Boycotting USA

Tun Dr. Mahathir aka Chedet ask for Malaysia as all other nations around the globe to boycott the US Dollar and US made products, essentially, everything USA in protest over Washington’s backing of Israel.

Dr Mahathir, who during his two decades in power was a leading voice in the Muslim world, said people had to take action against the United States over its support for Israel, which is conducting a military offensive in Gaza.

‘If you stop accepting US currency, the US can’t trade and can’t make any money, it will become very poor and it will have to stop the production of more and more weapons in order to kill people,‘ he told a press conference. ‘We should not be buying all these weapons from the US, we can buy from the Russians if we must have aeroplanes and things like that,‘ he added, ‘People must act… they won’t die if they don’t drink Coca-Cola.‘

Dr Mahathir criticised the US for blocking a UN resolution calling for an end to the action by Israel, which has launched an air and ground offensive that has left at least 510 Palestinians dead, many of them civilians.

Well, all sounds fantastic from the look of things but then, can we really pull it off?  Just stop using all things American made. Right? Products, Services, Stocks. But the big question is, will it work? Stop drinking Coca-Cola, but you still see people buying Coca Cola off the shelf at the local convenient stores. Stop using American made services, but everyone’s still on Ebay and Paypal and is making money out of it. Even Americans themselves are putting up a fight to get the American government to stop supporting the war but all seems to fall of deaf ears. Especially Bushy’s knowing that he’ll want to go for a last push on getting things done his way before he no longer hold any power. But, is there truly a way to send the message across? I think so, at the end of the day, I believe that Politicians should fear the citizens and not the other way around. It is the citizens of the countries that put the politicians to where they are now.

Let’s look at some 10 steps that hopefully would work in sending the message across.

1. Don’t shop American made brands!
- We can boycott all those big chains and franchises – from Starbucks to GAP, from Sears to McDonalds, etc.  There are local businesses we can support.

2. Stay away!
- We should not visit any part of the USA. There are so many other countries that are more beautiful, rich in culture and cheaper to visit than in USA.

3. Don’t look, listen or read!
- Part of our USA addiction is due to the domination of its media. So we stop watching USA made programs, videos and movies. Support your local media and production (even though there’s still a bloody long way to go for Malaysian production to even compete among Asians except for that special few). That is more vital than seeking out “good” USA stuff.

4. Don’t buy USA vehicles!
- If we must buy cars, we can look to the producers of the most economic vehicles – Japan. Shun the big USA three companies and most of all, shun SUVs. They are gas guzzling polluters. If SUVs’ gas efficiency increased by three miles to a gallon, the USA would not need to import oil from the Middle East at all.

5. What about OIL?
When we fill up at the local pump, we are getting oil from USA brands, as well, Petronas still buys Petrol from other oil producers when they are running low on their own supplies even though Petronas have it’s own oil refinery (don’t ask me why, ask Petronas). I think one of the reason why USA attacked Iraq isn’t because of Saddam but because of the oil rich location of Iraq, bomb the place, give some sort of good reason to stay there and plant American companies there to suck the oil dry.

6. We need to shop carefully!
- Stop buying “Made in USA” goods. Not always easy, but ask fair trade products from around the world. We should boycott franchised products like Coors and Budweiser. There’s always the TIGER BEER if you want.

7. We don’t buy USA brands!
- from running shoes to coffee- no matter where the product is made, it profits USA corporations. Coffee is a major example. The coffee solution is easy as more and more retailers carry fair trade, organic coffee from many small producers. For other products, we can do without if we can’t get goods made in other countries that really need our support.

8. Sell our stocks and shares!
- If we have mutual funds or pension plans that was purchased from an American company sell them off!

9. We can end our biggest addiction – USA produced FOOD!
- We are used to buying USA brands of food from around the world from Kraft to General Foods. You can always get other brands that are non American! Like Chedet say, it won’t kill you if you don’t drink Coca Cola.

10.  Boycott and talk about it!
- Share information about products and sources. Tell politicians and businesses. They are really scared of boycotts! Because they work in consumer societies! Boycotts helped overthrow apartheid South Africa and end French nuclear tests. We need to talk to our USA friends in the country that uses 40% of the world’s resources (they are less than 6% of its population). Encourage USA activists to also boycott big corporation and agri-business. We can all consume LESS. We can all support local producers, recycle and re-use. The time and money we save we can dedicate to strengthening social movements and being more active. Walk more, use the bus, and drive less.

We are our own best media – talk to people everywhere about this boycott and the reasons for it. We will send a clear message to the USA government and corporations and our government that we do not support wars and oppression for military, economic and political domination!

Do you have more than the 10 that I’ve stated above? do share!

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