About the Global Boycott for Peace:

Many of the major boycott campaigns have banded together under the umbrella group the Global Boycott for Peace, or GBP:

We choose to boycott U.S. corporations because they, in defiance of the world community, have chosen to profit from war, from the preparations for it, and from the continuing exploitation of the world's people and resources. We choose to boycott US corporations because they, and powerful individuals associated with them, fund and control the major political parties and corporate media that together actively obstruct our progress toward a peaceful and sustainable world.

Collectively, Global Boycott for Peace is sponsoring its first day of direct boycott actions on April 15th 2003. Protesters around the globe will voice their plans to boycott at local shopping districts, gas stations, and strip malls across the globe.

The GBP boycott is peaceful, legal, and provocative. In contrast to symbolic demonstrations of opinion, boycotts have a direct and immediate impact on their targets.

When Tanzanian President Julius Nyerere took up the call to boycott goods coming from apartheid South Africa, he wrote: "Can we honestly condemn a system and at the same time employ it to produce goods which we buy, and then enjoy with a clear conscience?" Boycotters of the Global Boycott for Peace and across the world today are embracing the same philosophy, refusing to purchase the goods of a country whose actions, in good conscience, they cannot support.

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My personal statement:

As an American considering the boycott of US goods, I emailed several economists around the Country to ask them if a successful boycott would be bad for the American economy. They all said the same thing: no. It would actually be better for the economy if Americans saved more money. We'd have more capital assets, and thus more financial security as a nation.

One of the ways to do this is to not buy from big brand name companies targeted in the boycott, and to spend less money overall. Additionally, buying locally creates a community-based economy, which means boycotting is better for local business owners in the long run.

As an American boycotter, I feel it's not just the actions of the Bush administration that drive me to take this action. It's also the feeling that the American landscape and the cohesiveness of my community are being damaged. My community, my landscape, my psyche: all are damaged by big businesses intent on injecting the regularity of sprawl into every corner of American life. We are letting our money flow freely and ignorantly into the pockets of those we oppose, we are trading our paychecks, our peace, our power, our nation for the right to own a lot of stuff, and people across the world are suffering because of it. I have chosen to live a life of voluntary simplicity, to the best of my ability, so long as war, occupation, and the alarming behavior and attitudes of those running my country persist.

End these, and I spend my money without reservation. Until then, my consumer confidence remains firmly set at zero.

Information and Links:

International TOP 20 boycotts:

• Exxon-Esso-Mobil
• Chevron-Texaco (Caltex)
• BP-Amoco
• General Electric
• Altria/Phillip Morris/Kraft
• US Airlines/ Car Industry
• Dell Computers
• Coca Cola
• McDonalds
• Bristol Myers Squibb
• PepsiCo
• Motorola
• TimeWarner/AOL
• Disney
• Microsoft
• Shell
• Amway
• Anheuser Busch
• Revlon

Online sources of further information:

 

* this is not an official GBP document and may not reflect the views of all GBP members.