[Peace-discuss] Shopping for Peace / Consumer Boycotts

[Joan Cole]

I've been finding several sites on the net already dedicated to the consumer
strike/boycott concept.

For instance, this coming Tuesday is International Boycott for Peace Action
Day (http://www.dotherighthing.narod.ru/actionday.htm)
(http://www.consumers-against-war.de/gpb.htm - Global Boycott for Peace -
Peace Through Purchasing Power)

But it occurs to me that it might be really useful to look at it a different
way than as another battle in the anti-war war of ideologies.  Boycott
America is a turnoff to mainstream thinkers, and eventually the mainstream
will need to be involved if peacemakers are ever to be elected and peace
is ever to be achieved.  Rather than an explicit mindf*** that scares people
and makes them worry about how many American jobs will be lost, I would
prefer to come at it from a different angle.  More from the Gandhian idea
that "You must be the change you want to see in the world".  Whatever
is going on, instead of enriching the transnationals, with every purchase
you avoid and every purchase you make from a local business or
cooperative rather than a chain store, you strengthen an alternative world.
Carl Jung said, "All the greatest and important problems of life are
fundamentally insoluble.. They can never be solved, but only outgrown."

I realize that this is completely old hat to the people reading this list,
to people who have been active for peace and progressive causes for a long
time. But I strongly suspect it is not an obvious idea for everyone, and it
is something that people can DO rather then DESPAIR.

Thrift is Patriotic

One of the things that really jars the generation that was alive during
World War II is the claim Bush made that Americans must keep shopping!
Shopping is patriotic!  Well, rather than using boycott terminology,
although it accomplishes the same thing, echo back to that previous war and
take the flag from the warmongers.  Advocate thrift and frugality.  War is a
very serious thing, and with people dying, whether "coalition" soldiers or
Iraqi children, now is not the time for frivolous shopping.

"You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift. You cannot
strengthen the weak by weakening the strong. You cannot help the wage earner
by pulling down the wage payer. You cannot further the brotherhood of man by
encouraging class hatred. You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich.
You cannot keep out of trouble by spending more than you earn. You cannot
build solid character and courage by taking away man's initiative and
independence. You cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they
could and should do for themselves. "
A. Lincoln

Slight variations on World War II slogans could be used... some from the
time were:

Is Your Trip Necessary? Needless Travel Interferes with the War Effort.
Millions of Troops are on the Move . . . Is Your Trip Necessary?
Do With Less--So They'll Have Enough!
Use it Up--Wear it Out--Make it Do! Our Labor and Our Goods are Fighting.
Can All You Can. It's a Real War Job!
Grow Your Own. Be Sure!
We'll have Lots to Eat this Winter, Won't We Mother? Grow Your Own. Can Your
Own.

A web page or printed directory for our local community would be a good
thing to create, showing people specific places that are better than the big
box alternatives.  People who find themselves newly opposed to the war might
not know about the food coop, or CSA, for instance.  Does this sound like a
project that anyone else would like to get involved in?

Some simple steps to point out, as a starting point:
* Where you spend your money is important.  Spend less in the corporation
dominated globalized economy; spend more in your local economy, with locally
owned independent businesses and cooperatives.
* Use less energy.
* Buy more food locally from farmers and local processors.  Grow some of
your own food.
* Drive less; walk, bike and take public transportation more.
* Never borrow money for consumer purchases or entertainment, pay cash or
don't buy.
* You are not your wardrobe.
* Waste not, want not. Avoid buying new stuff whenever possible. Patronize
the aftermarket - buy used, barter, garage sale, etc.
* Don't let the perfect become the enemy of the good.  Do what you can, with
what you have, where you are.

(Some of the consumer boycott sites I found, fyi)
http://www.stopspending.org./index.htm - War doesn't grow on trees
Has this section: Top 10 Reasons to Stop Spending
1. Save money
2. Get out of debt.
3. Make the government fear big-business downturns during wartime - an
unprecedented event.
4. Make a personal, completely legal statement about your feelings on the
war.
5. Pressure big businesses so they in turn pressure the government to stop
the war.
6. Support local businesses
7. Build a 'community-based economy'
8. Be surprised to learn that you are not your stuff
9. Challenge yourself to simplify your lifestyle
10. Show solidarity with innocent Iraqi citizens who do not have the
abundance we enjoy, who will be lucky to have water, much less Pepsi, after
the destruction caused by this war.
http://www.stopshopping.org/ - We won't shop until attack talk stops!
Has an online pledge and some downloadable JFK and Jackie stickers
http://www.motherearth.org/USboycott/resources_en.php - For Mother Earth
Boycott the War - posters flyers and stickers
http://www.bethecause.org/boycott/index.shtml - Be the Cause - Boycott the
War - flyers
http://www.boycottwar.net/ - IDEA - International Group for Direct Economic
Action against the war
http://www.adbusters.org/campaigns/boycott_america/ - AdBusters Boycott
Brand America
----------------------------------------------------------
Joan Cole
http://www.advancenet.net/~jscole/
"The size of the lie is a definite factor in causing it to be believed, for
the vast masses of the nation are in the depths of their hearts more easily
deceived than they are consciously and intentionally bad. ... Through clever
and constant application of propaganda, people can be made to see paradise
as hell, and also the other way around, to consider the most wretched sort
of life as paradise."
 -- Benito Mussolini

----- Original Message -----
From: "Joan Cole" <jscole at advancenet.net>
To: <peace-discuss at lists.cu.groogroo.com>
Sent: Saturday, April 12, 2003 2:06 PM
Subject: Fw: [pf] Everybody talks about the war, but nobody does anything
about it


> This article is just a bit harsh, but does contain an idea I can get
behind:
>
> "Well, let's call their bluff. Let's
> non-participate. Let's go on consumer strike. Pull a slowdown. We don't
have
> a lot of choices when it comes to voting for politicians, but when it
comes
> to buying, where our existence is actually necessary, we have a thousand
> choices a day. It might be the only method we have of making the
> decision-making class pay attention to our concerns."
>