Boycott US Products?

Since Israeli’s inhuman attack and illegal invasion on Palestine recently, many parties from all over the world have urged some kind of actions to be taken on Israeli’s government. While NGOs and individuals have started campaigning to boycott the US’ and Israeli’s products, the governments have to go through, what is perceived as proper channel, the United Nations. I have very little idea on how things work in the UN but what I can say for sure is that the UN is nothing but the puppet for the US Government. Sometimes, I do wonder whether we need the UN, which is powerless and inferior to the United States. From my understanding, UN should be the most powerful agency in the world but it seems that all the times, it is the US government who dictated the UN of what need to be done and when. When George Bush alleged that Saddam Hussein’s government possessed weapons of mass destruction, despite the International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) proving otherwise, they (the US) still proceeded to attack Iraq, only to find nothing (on weapon of mass destruction) and yet, no action was taken by the UN on the US government. In fact, the US was allowed to cause more damage to Iraq, even till now. What was the function of the UN in Iraq’s issue? They are functionless. I do not have to talk on the US/UN one sided policy in openly supporting Israel in their inhuman attack and illegal invasion on Palestine because it is a judicial notice. Everybody knows that. When the US is attacked, they called the attackers as “terrorists”. But when the Israeli’s government illegally attacked and invaded Palestine, that they (the US) called it “fight against terrorism”. Do I need to say more?

As such, I strongly feel that it is a total waste of time and effort for any government to table any motion or session or whatever they call it to the UN because at the end of the day, it is up to the US to decide and there is no way for the US to make any sanction on the Israeli’s government. People may have high hope on Barrack Obama to bring the change of policy on the Israel-Palestine issue but I doubt he will. Whoever the US President is, whether he/she is republican or democrat, the fact remains that he/she is an American.

So, what is the best way to teach the US and Israel a very good lesson? I strongly believe boycotting their products is the best way because this is the only action (at least that I can think of) that we can take without the US being able to retaliate. And this is what has been urged and promoted by many quarters. But the question remains on how far we will go to boycott their products and how effective/successful it will be.

It must be understood that (taking Malaysia for example) the US products like KFC, Starbucks, Mc Donald etc have been in Malaysia for a very long time and the people in Malaysia are, to certain extent used to it and depended on it. So, when the supply is made available, what will be the success rate for the campaign to boycott the US and Israel’s products? I strongly believe that if at all there are people who boycott the US and Israeli’s products, the success rate will be very low, as there will be more people who do not boycott than those who boycott, which in the end it bring no impact on the US and Israel. It is like serving lobsters to a group of people, say 10 of them. It is very tempting for them to eat the lobsters and they are told that they can eat the lobsters but at the same time they are advised not to but if they do eat, there will be no action taken against them. So, out of 10 people, how many do you think will resist the temptation to eat the lobsters? I can safely say, if not all, majority will eat the lobsters.

So, in order to ensure that the campaign to boycott the US and Israel’s products to be a real success, I strongly believe that we need a very strong government support by either revoking the business license of the US products outlets or by not renewing their licence. Well, some may argue that there are thousand of Malaysians who work in Coca Cola, KFC, Mc Donalds, etc in Malaysia and these innocent individuals may lose their job and is it fair for us to punish this group of individuals for the sake of achieving our objective in punishing the US and Israel? But let me ask this question – what is the objective of boycotting the US and Israel’s products? By boycotting their products, it means that we do not buy their products and when we stop buying their products, it means no sale and no business for them. When there is no sale and no business, it means no profit. When there is no profit, it means they have to close shop. When they close shop, it means that there are thousands of innocent Malaysians who may lose their job. So, obviously, there is no difference.

Now, the question is, how prepared is our government in assisting the Malaysians to boycott the US and Israel’s products? Is our government prepared to revoke the licence to sell their products? Is our government prepared to severe ties with the US? Is our government prepared to act without fear and favour in “punishing” the US and helping the innocent Palestinian?

If the answers to all the questions above are in the negative, then I think we can forget to expect the high success rate in the campaign to boycott the US products. We are not yet ready to seriously helping the Palestinian.

On the same note, the boycott should go on continuously whether or not there is illegal invasion and attack by Israel on Palestine. Boycotting on seasonal basis is useless and a waste of effort because if Israel moves out from Palestine and cease fire for 10 years for example, we will also stop boycotting the US products and for 10 years they will really make business and profits. The profits for 10 years is enough for the US to continue their undivided support to Israel and for Israel to again, attack Palestine. So, next time when Israel attacks Palestine, we will again boycott their products. It just doesn’t work that way.