're whistling in the wind, even if you feel no one is listening there is still a moral imperative on each and every one of us to try, to do something, anything. Bearing witness to these terrible atrocities is vital, but it is crystal clear that it is not enough.  

And here’s the thing, there is something we can do that can make a difference. We can follow the money.

Scroll to the end for practical tips

What is BDS?

BDS stands for Boycott, Divest, Sanctions. It is most powerful when it is collective. How does collective action start? One person does one thing... If you try, then maybe you will inspire the person next to you. 

To Boycott is to simply refuse to engage with someone or something, socially and commercially, as a form of protest at their actions and behaviour. In other words, to stop buying their goods or services. It works because when engaged in collectively, it can cut off the flow of capital, the flow of money, to companies and organizations that are involved in or support abhorrent and irrational violence being inflicted on a particular group of people. And let’s face it, money is the only language most corporations speak.

In this specific case, we are talking about the attempted annihilation of the Palestinian people, but boycotts have been successfully used throughout history. The term itself comes from the Irish “Land wars” in the late 19th Century, when a local community refused to engage with an agent for a British landlord at a time when the Irish tenants were being unfairly treated. His name, Captain Charles Boycott. The collective action of the community was so successful, the term “boycott” was coined. Boycotts have also played a role in the civil rights movement and the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa.

International Boycott and the Anti-Apartheid Movement in South Africa

Of course, boycotts and international economic, cultural and sporting sanctions didn't end apartheid in South Africa, but they played a part.

The Apartheid government didn’t wake up one morning and have an epiphany that apartheid was wrong and it was morally incumbent of them to bring about its end. Make no mistake. That did not happen. The fact that much of the architecture and infrastructure of apartheid still exists today tells you as much.

Instead, the end of apartheid was a result of an internal resistance movement that fought long and hard. Many lives were sacrificed to the cause over decades where the options seemed to be exile, imprisonment or death. It was the resistance of school children in Soweto and other townships in 1980s that was perhaps the most significant factor in bringing about the end of the apartheid regime and the introduction of universal suffrage. They made the country ungovernable, forcing the issue of change. The bravery of the school children should never be underestimated. They should never have been put in that position, but when they were they fought back and ultimately won.

But internal resistance didn’t act alone. The global BDS campaign applied external economic, cultural, and political pressures that helped make apartheid unsustainable. First, it placed a spotlight on South Africa and sent a message that the international community stood in opposition to apartheid policies. Second, it isolated South Africa to the point where it was becoming economically unviable. The white middle class were also the minority which meant the internal capacity for economic growth was extremely limited. To survive nevermind thrive, the South African economy not only needed international sanctions to be lifted, it also needed an expanded middle class with expanded purchasing power within the country. Both these factors played a part in the government’s willingness to finally enter into talks with the ANC. In fact, de Klerk’s government used the lifting of international sanctions to sell the end of apartheid to the white minority.

In the case of South Africa, the BDS movement lasted for nearly 30 years. It was slow progress. Palestine doesn't have 30 years. At this rate, it'll be lucky to have another 30 weeks, and too many lives will be lost in that time. But we must try.

To do nothing is to condone the burning of children, the starvation of families, the erasure of a people. It’s to turn away from international law. It’s to stand silently beside war crimes. If we set a precedent for indiscriminate murder today, but what will tomorrow bring?

graffiti of a child skipping with barbed wire

Photo Credit: Jakob Rubner

OVERCOMING OBSTACLES and OVERWHELM

There are two main obstacles in adopting a BDS approach. One is knowledge. Finding out what companies you need to boycott can be difficult.

I started to build my freelance business on a freelance platform that I belatedly discovered was in fact head quartered in Tel Aviv. I was surprised and disappointed. I stopped conducting my business on that particular platform because I felt strongly that to continue in that space was a violation of my values that I just couldn’t stomach. Did it set my business back, undoubtedly. But that is a small price and one I am glad to pay. Mary Mannion, a Dunnes Stores worker who spent 3 years striking in the 1980s for the right to refuse to handle produce from Apartheid South Africa, said:

“We realised that the worst that could happen to us was that we’d lose our jobs, but in South Africa people were losing their lives. That made us more determined.”

It was a harsh reminder that while it’s not always clear and obvious, I had to do better when it came to doing my due diligence. But where to start? That brings me to the second obstacle.

Overwhelm. When I started doing more research, the sheer number of companies complicit with the perpetrators was nothing short of mind boggling.

This is where the BDS movement’s strategy and resources are invaluable. The BDS website offers advice on where to focus your efforts so that they can be most effective. Their website states:

“We must strategically focus on a relatively smaller number of carefully selected companies and products for maximum impact.”

They have a range of campaigns, from economic boycotts to cultural and sporting to student solidarity and more. They also offer very specific advice on what to boycott.

You don’t have to suddenly start boycotting everything. You can start by boycotting one or two or three things. Maybe next week you can boycott one more. Every single thing you boycott is a step in the right direction. Boycotting one thing is better than not boycotting at all.

We don’t have to sit here and watch helplessly. You can do something. One small step at a time. It all matters.

12 THINGS YOU CAN DO, STARTING TODAY

So where do we begin, especially when it all feels too big? We begin where we are, with what we can do. These steps might feel small, but multiplied, they have power.

1) Look at the BDS movement’s list of target priorities and pick as many as you reasonably can. If that is only one, then that’s still something. Share the list, even if it’s just with one other person. Every share counts.

2) Download the Boycat app (that’s not a typo, the app is called boycat) or the No Thanks app. Using these apps, you can scan the barcode of products to discover if they are on the boycott list. Where possible it will suggest alternatives. You can even get an extension on your browser to help you while online shopping.

3) Check out this cheat sheet for cosmetics, health and personal care products. It gives advice on what products can be used as well as what to avoid. If, like me, you live in the Nordics, this website is a great resource: https://gaza.nu/

4) If you live in the EU, call on your government to demand the suspension of the “association agreement” that the EU will represent 30% of Israel’s exports. The following message is under 250 characters and can be cut and paste into contact forms, such as the Irish Department for Foreign Affairs contact form:

I’m writing to call for the immediate suspension of the EU-Israel Association Agreement, on the grounds that Israel is in breach of Article 2 of the agreement. Continuing with business-as-usual only gives license to the ongoing genocide. Thank you.

5) Talk about how your business, employer, or professional association can be on the right side of history by calling for an immediate stop to this genocide, and divesting and boycotting at an organizational level where possible.   

6) Next time you’re at the hairdresser, tell them that you don’t want Moroccanoil, Aveda, or L’Oréal products used on your hair.  

7) It might not be possible to quit google, but what about just switching your browser? I’m trying out Opera. If that’s not possible add the boycat extension.

8) Where possible, look for a local alternative to amazon.

9) Love audiobooks? Cancel your Audible subscription and investigate these 15 alternatives instead, such as Libro.fm.

10)  Do not buy any sodastream refills.

11)  Donate what you can, when you can.

12)  Engage with social media posts to help mitigate against accounts trying to raise awareness being deleted or shadow banned.

 

Still feeling overwhelmed? Pick just one thing on this list and do it. Have any other ideas? Please drop them in the comments below.

 

Selected Further Reading

By Palestinian Authors:

· Mourid Barghouti, I Saw Ramallah (2000)

· Hala Alyan, Salt Houses (2017)

· Suad Amiry, Mother of Strangers (2022)

About South Africa and Ireland

· Kagiso Lesego, Molope, Dancing in the Dust (2002)

· Maria Edgeworth, Castle Rackrent (1800)

Academic Works about Palestine

· Edward W. Said, The Question of Palestine (1979)

· Joe Cleary, Literature, Partition and the Nation State: Culture and Conflict in Ireland, Israel and Palestine (2002)

· Barbara Harlow, Resistance Literature (1987)

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