Boycott Usa

patriot

http://www.boycottamerica.org/

I'm against the war, you're against the war, pretty much everyone's
against war in Iraq. Sending e-mails to the United Nations is a start,
but it isn't going to change a lot, because they aren't the ones who want
to drop bombs.

The man who needs to be convinced is George W. Bush, and the only people
he listens to are the heads of big US Corporations. If *they* think war
might be bad for business, they might suddenly get a conscience, and put
pressure on Bush to stop this nonsense. And if George Bush thinks war
might actually harm a few Americans and hurt his re-election chances
instead of just killing thousands of Muslims, he might just listen.

So it's time to send a message that they will hear.

In a world where we are just spectators in "democracy", the only power you
really have is that bestowed upon you as a consumer: the power of choice.
Choose European, Choose Asian - but boycott US products.

Why boycott?

Well one solution is not civil disobedience but commercial disobedience
- quite simply to stop buying products made by large American corporations.
From cars to cola, from sportswear to software, boycotting US products
from large American corporates sends out a loud clear message that we are
have noticed what is going on, and we are not happy with it!

http://www.boycottamerica.org/iraq/

Listed below are some major US corporations and their email addresses.
STOP Buying Their Products. Buy European instead. Create Jobs in Europe!

Send the US companies an email with subject "Boycott USA" saying you'll boycott
US products until the US stops waging war on the world. It might take a lot to
have an affect, but thousands of mails will get them thinking.

Please forward this to everyone you know - and start buying European, and
Boycotting US products!

---

Product: Nike, Reebok
Alternatives: Adidas, Puma, Umbro and Fila are widely available European brands

Nike: Corp.comm@nike.com
Reebok: rhrworkersuggest@reebok.com

---

Product: Tobacco: Philip Morris (Marlboro), RJReynolds (Camel)
Alternatives: Benson & Hedges, Embassy, Gauloises

Philip Morris: resourcing.webmaster@pmintl.com
Reynolds: SmokersWelcome@rjrt.com

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Soft Drinks: Coca Cola, Pepsi
Alternatives: locally made cola

Coca Cola: info@coca-cola.com,
Pepsi : Shareholder.Relations@pepsi.com

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Food: McDonalds, Burger King
Alternatives: SuperMacs or real food!

BurgerKing: RDoughty@Whopper.com
McDonalds: equiserve@equiserve.com

---

Mobile Phones: Motorola
Alternatives: Nokia, Ericsson, Samsung, Philips

Motorola: investor@motorola.com

---

Software: Microsoft, Apple
Alternatives: OpenOffice, Linux

Microsoft: msft@microsoft.com
Apple:

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Computers: Compaq, Dell, Intel, IBM, Apple
Alternatives: Fujitsu Siemens

Compaq:
Dell: Investor_Relations_Fulfillment@dell.com
Intel:
IBM: bhughes@us.ibm.com
Apple:

---

Product: petrol: Esso, Texaco
Alternatives: BP

ExxonMobile: corporate.public.affairs@exxonmobil.com,
ChevronTexaco: comment@chevrontexaco.com

---

Product: Cars --> Ford, Jaguar, LandRover, General Motors, Volvo, Mazda
Alternatives: Toyota, BMW, Renault, Peugeot, Citroen,

Ford: wford@ford.com,
GM: john.devine@gm.com

---

You can also send emails to:

president@whitehouse.gov
devans@doc.gov
secretary@state.gov
secretary@defense.gov

bonkey

I find it somewhat ironic that after having heard the foretelling of economic doom and gloom should we not side wholeheartedly with the US government, I now see that we are being encouraged to not only send a message to the US government, but also directly to the US corporations that we want them to consider us "not on board".

Whilst sending a political message may or may not have economic ramifications, sending an economic political message sure as hell will.

Just something to consider.

Ultimately, while I disagree with the path followed by the US, I don't think a series of knee-jerk reactions will make things any better. We got into this mess partly from nations and people not putting enough careful thought into their actions. Maybe we should learn from this lesson ourselves and fully consider the ramifications of such an action before deciding whether or not it should be supported.

jc

daveirl

This post has been deleted.

Riamfada

Damn Straight. THink of whats good for Ireland. Let the US deal with their problems

Cork

Originally posted by Grimes
Soft Drinks: Coca Cola, Pepsi
Alternatives: locally made cola

A lot of Cola Concentrate is made in Cork and it is later bottled in Ireland.

Computers: Compaq, Dell, Intel, IBM, Apple

Dell employs many in Limerick manfacturing computers. Apple has also a shared services centre in Cork.

Boycotting is an old form of protest. I think many of the companies that are on this list employ many in Ireland.

Boycotting these companies is boycotting products made in Ireland.

Éomer of Rohan

To hell with that - boycott US products if there are European / Japanese / Chinese products with which to supplant them.

Barry Aldwell

Originally posted by patriot
Software: Microsoft, Apple
Alternatives: OpenOffice, Linux

You'd better be using Linux if you're going to be trying to tell us to stop using Microsoft products.

Anyway, I'm pro-war. I'm not going to explain myself to you, as I'm sick of trying to explain my viewpoint to closed minded pro war "activists", that won't listen to my views but insist that I listen to theirs. Nope, I'll just keep drinking my coke, eating McDonalds and surfing the internet with I.E. on my Dell computer (which, by the way, was manufactured in Ireland).

Éomer of Rohan

Anyway, I'm pro-war. I'm not going to explain myself to you, as I'm sick of trying to explain my viewpoint to closed minded pro war "activists", that won't listen to my views but insist that I listen to theirs. Nope, I'll just keep drinking my coke, eating McDonalds and surfing the internet with I.E. on my Dell computer (which, by the way, was manufactured in Ireland).

Sort of defeats the point of posting anything under a politics board.

Corben Dallas

I am not against the war. dont do any of above in my name -as Alainis Morrisette once said -Isnt it Ironic ?

Oh and I choose to support a regime change in Iraq because lets face it folks if nothing was done after France's intervention Saddam would be laughing his way into another 30 yrs of undistributed brutalising of his own ppl.

If this war wasnt happening, then if I was an Evil Dictator then all i'd have to do would be play lip service to the UN safe in the knowlegde that Europe /Russia /China would do nothing execept pass resolutions and sanctions and i could go on my merry way killing my own ppl ,invading other countries and hopefully one day i could give a nuke or chemical weapon to some terrorists who would be more than happy to detonate it in a Western city of my choosing.

NeRb666

oh great, I can't wait until 100,000+ people employed here by US companies go on the dole in protest:rolleyes:

TomF

Maybe people employed by U.S. firms in Ireland can protest by boycotting their jobs. Just don't turn-up for work.

daveirl

This post has been deleted.

bonkey

Originally posted by Barry Aldwell
Anyway, I'm pro-war. I'm not going to explain myself to you, as I'm sick of trying to explain my viewpoint to closed minded pro war "activists", that won't listen to my views but insist that I listen to theirs.

You're right...damn those pro-war activists who wont listen to people.

By the way...no offence...but if you're not interested in discussion, then dont post.. Honestly. I dont need to know why you wont discuss something.

jc

Éomer of Rohan

If this war wasnt happening, then if I was an Evil Dictator then all i'd have to do would be play lip service to the UN safe in the knowlegde that Europe /Russia /China would do nothing execept pass resolutions and sanctions and i could go on my merry way killing my own ppl ,invading other countries and hopefully one day i could give a nuke or chemical weapon to some terrorists who would be more than happy to detonate it in a Western city of my choosing.

Especially if you were put in power by America as insurance against Communism / Islamic Theocracy / an anti American regime and allowed US corporations to enter your country and rape loot and pillage in slightly more civilised ways than I just described - and what is more, they might give you the weapons that you then used on your own people - who knows, the weapons might even be chemical and biological weapons and the place that you butcher your own people might be called Halabja - and what's more, maybe no one, especially not the world's de facto policeman would bat an eyelid so long as you aid and abet them by bringing them cheap oil and so on.

Hobbes

God bless globalisation.

A lot of what you would boycott would have little to no effect on US business and instead put lots of Irish companies out of work.

Take for example Mc Donalds. It's a Francise. Nearly all it's goods (meat/bread/etc) is made in Ireland. McD's pride themselves on that sort of crap.

Much the same way US boycotting French goods reeked of stupidty, the same can be said for trying to boycott US goods.

That's not to say it's impossible to boycott, but requires some work other then just right out ignoring anything that looks remotely American.

PH01

That's going to be hard to do when you're using the internet! What next?
Boycott water and air?

Borzoi

From the site:
"If you're not part of the solution then you're part of the problem"

Now class, who else has been using that phrase of late?


This just looks like some kook's particular bandwagon site. There's no depth in it apart from a small number of links.

dahamsta

A lot of what you would boycott would have little to no effect on US business and instead put lots of Irish companies out of work.

You have a point, but don't forget that the whole point of a franchise is that a large percentage of the profits goes up the chain to the brand owner. If half of Europe boycotts McDunkin Donuts's, the brand owner will hurt, and when the brand owner hurts, he'll think again about his politics. Because, as we're always told on the IrelandOffline board, it's only the shareholders that count, right?

Again, I'm not condoning or endorsing this type of thing - yet - and I can understand the cynicism in this thread when the website quoted is so basic and kneejerk, but I have a feeling that opinions would change if, for example, Greepeace put something like this together, with proper economic and political arguments, and a better approach. Targeting Britain instead of the US would be a good start.

As an example, take mmO2 and Vodafone, and Greenpeace's letter generators. Greenpeace creates a website that takes in your name, address and mobile phone number, and generates a letter saying to Vodafone or O2: "I'm a Vodafone/O2 customer, and I have decided to stop using my mobile phone for calls and texting until Vodafone/O2 takes a clear position on the action in Iraq, and future wars in the Middle East initiated by this action. My business is in your hands. Thank you."

You could make it even better by allowing the user to enter their friend's mobile numbers, and sending them a text saying: "I'm supporting Greenpeace's Anti-War campaign, so please don't call or text me except for emergencies. You can join too: www.greenpeace.org." Hell, start a text virus, it's unlikely you'll damage yourself because the majority of people you'll hit will be against the so-called "war" anyway.

"But that's unethical", I hear you say, "it's attacking innocent parties for the wrong reason." Well, for a start, they're not particularly innocent because companies are by their very nature rightist, which means they'll support the war by default because it's opening up new markets. And modern-day activists have always used third-parties to extend their reach anyway, because it's the only way to get things done.

Let's be honest, the US isn't going to stop in Iraq. We don't know for certain where or when they'll move next, but they'll move. We can't stop this action, but we can have a damn good go off the next one. And now is the time to start that process. This is one way of doing it.

adam

monument

Originally posted by Cork
A lot of Cola Concentrate is made in Cork and it is later bottled in Ireland.

Some of it is also made in Ballina. It must be made in Ireland and then shiped of to other places in Europe?

Yea, so we all should boycott Coke, Intel, Microsoft etc... doing as much harm to Ireland then the States.

Are you going to ask us to boycott American film, tv, music and games as well? You're going to find that a bit hard. It's a nice idea, but I dont think so.

JustHalf

I think it would be far more effective just to sit in a room and ram our fingers in our ears, chanting "lalalalalala!" over and over again.

There are better ways of getting the attention of the leaders in a democracy.

Springbrookdr

Boycotting would not only hurt Ireland but it would also hurt other countries not even invovled in the war.

Everything these days, from cars to computers to clothes, are not made just by one country but jointly by a lot of countries.

Toyota and Japanese automakers have plants in the United States. Some Dell computer parts are made in Indoensia and other countries. US products are assembled all over the world. Toyota, Nissan and countries who people want people NOT to boycott are assembled in the US or some parts come from there.

So boycotting would hurt people all over the world. Not just the US.

dahamsta

Still not condoning the subject, but...

There are better ways of getting the attention of the leaders in a democracy.

Like what? They're ignoring protests, and pretty much ignoring correspondence from constituents too. What's left, "freedom fighting"?

adam

dahamsta

Course, it cuts both ways...

U.S. EBay Seller Refuses Canucks

VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- On eBay, the highest bid wins -- unless the item on sale is a laser printer from CompAtlanta and the bidder happens to be Canadian.

That's what a tax consultant discovered last week when he tried to buy a printer over eBay, but was refused by the vendor when it was discovered he lived in Vancouver.

David Ingram received notification that his winning bid of $24.50 had been canceled, along with this message: "At the present time, we do not ship to, or accept bids from Canada, Mexico, France, Germany or any other country that does not support the United States in our efforts to rid the world of Saddam Hussein. If you are not with us, you are against us."

Ingram's .ca address sparked the notice from CompAtlanta, based in Lawrenceville, Georgia. Canada is one of a number of countries that said it would not support an American invasion of Iraq without United Nations' approval.

"I've made a winning bid,'' Ingram said. "To discriminate against me because I'm a Canadian is ridiculous."

Sid Mitchell, CompAtlanta's president, could not be reached for comment. However, an e-mail exchange between Ingram and Mitchell clearly laid out the company's policy: "What part of this listing do you not understand?" Mitchell wrote Ingram. "This item will not be shipped outside the USA, and we do not accept bids from Canadians. Both are plainly stated."

[...]

daveirl

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Springbrookdr

The problem was during the last Presidental election.

Usaully the United States has two parties the Centrist Left Democratic party and the Right wing Republican party and a few fringe parties.

But this last Presidental election there was also a huge push by far Left wing party, the Green party, that took large votes from the more popular Centrist left Democratic party(Which has a high degree of Irish...Irish ppl are one of the largest groups in the US). Splitting the votes making it easier for the Republican party to barely win.

So for 4 years the Republican party is now the ruling party until Nov. 2004 when there is a new election for President.

Then came 9/11 which made more Centrist people vote more conservative for protection against terrorist attacks.

So in fact the majority of ppl in the US did not vote for Bush.