<pol@motherearth.org> 14/04/03

First Global Day of Boycott Action

Boycott US movement grows
US poses serious risk for international security

Brussels - Geneva, April 14, 2003 – Tomorrow Tuesday April 15th peacecampaigners around the globe will unite for the first time in a call for a boycott of US products. With the use of this new tool they want to force the US to step back within the framework of the UN. The boycott movement which started in the Middle East last year is now spreading fast to all continents. Next Tuesday boycott activists have pledged to take their unified message to as many consumers as possible. Consumers should stop giving their money to be used to fuel wars, environmental destruction and human-rights violations. They especially target a list of US companies which donated large sums of money to the election campaign of Bush, with special attention for the large donors and US petrol companies Exxon-Mobil and Chevron-Texaco which are the main targets for tomorrow actions. Peacecampaigners worldwide condemn the latest war for oil and not for weapons of massdestruction which are still be found. “Today the US soldiers are guarding oil facilities, but they have not done anything as yet to restore essential services like power and water, “ alleged Ali Zuhair, one of the protestors in an anti-US protest in Baghdad yesterday.
"As peacemovement we have to admit that the US foreign policy did not change an inch after 10 million marched down the streets of the world's main capitals in their opposition to the war against Iraq. This is something we can not forget. Today we firmly believe that a daily US boycott by millions of consumers will make a difference." declared Pol D'Huyvetter, campaigner at For Mother Earth and initiator of this first Global Day of Boycott which got endorsed by the emerging Global Boycott for Peace-network and the International Peace Bureau (IPB). The nobelprizewinner IPB is the oldest and largets international federation of peacegroups worldwide. Pol D'Huyvetter declared: "The unilateral military attack on Iraq was the latest step in a systematic refusal by the US to work within the international community. Let's look to some facts of the past couple of years with the Kyoto-protocol, the ABM- and the nuclear Testban-treaty or the hypocrisy surrounding the International Criminal Court. The boycott movement might well be once again the non-violent tool which will force the tyran on its knees."
In Tokyo Naoko Okada from Peace Choice Campaign prepared a template letter to be send to the targeted US companies. Peace Choice Campaign will visit top Tonen-General, the Japanese branch of Exxon Mobil), Microsoft, Japan Tobacco (selling Phillip Morris).
Although active protest culture is virtually non-existent in the United Arab Emirates many people make their first steps in non-violent activism with the call for US boycott. Students and faculty members at the University of Sharjah, UAE, have spearheaded an institutional boycott campaign of American food products. A petition signed by some 500 students called upon the university administration to pressure food outlets on
campus to discontinue the sale of American pop, ice cream, candy and other US food products. Alternative brands have been suggested to give the boycott staying power and to ensure that the momentum the students now have does not fizzle out in the months to come. In Abu Dhabi peace activists also plan to distribute posters in both arabic and english to book shops, restaurants and shopping malls urging consumers to stop buying American. Also Members of Parliament will be invited to join the movement. The business man running Falcon Industries, AlQandeel Industries & Olympic Company also pledged to join the growing boycott movement

In Egypt a network of NGO's www.kate3.com announced they will join the international day with a wide range of actions to renew their call to consumers to stop buying US goods.

In Greece the Ecologists Greens were picketing a McDonalds yesterday as a general rehearsal to join the global day of boycott tomorrow. In the northern city of Thessaloniki, the Worker's Centre and Consumers' Protection Centre called for US boycott.
In the European capital Brussels peace campaigners of several NGO's will take to the streets of several cities to call for the boycott of US products. According to the organisers, joined by Members of the European and Belgian Parliament, the US is a growing danger for international security because of its unilateral policies. In Brussels an Esso petrol station will be closed symbolically for the third time in three weeks. In Antwerp, Gent and Ottignies anti-war protests will take place before McDonalds and supermarkets. In Gent an increasing number of owners of bars and restaurants refuse to serve products of US multinationals.
In Brazil, the IDEC-Instituto de Defesa ao Consumidor (Institute for Consumers Defense)- a well respected NGO is supporting boycott actions against the US. (www.idec.org.br).

ATTENTION!!
We know plans are underway in many other places for tomorrow. PLEASE communicate a small contribution so we distribute your news through our networks.

Presscontacts (e-mail - phone) and website for pictures and updates
Japan:

Naoko Okada naoko@peace-choice.net +81-(0)70-5593-5289
Tsuyoshi Ikeza ikeza@peace-choice.net +81-(0)70-5072-7510
Pictures and updates on www.peace-choice.net

Brussels

Felipe Van Keirsbilck" (French)
Pol D'Huyvetter pol@motherearth.org Mobile +32-495-280 259 (English & Dutch)
Pictures and updates on www.motherearth.org

For more information: More information

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