Do You Boycott Any Goods/Products?

[Tiocfaidh Ar La]

Was just wondering what Goods/Products people on here Boycott, if any and if you do boycott Goods/Products what are your reason's behide it.

The only things that I boycott are The Sun Newspaper, it is filled with lies and hate. Also I try to stay away from products that come from or help Isreal e.g Jaffa Oranges, Caterpillar. Is there any more?

So are you a boycotter?

[Axle]

The only thing I've really ever boycotted is Wal-Mart. Why? Let me count the ways: blatant anti-union practices, poor treatment of their workforce, and literally being big enough to have caused the outsourcing of good paying jobs at other companies (Huffy, Fruit of the Loom, ect.) in an effort to keep lowering their prices.

[Die Rote Fahne]

I do not have the options around to be able to boycott. I live in a rural area.

[8bit]

I boycott Coke-a-Cola Co. because they have kidnapped, tortured, and murdered union organizers in Columbia, and continue to deny these actions when they're painfully apparent.

http://www.killercoke.org/

[Ohnoatard]

Ford and Volkswagen.

[Coggeh]

Capitalism cannot be boycotted nor ignored . Why should i stop buying from wal-mart (granted I'm irish and can't anyway but in theory) their prices are cheaper and I'm not in a position to pay for more expensive 'fair trade' goods. The very fact is how many things have you in your possession that weren't manufactured under the capitalist mode of production i.e exploitation of labour ?

It is virtually impossible to boycott capitalism , the only way to stop these brutal tactics is to organise workers in a mass movement in order to change the system of capitalism itself .

[Radical]

Expect many Trotskyists to disagree with your idea of "Boycotting". In the mind of most Trotskyist's I've met, boycotting something means nothing. Most Trotskyists I've met would directly purchase goods from a Nazi Supermarket that took part in the extermination of jews. They would also use the same excuse everytime. "We cant avoid Capitalism" or "I cant afford anything else"

As for me, I would rather starve to death than directly support a Nazist Enterprise.

[Coggeh]

Expect many Trotskyists to disagree with your idea of "Boycotting". In the mind of most Trotskyist's I've met, boycotting something means nothing. Most Trotskyists I've met would directly purchase goods from a Nazi Supermarket that took part in the extermination of jews. They would also use the same excuse everytime. "We cant avoid Capitalism" or "I cant afford anything else"

As for me, I would rather starve to death than directly support a Nazist Enterprise.
Dear god is their ever any of your posts that don't start with 'them damn trotskyists' etc :closedeyes:.This is not a position of just trotskyists you know but also of many marxist leninists and also anarchists.

Anyway, to answer whatever point you made , is me not buying from a 'nazi' supermarket going to stop the extermination of jews?.To put it in a more likely situation . If i don't buy nestle and other products produced in Israel am I going to stop the occupation of palestine ? quite clearly no.This is the point I'm trying to make , boycott all you want but if you want real change you have to organise.

[Durruti's Ghost]

If the workers at a company are striking, I'll boycott that company for the duration of the strike as a show of solidarity. Otherwise, though, I don't boycott; I think it's pointless.

[Radical]

Dear god is their ever any of your posts that don't start with 'them damn trotskyists' etc :closedeyes:.This is not a position of just trotskyists you know but also of many marxist leninists and also anarchists.

Anyway, to answer whatever point you made , is me not buying from a 'nazi' supermarket going to stop the extermination of jews?.To put it in a more likely situation . If i don't buy nestle and other products produced in Israel am I going to stop the occupation of palestine ? quite clearly no.This is the point I'm trying to make , boycott all you want but if you want real change you have to organise.

I agree, however it comes down to your principles. I would never directly support a business that advocated extermination of jews. However most Trotskyists I know would. My point being is that Trotskyists are Idealists.

If you would directly support a Nazist Buisiness just because "its the cheapest option", you aren't a comrade of mine.

[The Ungovernable Farce]

As for me, I would rather starve to death than directly support a Nazist Enterprise.
Capitalism has killed many more people than the Nazis ever managed. Would you be willing to directly support a capitalist enterprise by buying from them?

I agree, however it comes down to your principles. I would never directly support a business that advocated extermination of jews. However most Trotskyists I know would. My point being is that Trotskyists are Idealists.
Do you actually know what the word "idealist" means?

[h0m0revolutionary]

I think there is room for boycotts, but only as a personal phenomina with no illusions your actions are out to save the world. I boycott a vareity of companies over their abismal animal-welfare records, in doing so I hope those companies will stop their abuse and animals lives will be saved. This is completely removed from class struggle and in full knowledge of that, I tinhk that's fine.

What is bollcoks, is when people boycott Coca-Cola over their part in supporting apartheid in Palestine and think they're doing a great service to the class struggle.

[Coggeh]

I agree, however it comes down to your principles. I would never directly support a business that advocated extermination of jews. However most Trotskyists I know would. My point being is that Trotskyists are Idealists.
Again ignore me when i say its not just a position of trotskyists.


If you would directly support a Nazist Buisiness just because "its the cheapest option", you aren't a comrade of mine.If i was put in a situation where it was buy capitalist made jeans for 100 euro or nazi jeans for 1 euro I would buy the cheapest ones . I'm not going to go around punishing workers because they can't afford to be moralistic in what they buy .

If we were living in a fascist world would you rather every worker staved to death rather than buy food ?

[JimmyJazz]

All products made by capitalists or any products ever financed at any point by private capital.

I wear a lot of hemp.

[JimmyJazz]

I boycott Coke-a-Cola Co. because they have kidnapped, tortured, and murdered union organizers in Columbia, and continue to deny these actions when they're painfully apparent.

http://www.killercoke.org/

The chairman of Pepsi had a central role in the 1973 Chilean coup:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Columnists/Column/0,,305870,00.html

[which doctor]

I don't boycott anything. Boycotts have their roots in a petty-bourgeois liberalism that we need to distance ourselves from. Boycotts serve to tilt market relations away from one specific capitalist entity deemed evil, and towards other capitalist entities. Frankly, I have better things to do than worry about which worker-exploiting company gets my money and which doesn't.

[gorillafuck]

I don't boycott anything (unless it would be to support a strike).

[FreeFocus]

I avoid fast food places, but mainly due to health concerns. I don't really buy much except what's necessary, which is basically food and clothing.

[JimmyJazz]

I don't boycott anything. Boycotts have their roots in a petty-bourgeois liberalism that we need to distance ourselves from.

A boycott is one of the most useful tactics that striking workers have.

[Jonnydraft]

I agree, however it comes down to your principles. I would never directly support a business that advocated extermination of jews. However most Trotskyists I know would. My point being is that Trotskyists are Idealists.

If you would directly support a Nazist Buisiness just because "its the cheapest option", you aren't a comrade of mine.

You certainly miss the point regarding the futility of boycotting goods. The reason boycotting is pointless, as David Harvey would put it, is because it is impossible to know what is on your breakfast table.

Given the immense amount of inputs, spanning the entire globe, it would take a great deal of research and time to discover the true origins of the most basic commodity. This is to not even speak of the conditions and labour expended at each input.

Despite your rhetoric and "ideals", I am certain that you have purchased products that would directly go against your most explicit ideologies. But if boycotts work, how is it that this could possibly be the case? Hence my point.

[Manifesto]

I boycott certain things like when I went to Cedar Point. I did not eat the day before or that morning and was starving when I got there. But when the price of a piece of pizza was $4 I refused to buy anything from there.

[LeninKobaMao]

The only places I boycott are Kentucky Fried Cruelty and Aldi. I block KFC because of their poor treatment of workers and disgusting treatment of animals and Aldi because it sells cheap shit and they treat their workers like cheap shit too.

[Decommissioner]

I don't boycott anything. Boycotts have their roots in a petty-bourgeois liberalism that we need to distance ourselves from. Boycotts serve to tilt market relations away from one specific capitalist entity deemed evil, and towards other capitalist entities. Frankly, I have better things to do than worry about which worker-exploiting company gets my money and which doesn't.


I generally don't boycott for much of the same reasons. I usually try to buy local anyways for quality, but if the only place that is open is wal mart and I need groceries, I have no qualms about shopping there. Placing emphasis on what you buy as some form of activism above all is quite foolish.

With that said, I don't use windows or OSX, for political reasons but also for practical reasons (I generally don't have to worry about viruses with linux, faster etc..)

[ChrisK]

The only time I'll boycott is to support a strike.

Take this for example. Many people boycott Wal-mart because it treats workers poorly, doesn't like unions and exploits other nations for profit. Well what are the alternatives? Albertsons, Safeway, etc, and all of these places are unfond of unions, treat workers like shit and exploit other nations for profit. Why see any real difference other than Wal-mart is cheaper?

In addition, the only reason we see Wal-mart as bad is because corporate media, supported by certain corporations, allowed for assaults on Wal-mart in the media. Other media sources support it. In reality Wal-mart hate is fueled, in part, by other corporations. We should be anti-capitalist, not anti-Wal-mart.

[ChrisK]

A boycott is one of the most useful tactics that striking workers have.

How?

[bricolage]

Boycotts and other forms of consumer politics are useful in engaging people who would otherwise not have knowledge of the subject. People might ask why you dont buy a certain product or why you buy another one and this provides an inroad into greater discussion on the matter. For example charging five pence for plastic bags isn't going to stop climate change but it does bring the issue to peoples every day life and brings the topic right onto, almost literally, the dinner table. The problem arises when people treat such actions as an end in themselves or governments use them to shift focus away from greater issues. People are right in that you cannot boycott capitalism but you can use the points of engagement people have with capitalism to bring attention to issues related to it. There is also the problem that people can become smug with regards to their boycotts; "I'm better than you because I don't buy x y z" but that is a personal matter. However as long as they are only done within the confines of a bigger focus ad more effective action, and as long as they are done on a personal level and not made some sort of party/organisation/tendency etc policy or forced on people who do not wish to engage in such an action or do not have the means to do so then I think they have their place.

[Radical]

double post

[Radical]

Again ignore me when i say its not just a position of trotskyists.
If i was put in a situation where it was buy capitalist made jeans for 100 euro or nazi jeans for 1 euro I would buy the cheapest ones . I'm not going to go around punishing workers because they can't afford to be moralistic in what they buy .

If we were living in a fascist world would you rather every worker staved to death rather than buy food ?

You're using the most extreme situation that is not realistic. - There isent a 100 euro difference between buying from McDondalds or Coca Cola and buying from a local supermarket.

Personaly I would rather hunt/kill for my own food before I directly support a Fascist government. I believe every Anti-Fascist would. (Those being the real Anti-Fascists)

You can buy cheap food to avoid directly buying from those corporations that take part in oppression the most. It's not difficult to avoid major oppressive corporations in the Western World. - This whole argument of "We need to buy from McDonalds and other major oppressive corporations in order to survive survive" is pathetic - And I only ever see it come from Trotskyists. - There are many Anarchists in the UK that go as-far as making their on clothes and growing their own food to try and avoid Capitalism.

The fact is, we're not dieing of starvation here. We can afford to spend a little extra to avoid buying from businesses that take part in serve oppression the most.

You're whole argument seems like a very convinient way to continue eating and drinking those tastey products.

It's about principles. If you'd support the extermination of jews, just to survive, you lack humanitarian princples.

[Sam_b]

The fact is, we're not dieing of starvation here. We can afford to spend a little extra to avoid buying from businesses that take part in serve oppression the most

Fancy telling that to the hundreds of thousands currently on the dole? Liberal nonsense.

[LeninBalls]

I boycott Coke-a-Cola Co. because they have kidnapped, tortured, and murdered union organizers in Columbia, and continue to deny these actions when they're painfully apparent.

http://www.killercoke.org/

I used to boycott Coca Cola, really hard. Then I realized most soft drinks are made by Coca Cola, and most non Coca Cola made soft drinks are probably made the same way as Coca Cola does it, through violence and exploitation. So I figured it was pointless to boycott one thing and not another which does the same.

I don´t think I boycott anything anymore, except meat olol.

[The Ungovernable Farce]

You're using the most extreme situation that is not realistic.
But jeans that kill Jews are realistic?


You can buy cheap food to avoid directly buying from those corporations that take part in oppression the most. It's not difficult to avoid major oppressive corporations in the Western World.
Can you avoid buying from corporations that exploit their workers by paying them wages that're less than the value of the goods they produce?

Just for the record, I pretty much share h0m0's position on this - I do avoid eating meat, and buying things from a number of corporations, as a personal choice to appease my own personal conscience (those comrades who've met me in real life, or have seen pictures of me, can testify how far I go to avoid unnecessarily contributing to the new clothes industry). I don't mistake this for a politically significant act, and I wouldn't dream of lecturing other revolutionaries for not doing it, because I'm aware that my individual choices as a consumer are wholly irrelevant to the class struggle.

Also, earlier in this thread you called Trotskyists idealists. I genuinely would like to know what definition of idealism you're using here.

[apawllo]

I don't shop at Wal-Mart or Target. My grocery shopping occurs at unionized stores, and although many electronics are made from products which require the worst forms of imperialism to continually do so, I typically order mine online as they're cheaper that way. :blushing:

[8bit]

As for me, I would rather starve to death than directly support a Nazist Enterprise.

It's too bad that, as you are not starving to death, and you have access to an Internet connection, and you are clothed, and you are sheltered, you are essentially supporting capitalism.


I used to boycott Coca Cola, really hard. Then I realized most soft drinks are made by Coca Cola, and most non Coca Cola made soft drinks are probably made the same way as Coca Cola does it, through violence and exploitation. So I figured it was pointless to boycott one thing and not another which does the same.

I don´t think I boycott anything anymore, except meat olol.

I boycott all Coke-a-Cola Co. soft drinks and all other Coke-a-Cola products. While Pepsi Co. has done some bad stuff as well, they aren't directly stomping on the progressive movement as well as trampling upon human rights like Coke is. Pepsi has in the past, but they've stopped and appoligized for it. (As result of boycott.)

And While Pepsi continues to do some shitty things, they just do a lot less than Coke does.

[LeninBalls]

Pepsi has in the past, but they've stopped and appoligized for it. (As result of boycott.)

And While Pepsi continues to do some shitty things, they just do a lot less than Coke does.

Still, if you boycott a capitalist that sells things to you because he kills people, then go to another capitalist that sells the same things and also kills people on a smaller scale, has killed people in the past, then he says 'lol sorry', doesn't really make it 100% right to buy off from him.

For me, you either boycott none of the soft drinks or all of them, something I'm considering doing.

[Delirium]

I generally don't eat any fast food, drink pop ( such as coke and pepsi) or shop at walmart. If i am aware that a corporation is extremely exploitative i wont really buy from it. Also fast food and sugar food is pretty disgusting and unhealthy.

Im aware that boycotts are not revolutionary and that on thier own they are completely ineffective, but just try and make me buy that shit.

[Delirium]

http://www.killercoke.org/crimes.htm

Killer Coke's Casualties
Listed below are union leaders at Coca-Cola's Colombian bottling plants who have been murdered. Hundreds of other Coke workers have been tortured, kidnapped and/or illegally detained by violent paramilitaries, often working closely with plant managements.


Date Name Coca-Cola Plant http://www.corporatecampaign.org/killer-coke/spacer.gif 1990 Avelino Achicanoy Pasto 4/8/94 Jose Elaseasar MancoDavid Carepa 4/20/94 Luis Enrique Giraldo Arango Carepa 4/23/95 Luis Enrique Gomez Garado Carepa 12/5/96 Isidro Segundo Gil Carepa 12/26/96 Jose Librado Herrera Osorio Carepa 6/21/2001 Oscar Dario Soto Polo Monteria 8/31/2002 Adolfo de Jesus Munera Lopez Baranquilla

[Red October]

I boycott products that suck.

[Absolut]

I try to not buy products produced in Israel, but other than that, I really cant be arsed to keep track of all the things that should be boycotted.

[IAmLeviathan]

Mcdonalds, Burger King etc generally for the fact that their food is so fucking disgusting and extortionately priced. Im sure there are plenty of ethical reasons for such a boycott too. Im not a health food fanatic at all, its purely for the quality and pricing of the "food" on offer. in the Uk you pay £1.15 (about $2.30) for "large" fries and all you get is a handful of those horrible streaky strings of grease, with a thin sliver of potato running through the middle, salted so much as to make them almost toxic. Or you can go to a chippy, pay 80p,have proper chips and get three times as much. People that got to fast food places are mugs.

I suppose its not really a boycott, more a refusal to eat such dogshit.

Dont buy Coca Cola stuff either. I generally try to stay away from the very worst offenders, but its almost impossible to avoid companies with poor practises without becoming a hermit.

As a rule id say i generally boycott anything that costs more than about £15 to buy.

[RedStarOverChina]

I'm boycotting all brands of nail polish because they are made by greedy, corrupt, environment-killing capitalists. And because I'm a guy. *Opens another can of Coca-cola*

[gla22]

Boycotting as practiced now, and as previously mentioned, is not very effective, however, it clearly isn't a "bad" thing.

[OneNamedNameLess]

I boycott loads of things. It's a personal choice tbh. I am aware that I am not achieving much. I believe boycotting can be useful too at times if it is carried out on a large enough scale although that sounds a little utopian. If one person decides to boycott certain brands then what is the problem? The usual shit is being thrown around here slating everything but a true workers uprising and calling everyone liberals :rolleyes:

I was involved in some campaign work during January regarding Israel's assault on Gaza. I met an older guy who went out of his way to boycott everything exported from Israel and he didn't even visit any BBC sites. This guy lived in Israel for two years and witnessed first hand what is going on in the region. Therefore, he was so disgusted at Israel that he couldn't stomach buying anything from the nation. My point is, some people have reasons for boycotting.

In response to the initial question, I mainly boycott soft drinks companies. This came about accidentally however as I gave up drinking soft drinks when I was 14 simply because I drank far too much. Now I fill up empty bottles and carry water with me, I never buy it. I only really drink milk and water. Allow me to reiterate my initial point: boycotting is a personal choice.

[Lyev]

I agree Anti-Capitalist, it's a totally personal choice. Of course I don't think that me boycotting Coca-Cola or Nestle is going to save the world. I know that it's usually ineffectual. I just don't like buying from companies like the ones that have been mentioned because their totally void of morality.

[21st Century Kropotkinist]

Was just wondering what Goods/Products people on here Boycott, if any and if you do boycott Goods/Products what are your reason's behide it.

The only things that I boycott are The Sun Newspaper, it is filled with lies and hate. Also I try to stay away from products that come from or help Isreal e.g Jaffa Oranges, Caterpillar. Is there any more?

So are you a boycotter?

It's sort of a futile thing, boycotting. Where would you stop? I hear about people boycotting Mcdonalds or Starbucks. Shit, that's easy. But they must ask themselves: where are they shopping? are they participating in capitalism? is boycotting certain firms and not others justifiable?

Boycotting smacks of reformism to me. It suggests that there is such a thing as a nice capitalism, or a ethical business. That's not to say there aren't many well-meaning business owners. Look, anarchist and Marxist bookstores are technically participants in the capitalist system. I'm in the process of starting an Infoshop. Not participating in capitalism would require us becoming some kind of wandering ascetics, living off of vegetation and eating garbage, or living in the woods or something. Capitalism is all-encompassing. Just because we're enslaved doesn't mean we're going to make our lives more difficult.

This also isn't to say that we shouldn't write about certain corporations or accompany striking workers, etc. All I'm saying is if we boycott the worst of the worst, e.g., Starbucks, Walmart, Whole Foods, etc., wage slaves will still be exploited, the environment will still be destroyed by other firms. I think we need to take a more macro approach towards capitalism, per se, as the problem. Walmart and Starbucks are just symptoms of the larger cancer.

Just my 2 cents, for what it's worth.

[Magdalen]

Boycotting as a private, personal choice has little or no impact. However, when a mass boycott is employed as part of a wider movement against the target, a boycott can have an effect.

Remember the origins of the word Boycott: In 1880, to protect tenants from exploitation, the Irish Land League withdrew local labour from the estate of Lord Erne, a British peer living in County Mayo, Ireland. When Lord Erne sent his agent, Charles Boycott, to undermine the campaign, the local community united persue a campaign of isolation against him, refusing to serve him in shops or repair his house and cutting off his postal service. Lord Erne, without a force to harvest his potato crop, had to bring in a regiment of soldiers and over 1,000 policemen to protect the 50 or so Orangemen performing the harvest. The entire episode ended up costing the British Government over £10,000 to harvest £350 worth of potatoes.

Or more recently, take the boycott of Israel. In the aftermath of the Gaza conflict, the Israeli Manufacturers Association noted that over two thirds of Israeli exporters had been forced to slash their prices as a result of the boycott. An in-house magazine for British supermarkets noted that all over the country, Israeli goods were being left on the shelves.