#BoycottMickey (Boycotts Work)

From Mickey Mouse (Disney) to MickeyD’s (McDonald’s), Palestine will be free!

Jan 09, 2024

#BoycottMickey

by C.A. Matthews

From Mickey Mouse (Disney) to MickeyD’s (McDonald’s), Palestine will be free!

I’m just back from a cold—but very effective—protest for Peace in Palestine. We marched several blocks along a heavily trafficked city street to an Interstate highway crossing where the most intrepid activists among us hung a large banner over the side of the bridge for a couple of hours. The remainder of us held our picket signs and chanted at that very busy (and noisy) intersection at the highway entrance. I was amazed at the positive response we received from the public. I was very heartened by the physical and spiritual toughness of my fellow protesters marching and chanting under such frigid and damp conditions, too.

Protesting is a big challenge for those of us living in the Northern Hemisphere in the winter months. How do we continue to send the message to our elected officials that we demand a permanent ceasefire and that we want Israel out of Gaza now without doing peace demos and marches in below freezing temperatures? Activists are a creative lot, and we know there are other ways of making our voices heard that don’t involve standing around in the cold. One of the oldest and most effective protest methods is the boycott. This week’s guest blog, by our resident historian Coast Watcher, gives us a brief history of the boycott.

So, what businesses should we as North Americans currently focus our boycott on to help the cause of the Palestinian people? The “big three” that are feeling the pain of Pro-Palestine consumers boycotting their products are McDonald’s, Starbucks, and the Disney Company. It’s not too hard for those of us standing on the side of Palestine to avoid giving them our business. Who really needs fast food, overpriced coffee and insipid entertainment?

“Misinformation” about McDonald’s support for Israel is having a “meaningful impact” on its sales in the Middle East, the fast food restaurant’s chief executive has said according to an article in the Telegraph. It’s not really “misinformation” that McDonald’s openly supplied food to the Israeli Defense Forces after they launched their genocidal campaign in Gaza. This action has angered many in mostly Muslim countries where their restaurants have been forced to shut down. Is it any wonder that a worldwide boycott of McDonald’s restaurants is hurting their bottom line? They’re learning the hard way that being pro-genocide isn’t good for business.

I was amazed that even trade publications have made note of the effectiveness of Pro-Palestinian/anti-genocide boycotts. From The Drum:

Gauging appetite for boycotts among the crowds at a pro-Palestine protest organized by If Not Now, Jewish Voice for Peace Los Angeles, and the Arab-American Civic Council, The Drum heard from 33-year-old Palestinian-American activist Zainab about why she is no longer buying pro-Israel brands. “I am a Palestinian; my grandparents were expelled in the 1948 Nakba, so I have grown up seeing the oppression. I not only stand for Palestinians; I stand for all humanity. I stand for Black Lives Matter, I stood against the wall suppressing Mexican rights, and I do not stand for the killing in Sudan or Congo. I am not going to stop protesting, whether it is monetarily against brands and companies or going out in the streets every weekend.”
--from As activists boycott pro-Israel brands, what should marketers do next?

Yeah, even marketers know that being linked to Israel is the kiss of death for capitalists. We must keep up the pressure by spreading the names of these pro-Israeli businesses to boycott in all our social media posts and through good old-fashioned word of mouth.

By December 2023, pro-Israeli Starbucks losses stood at $11 billion during the last quarter. Starbucks had already been under a lot of pressure financially due to its closing stores where unions were forming and employee strikes for better working conditions, so the further boycotting of their products will really send a message that when Starbucks hurts one of us—or one people such as the Palestinians—it will feel our pain in its CEO’s pocketbook. Besides, in blindfolded taste tests most coffee drinkers say they prefer other less expensive brands of coffee. So, do yourself and your wallet a favor—boycott Starbucks and learn how to brew your own coffee instead.

The Disney Company acts amazed as to why their donations to Israel along with their producing an upcoming Marvel movie featuring an apartheid-loving Israeli superhero would be upsetting to so many people worldwide. From their own publication, Inside the Magic:

The Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement leads the most prominent pro-Palestine boycotts. They recommend consumer boycotts of companies like Sodastream and HP but suggest “pressure” on bigger corporations that are harder to avoid– like Disney.
Still, many former fans feel boycotting...Walt Disney World Resort is the right thing to do. Former Disney cast member and TikTok creator Helen Jane (@helenjp1313) shifted her content because The Walt Disney Company donated to Israel. She recommends a Disney Parks boycott....Weeks ago, Disneyland Resort thousands protested at the theme park in support of Palestine.

I don’t know about you, but I can think of much better places to go on vacation besides the soulless, overly commercialized fakeness of Disney World. Visiting pristine mountains and beaches come to mind. And can we live without watching the latest Marvel motion picture? Yes, we can. Boycotting the Marvel movie, along with protesting any theaters that dare show it, will definitely get the message across that pro-genocide supporters' products aren’t wanted in decent society.

So, tell your friends today to avoid or keep avoiding these brands and the brands listed at BDSMovement.net. Why? Because boycotts work.

Boycotts Work

by Coast Watcher

Starbucks CEO Laxman Narasimhan recently complained that sales figures for the coffee store giant had plummeted following the boycott of their products due to the chain’s support for Israeli genocide. For many who’ve always advocated the use of boycotts to punish businesses for their social infractions this is proof that the tactic works.

The origin of the term stems from Captain Charles Cunningham Boycott, a retired British army officer. In 1873 he became manager for the County Mayo, Ireland, estates of absentee landlord the Earl of Erne. Absentee landlords were the bane of the rural Irish people. They reaped vast profits from their estates throughout Ireland, often without even setting foot there.

In 1879 bad harvests threatened another famine like that of 1845-49. A Land League formed to prevent it occurring. The League told Boycott to reduce rents by 25% to help the rural people weather the situation. In response Boycott attempted to serve eviction notices, which was historically a typical act of the landed class of the time. Previously there had been little that could be done to stop such measures, but late nineteenth century Ireland had learned a thing or two.

President of the Land League, Charles Stewart Parnell, urged tenants faced with Boycott’s and other landlords’ eviction demands to avoid any communication with those who refused to lower rents. Boycott himself was the primary target for the measure, and it worked. Scab laborers guarded by the military and even the soldiers themselves were employed to harvest crops. The situation led to questions in the British Parliament, leading to a Land Act of 1881 that instituted fair-rent tribunals.

Boycott remained agent for the Earl of Erne until 1886 when he took new employment in the county of Suffolk, England. Parnell of course went on to become a major player in Irish political affairs until his death in October 1891.

Ever since that time the tactic of boycotting has been used effectively by people who have few other resources of reprisal against authority. By showing their displeasure at their governments’ and businesses’ impositions, the ordinary public can hurt them where it really counts—their bottom line. So it is happening with Starbucks and other businesses that back or support the genocidal Zionist regime in any way, shape or form.

Boycotts work.

Bio: Coast Watcher believes in putting your money where your morals are...Or at least not spending your money at businesses that support a country openly committing a genocide like Israel is doing. If a business is okay with murdering children, how can you trust them to not put cancer-causing chemicals in your coffee or Big Mac?