Sophia Sjögren, Annie Nylén //
As Rosa Luxemburg herself said when mocking social democrats, we can’t do politics within the rules of capitalism. And even though consumption power is a terribly neoliberal, individualistic and generally a capitalist view of political organising and activism, we still have to be morally responsible when consuming. Ethical consumption should not be the heart of our politics, but basic and fundamental ethics.
There’s a plethora of boycott-lists and it can be very hard to navigate as a consumer. In reality, a lot of companies are owned by big producers who, in some way or another is supporting the genocide in Gaza. For example, Nestle and Coca-Cola, which, in addition to their own brands, also control large shares of the market. Some of the brands on the boycott lists, such as Hälsans kök, have been added to and then removed from the lists after they stopped producing Swedish products in Israel. Thus, you could view the company critically, and many people are still actively boycotting it.
Boycotting alone will not make real change; we cannot expect to change a system by participating in it. Consumption power is an individualistic, or rather neoliberal, form of action. It will never replace political organising and can’t be compared to efforts to create collective change. In other words, the boycott of Willys, Ica and Coop last year wasn’t politically charged, nor did any viable alternative structures develop from it; therefore, it lacked a clear direction or purpose. Real change happens when we build alternative structures, such as food cooperatives and community gardens.
However, food is a necessity, and sometimes it has to be bought (dumpstering and growing your own are not always accessible), so when we buy, we can do so tactically by boycotting. We still have to refuse to buy products from companies with blood on their hands.
In times of oppression and genocide, the BDS movement has compiled a list of brands to boycott, which makes it easier to navigate when browsing through the supermarket. This is the list we’ve chosen for this article. The BDS movement has a few criteria for putting companies on the list, many of them strategic, to support an effective boycott and political organising. On their website, they present that they base their judgement on:
“The extent to which the company is directly and materially involved in Israel’s abuses of Palestinian rights.”
“The extent to which a boycott of the company can gather broad alliances between different movements, organisations, and societal actors.”
“The potential for the campaign to gain media attention and thereby increase public pressure.”
“The likelihood that a targeted boycott can lead to concrete changes, such as policy changes, withdrawal of investments, or termination of partnerships.”
(Dackekuriren’s translation)
The list
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Mcdonald’s
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Coca cola
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Starbucks
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Pizza Hut
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Burger King
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Domino’s
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Israeli fruits and greens
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Soda Stream
Non-food boycott list
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Moroccanoil (hair care brand)
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Zara (clothing brand)
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Hawlett Packard (HP-computers)
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Wix (software company)
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Ahava (cosmetics brand)
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Siemens (tech company)
There exists apps such as “No Thanks” and tons of longer lists of brands to avoid. This is all good, however, the main focus should be political organising if you want to do more.
Apartheid free zones
There are Apartheid free zones throughout the whole country, and the list keeps expanding.
Two Lund establishments are Apartheid free zones: Smålands and India Däck. Moreover, the BIDS Organisation, AAFRA and Clarté Lund are also apartheid free zones based in the city.
It’s an initiative by the BDS movement that makes it easier to boycott when going out. Every apartheid free zone has a sign just like Smålands has, and they are obligated to boycott the companies on the BDS list, and often go even longer, for example, using more extensive lists of complicit brands such as the “no thanks” app.
Read more at www.bdssverige.com/boycott-list