Comments by "Two-Row Euro" (@fun_ghoul) on "India & Global Left"
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@clandestineclara9355 BDS cannot work. Let's break it down point by point:
-boycott: This action is intended to be carried out by individual "consumers", but...what does "Israel" make for (export) sale to consumers? SodaStreams and hydroponic basil...what else? Not much. In fact, 80% of the Z...ist economy is "B2B", or business-to-business sales, the lion's share of which is oil, gas and chemicals. This means that unless you personally are in the market for millions of barrels of oil, your boycott won't much affect the occupiers.
The organized BDS campaign has tried to expand this outward to Amerikkkan and other companies who "do business with Israel" like HP, McDonald's and others, but most people don't know about that. Moreover (IMO), the people most likely to empathize with the Palestinian liberation struggle are typically the poorest; this means both that they often have no choice but to buy a given computer, fast food meal, etc., and that their miniscule buying power is a rounding error for these megacorporations. This is to say nothing about the idea that boycotting companies which do business with or in occupied Palestine in order to spend instead with European occupiers of other places doesn't make much sense to those of us seeking liberation not only for Palestinians, but also Filipinos, Guaraní, Kanien'kehá:ka and Irish, let alone liberation of all workers from the shackles of capitalism.
divestment: This means to withdraw one's investments from companies of the type I mentioned above. Again, though, most people have no investments whatsoever (!), and most of those who do have them don't own individual stocks but rather have some sort of managed retirement savings plan, often through an employer, or union or professional association. This means that a) most people have NO CLUE where their money is invested and may not have the time or the inclination to find out, and b) even if they wanted their plans to divest from "Israel", they would be a lone voice in the wilderness, particularly inasmuch as Z...ist infiltration and control of financial services - which runs all of these investment schemes -- is total. Hell, just making noise about it could leave a person tarred as an "antisemite" among their colleagues, or even result in unemployment! I'm not saying people ought not take such risks for a righteous cause, but they currently are not doing so, and it's hard to blame them when the result is so uncertain.
In short, divestment relies on the notion that "people power" can restrain capitalism. It cannot.
-sanctions: This is an action which can only be carried out by (bourgeois) governments, virtually all of which are under the sway of the world hegemon, the United States. This means that no matter how broad the support for any particular movement (national liberation, anti-war/anti-imperialism, opposing police brutality, socialism/communism, etc.), the bourgeoisie still have the power to suppress them. In London, Palestinian demos have gotten hundreds of thousands of participants...yet the UK government is among the staunchest supporters of "Israel" (indeed, that government created it, namely Arthur Balfour). So...does it sound like any sanctions will be forthcoming?
BDS is a failure. It just makes a few Western activists feel like they're doing something where they are, even as Palestinians are being harassed, dispossessed and slaughtered on their own land as a matter of course. I haven't even watched this video, but I expect Norm still views armed struggle against the occupiers as the only way to achieve liberation. Absent evidence to the contrary, this is my position also.
Hope that helps.
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