The news of NDP deputy leader Libby Davis getting in hot water about supporting a boycott of Israel has got me thinking. Not about Israel’s right to exist – even if I understand any nation’s right to defend itself in order to better assert and ensure continuation of its existence – but about boycotting. The National Post reports it in this way:
The video shows Ms. Davies answering a series of questions about the situation in the Middle East, starting with comments suggesting that Israel has been occupying territories since 1948, which is the year of its independence. “[The occupation started in] ‘48. It’s the longest occupation in the world,” she said in the video. “People are suffering. I’ve been to the West Bank and Gaza twice, so I see what’s going on.” Ms. Davies also expressed her personal support for an international campaign for a boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel, breaking ranks with her party’s official position.
Now whether or not she has deviated from the party line is one thing – not to mention to the entirely wackier thing that is any call for the end of Israel – but time was it was all boycotts all the time. We all remember the South African boycott in the 70s and 80s (actually going back into the 60s) but I seem to recall that boycotts of France over nuclear testing and Nestle were also part of my parent’s shopping reality as a kid. Earlier, there were boycotts against the Nazis as well as by them. Farm workers in the US have successfully used the boycott as did politicians in relation to the 1976, 1980 and 1984 Olympics. Right now people apparently want me to boycott Alaska, Nokia and Cheetos.
The thing is boycotting always seemed to me to be about a sort of personal expression or at least participation. My Mom could join in and neither she nor France were at risk. Cheetos will go on. They may even be improved in their Cheetos ways, policies, practices and products. It means folks don’t have to be Ghandi but can be like Ghandi. But only if the cause is right.
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