Peace demonstrations are planned in all continents this weekend to protest against the United States' occupation of Iraq and their policy towards Israeli military colonisation in Palestine. On this occasion, we are calling for a worldwide boycott of pro-Bush US multinationals' products (1).

By boycotting US products, we want to put pressure on the US government to join the international community, complying with the rules of the United Nations and international law. With the military attack Iraq in March 2003 and its occupation, the USA act as a rogue state and violated the UN charter.

Today we need to hit where it hurts. The only language Washington understands is economical. More than ever US companies seem to have a major impact on the policy of the US administration. The US government policy is increasingly been marked by arrogance and self-interest.

The US multinational companies targeted by the boycott have a clear financial link with the Bush administration: they all contributed money for the 2000 election campaign for the Republicans or/and have economic interests in Iraq, particularly petrol, armament, airlines and car companies such as ExxonMobil/Esso, General Motors and American Airlines.
We demand that the USA stop their unilateral policies and that all that US troops leave Iraq immediately.

" As consumers we do not want our money to be used to fuel wars, environmental destruction and human-rights violations".

According to World Watch Institute, world military expenditures in 2001 were conservatively estimated at 739.33 thousand million euros — almost 100 million euros every hour or 2.000.000.000 euros each day. The United States is now the world’s sole military colossus, accounting for 36 percent of all military spending, or 266.13 thousand million euros. U.S. spending is now projected to rise to 364.82 thousand million euros (in 2001 euro) by 2009, or 1.000.000.000 euro per day (2).

USA resume nuclear tests

On many occasions, For Mother Earth and the other NGOs supporting the boycott have and will renew their call to boycott. The last time was on September 3-5, 2003, when the Bush administration refused to take part in the Nuclear Test Ban Conference (CTBT), an international conference in the United Nations to enforce the treaty to ban all nuclear weapon test explosions anywhere in the world. The US refusal to attend to this important conference is not a surprise as the Bush administration is pushing ahead with research and development of a new generation of nuclear weapons. The US Department of Energy (DoE) is making preparations for a new campaign of nuclear tests at the nuclear Nevada Test Site. Insiders fear the US will announce resumption of testing within the next two years. This will be the start of a new nuclear arms race (3).

Since 1945 there have been 2051 nuclear tests, adding up to an average of one nuclear explosion every 10 days for the past 58 years. We have to prevent any new atomic tests in the future. Boycotts are efficient tools: the boycott of French products in 1995 was successful as French president Chirac had to cut tests down from eight to six. Today the French test site is closed.

Brands hit

According to an independent research done in 30 countries the US boycott has already had a damaging effect on leading US brands. The boycott calls are successful, as the brand image of various topline US products suffer. In a recent article in the London-based Independent, it was stated that “of the top 10 global US-based firms, only one saw an increase in its brand-power compared with a year earlier. All of the others were either unchanged, which is bad enough, or in negative territory.” This survey which was carried for the fifth time saw US brands starting to sink for the first time. In contrast, the survey showed gains for the best-known non-US brands, the article pointed out. The survey results were originally published in the Newsweek magazine.

A long-term action

Today the Belgium-based For Mother Earth NGO (www.motherearth.org) coordinates this global Boycott Bush – No Money For War campaign. The first call to boycott was launched in an attempt to prevent war in Iraq, one month before the USA attacked on March 20, 2003. During the upcoming European (Paris, Nov. 2003) and World Social Forum (Mumbai, Jan. 2004) For Mother Earth will continue to set up a Global Council with campaigners from around the planet to coordinate this campaign. The number of organizations that are endorsing and spreading our call to boycott US goods is increasing and we expect this to continue. This is a long-term action. It could go on for years.

What can I do ?

- Sign up the boycott at www.motherearth.org/USboycott

- Spread stickers, posters, etc. to download at www.motherearth.org/USboycott/resources_en.php

- Give financial support by PayPal or to account # 001-2055174-14 (IBAN BE94/0012/0551/7414 - BIC GEBABEBB3)

- Participate in the International Day for Boycott Actions on March 20, 2004, the first anniversary of US illegal invasion of Iraq

(1) www.motherearth.org/USboycott/index.php
(2) Vital Signs Fact of the Week #16 source Thursday, September 18, 2003
(3) www.motherearth.org/nuke/ctbt1.php

Contact + Info:
For Mother Earth, K. Maria Hendrikaplein 5-6, 9000 Gent, Belgium
Tel+32/9-242-87-52 Fax+32/9-242-87-51
 boycott@motherearth.org www.motherearth.org