Have you picked your two corporations yet? Join the Resistance!

[DuctapeFatwa]

If you are running a teensy bit low on RPGs and plastique this week, or just like the idea of non-violence, and would like to be part of the Resistance, why not try Arundhati Roy's idea: boycott two US corporations.

Just 2. This is doable. Especially if you live in the US, boycotting ALL American companies isn't easy.

So just pick two. Any two.

The huge and popular targets like Coke, Wal-Mart etc may not be realistically sustainable for you. No problem. Just pick two others.

The big ones do a lot of damage, but they are not alone, the entire oligarchy is up for your boycott grabs.

In case you missed the thread with Arundhati Roy's speech, here's the link.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=1034409

[Dogmudgeon]

1. And if you can't boycott ...

... make a few copies of some "subversive" literature and discreetly place it around the store where the serfs can read it.

Don't litter up the place. Just a couple, every few days.

--bkl
Been there, done that, got a date.

[colonel odis]

2. very good piece. suggestions?

i've recently quit both coca-cola and wal-mart. beef and cbs.

any ideas about organizing? letter writing? creating a target list?

[corporatewhore]

6. check out ad busters they usually havwe some good stuff

www.adbusters.org and welcome to du :hi:

[mouse7]

3. How about Walmart and Exxon-Mobil? :)

I can do that :)

[Stabidak]

4. Information Wars

Information Wars completely agree's.
Big Corporation is the problem.
Military strategy devised in corporate boardrooms is what Eisenhower was talking about.
http://pub63.ezboard.com/binformationwars

[K8-EEE]

5. Right On!

I'm already boycotting Kraft, Home Depot and Walmart...although honestly I never went to Walmart in the first place. I also changed my credit card when I saw they were huge GWB supporters (MBNA)

btw way boycotts DO work -- I heard just today that Citbank made a lot of changes re: their controversial Rain Forest stuff due to world wide boycotts.

VOTE WITH YOUR DOLLARS!

I have to say, ever since the grocery strike started, I started going to the little ethnic markets by my house guess what -- I'm saving lots of money and I just like the whole experience better, even though I go to a lot MORE stores it really ISN'T more time or money.

[DuctapeFatwa]

11. That is a terrific idea! More suggestions

Whenever possible, if you can shop at small family-owned stores with Majority World ties, you can be pretty sure that at least some of your money will get to some folks OUTSIDE the US who really need it. And you'll find some surprising bargains and better quality stuff than you're used to.

Other things you can do: if you're lucky enough to have money "set aside," get it out of the country. Either just let it sit in a bank in a country you like, or send it there and have someone use it to buy gold, and keep that in the bank - over THERE!

If you have investments in US companies, sell them, and buy shares in companies in countries you'd like to invest in. If you do a little research, talk to people in your community, you can arrange to use a brokerage in that country, too.

If you are like the majority of people in the US, for whom the idea of money put aside and investments are a sick joke, don't underestimate what you CAN do.

Start with your kitchen. Eat lots of rice? Just switch from Uncle Ben or whatever and (back to the first paragraph) buy genuine authentic aged basmati rice from a small family-owned South Asian grocery store. Or maybe you'd prefer Jasmine rice from Thailand. Discover, explore, and save money. You can get a BIG ol bag of Ferdaus rice for about a third of the price per pound of Uncle Ben.

Instead of Dial or Ivory, buy Bee and Flower soap from China. Or Mysore Sandalwood government soap. It's better soap, it smells better and lasts longer.

Don't buy your clothes at the mall. Go to eBay. You can buy things from people in India, Pakistan, Thailand, Indonesia, or from people who just got back from there. Get to know reputable sellers. They can hook you up with other stuff.

A gift basket of inexpensive products from your local "ethnic" store makes an unusual present, and is a sneaky but effective way to get friends and co-workers to stop buying Procter and Gamble soap without saying a word. :evilgrin:

Almost everything you use every day has an alternative of equal or superior quality that you can switch to. Of course it would be great if millions of people made a concerted and continuous effort to push every penny out of the US economy, but even if all you do is switch to Neem toothpaste and buy coffee beans from the Ethiopian mom m' pop on the corner instead of at the supermarket or specialty shop, you will be making a difference, and taking action to improve your life, and the lives of other people.

[sistersofmercy]

7. Wal-mart and Coke are already out for me.

I stopped shopping at Wal-mart many moons ago and I don't drink soda. I do know the CEO of Gap contributed to the bush* campaign.

[damnraddem]

8. I'm already boycotting two:

Coke (for labor practices in Columbia) and Wal-Mart (for multiple reasons), and that seems quite a lot. But then there's CBS, which has refused to take Move/On's anti-Bush ad during the Superbowl but which will apparently air a Bush campaign ad then. If that goes down, there will be reason for a boycott there.

[burythehatchet]

9. Thanks for the link to Dirk's thread

I missed it the first time around. Between Arundhati and Vandana I don't know which one of those ladies I love more. Alhough Arundhati does have the physical aspect in her favor.

[burythehatchet]

10. Easy - WalMart because I've never been there anyway, and...

Washington Mutual. But 2 is not enough in my book.

[MasonJar]

12. Where's that e-mail list? We must let them know that half of

America will no longer buy their products. GE could certainly stand a boycott. I would not darken the doo of Walmart ever. I hate what they have done to small towns. I shop at small groceries often. Other than gas I gave up shopping when Bush told Americans to be patriotic and shop, while he was sending New Yorkers back into an environmentally dangerous area. Those poor workers, many of whom donated their time. Oh, what a despicable little wart.

[Cleita]

13. Boycotting Wal-Mart is no problem to me because

most of the time I can't afford to shop even there. I would love to boycott the pharma and health insurance companies my husband and I have to use, but as old pharts that isn't practical, but truthfully they are getting the lion's share of our income these days.

Actually, everything I buy is a dire necessity and there isn't much money for frivolities, so I boycott most companies out of necessity. However, if we can ever get the profit out of health care, then maybe we won't be so strapped.

[DuctapeFatwa]

14. Friday resistance kick

[0007]

15. General Electric & Hewitt Packer

[blindpig]

16. ahem, microsoft?

don't get me wrong, I am totally anticorporatist. Just more proof that irony rules the world.

[plurality]

17. be sure and look for subsidiaries...

of the companies you boycott, because while you may do a good job of avoiding giving the main company money, you can always get it your dollars by buying from a 'competitor' that is actually owned by the company you're boycotting.

for example Altrea (Phillip Morris) owns Kraft, Boca, and many other unrelated brands.

[crushbush04]

18. How about ...

Boycotting the internet