it' s time to boycott US financial and industrial interests all over the world. don' t buy goods made in US or produced by US owned multinationals.

DON' T USE MICROSOFT, USE LINUX!

OK, I know McDonald's and Microsoft are both capitalist bastard, but what other comanies should I avoid if I want to stop funding Dubya and co? To me pratically all companies are corrupt and unethical to a degree, and if you were to boycott every unethical company around, you couldn't buy a thing! So what are the worst of the worst?

In replying to ink, I hate Microsoft's monopolising ways just as much as you do, but I have tried Linux, and as much as I wanted to use it, I find it's incompatibe with most of my hardware, and is difficult to install software on, so I ended up running back to Window$. I must also confess to using Internet Explorer, but Netscape doesn't work well with some of the sites I visit, (all Micro$oft'$ fault I know), and Netscape is also run by another corportate bastard, AOL Time Warner. As much as I don't want to use any of Microsoft's products, until there is a viable alternative that's both compatible and easy to use, I'm afraid I'll be sticking to Windoze 98 for the forseeable future.

Capitalism cannot be reformed, by ethical shopping or any other means. It will always adapt, it will always exploit and enslave.

Capitalism is a system based upon greed, oppression, exploitation, war.

U$A happens to be the superpower in charge of policing the rest of the world and enforcing the interests of capital. Not buying goods or services based in U$ corporations is probably impossible, and any attempt to change rampant global capitalism for "something nicer" is doomed to failure. There is no such thing as "caring capitalism".

The world is falling apart, it is being destroyed. When the crunch comes, that is when the ecosystems are almost completely destroyed, and capitalism can no longer deliver even to the industrialised societies, people will get angry and rise up. By then it may be too late.

Our U$ political masters know this, as do their corporate masters. Why do you think all industrialised nation states are putting in place all these oppressive laws? Under the guise of defence against terrorism, nation states are preparing to use these powers against the people who voted for them.

The people support oppressive laws out of fear of the external enemies created by their masters. First the nation state creates the enemy, then they engender the fear. When capitalism starts failing to deliver, the powers will be used against the enemy within, created by the poverty which is today endured by the majority world.

Capitalism is killing the earth. Capitalism will lead to universal suffering unimaginable to the middle class activists campaigning for reform, but very real to millions throughout the world.

Wake up! Get rid of it. Before it's too late.

>OK, I know McDonald's and Microsoft are both capitalist bastard,
but what other comanies should I avoid if I want to stop
funding Dubya and co? To me pratically all companies are
corrupt and unethical to a degree, and if you were to boycott
every unethical company around, you couldn't buy a thing! So
what are the worst of the worst?

Esso and the other oil companies, along with Philip Morris and
the other tobacco co's are definately up there

>In replying to ink, I hate Microsoft's monopolising ways
just as much as you do, but I have tried Linux, and as much
as I wanted to use it, I find it's incompatibe with most of my hardware,
and is difficult to install software on, so I ended up running back to
Window$.

I understand, however, Linux is getting better and easier to use
every day. Linux Mandrake 8.2 just came out, and it's easier to
install than Windows. Mandrake detected ALL my hardware automatically
bar my 3Dfx video card. Please try again some time in the near future.

>I must also confess to using Internet Explorer, but Netscape
doesn't work well with some of the sites I visit, (all Micro$oft'$ fault
I know), and Netscape is also run by another corportate bastard, AOL Time
Warner. As much as I don't want to use any of Microsoft's
products, until there is a viable alternative that's both compatible
and easy to use, I'm afraid I'll be sticking to Windoze 98 for the
forseeable future.

As I said, Linux is getting easier to use every day - especially Mandrake
Linux.

As for browsers, try Opera. It's hands-down the best browser anywhere,
and is highly configurable for privacy, too.

I'll remember your reply, Mr/Ms "0's and 1's", and may try the switch to Linux again, for one thing it crashes much less than Windoze. However, no matter what OS I will run, you can be assured that the Microsoft Corportation will not get another penny off of me!

And now to "excitable revolutionist", I'm pretty much with u when I believe that capitalism should be brought down, but I think we are still have a fair way to go b4 we can start any revolution. In the meantime, I am going to let these capitalist motherf*****s exactly what I think of their ways by fuelling their wasteful system as little as possible, even so-called ethical businesses such as the Body Shop have a low rating in my books, cause they are a bunch of hypocrites, (even Anita Roddick is getting pissed off with what it has become).

Okay, yes, I know what you mean. We don't live in revolutionary times, at least not in the industrialised west. And in the meantime we must do all we can to fightback in any way we can against the daily onslaught of capitalism. I support the council workers' strike for higher pay, even though I really want to be rid of the wage-slave system, and every other form of hierarchy, coercion, exploitation etc.

But those strikers should be wondering why this happens every generation or so. For every small victory won, capitalism adapts for better exploitation. And for every victory for one set of workers, another set generally pays the price.

I worry that people get too bogged down in single issues. Fair enough if there is some aspect of capitalism that really pisses you off, and you feel capable of making a difference, then do it. Buying Fair Trade products may be a bit better than not, it may stop a few people starving and improve their lives a bit, but it ain't gonna weaken capitalism. And anyway, an exploitative and wasteful economic system is not the only thing wrong with capitalism.

People have to realise the connections between their various struggles. This is war we are talking about. The planet and the vast majority of it's inhabitants (human or other animals)are under a fierce and sustained, if totally irrational, attack.

The war can be fought on many fronts, but there must be an alternative, or alternatives, put forward. Otherwise the majority of people will just carry on, moaning every now and then, but accepting that "all is for the best in this best of all possible worlds".

Until there is no world left, and they wonder why nobody did anything until it was too late.

And on that cheery note...

Agreed. However, dispite all the progress (4 want of a better word) that's been made in the resistance movements, the situation is in danger of becoming much, much worse. Ever heard of the General Aggreement on Trade and Services, or GATS for short? It's an aggrement made by the WTO, which if it goes through in its full incarnation, will mean very bad news for many public services worldwide, since it will mean opening up the likes of energy production and Higher Education to big businesses, and megacorpoations such as McDonald's, Monsanto, and Enron. As you can imagine this is very, very scary. GATS is permanent, it would mean that countries could not re-nationalise serviecs, and environmental legisation could be seen as a "barrier to trade".

All that GATS really does is make it easier for big business to make more and more profit out of raping the Earth, and making it's inhabitants lives a misery. I managed to get a motion passed at my local Students Union at Keele University, at the moment they are restricted to looking into the effects of GATS, but I am hoping that I can pesuade them to take further action with a stronger motion at the next Union General Meeting.

And if anybody's intrested, here's my original aritcle on GATS, and Keele Student Union's motion on it.