More on Burma
I have had various people point me towards various sources of information in the last few days and have continued to read the BBC website and any other info I can on Burma. I still feel deeply uninformed and helpless but...
I'm hoping to go to a protest tomorrow in the centre of Wellington. If you haven't seen anywhere else, Saturday, October 6th is a day of international action for Burma. The link in the previous post (also here), tells you about protests all over the world.
This blog that I have just come across thanks to Rosanna, has lots of information on it, heaps and heaps of links. (Oh, and there is heaps on Facebook too.)
The question I feel unable to resolve myself with all that I've read so far is whether or not sanctions and boycotts are a good thing. It is a question that I often ponder whether they are good things or bad things (e.g. in the case of slave labour for clothes, the principal is not to stop buying the products as then you take away the only wage they have - instead you should shop noisily). The only boycott I have ever stuck to is that of Nestle (on the whole baby milk front, not as a globalisation issue) - it had just become habit until recently when Husbink did some research and I think he is probably more actively pro the boycott than I am. I have generally thought of boycotts as something that protects my own sense of morality rather than impacting the big multinational company (for example, when I heard of a particular designers racial "issues", I decided I would never buy anything of their's again not because it would impact them but because I would not need to worry about where my money was going - seeing as I'm not particularly into labels, this wasn't really a hardship for me!).
Does anyone have any thoughts on sanctions and boycotts?
4 comments:
It all makes me feel terribly hopeless too. I'm just glad to hear of the UN still working on this. I heard in the news today that they're responding more quickly to Burma than they ever have before when such crises have happened in the world.
I don't think sanctions will help much - well, they might but I think they impact on the people of Burma too much and don't hurt the leaders enough. China is the key. Sanctions that only affect the junta I completely support of course.
Nice to see another blogger who's concerned! The international protest rallies Saturday are supposed to be the biggest there have ever been to bring attention to Burma. Hooray! :)
PS - Thx for the link.
I admit feeling a little confused about boycotts.
Sanctions - depending on what they are - can have an impact, albeit it can take a long, long, long, long time for them finally to bite hard enough for governments to change. Although the number of countries who in the last 5 years have been "moving in from the cold" is astonishing (Libya is a case in point). But I agree they have to be targeted ethically and applied consistently.
There has been a lot of debate in the UK HE press lately about the various arguments for and against an academic boycott of Israeli Universities. I personally think this is madness as it is often in academia that you do find the voices of protest against an ongoing regime - or at least have the greater opportunity for debate. I also don't think Universities are close enough to government to be a valid target for boycott.
I've read so many different things about Nestle over the years - and dozens of other companies with similar practices that I've never felt totally justified in that boycott. I generally just try and buy fair trade, local, organic (partially due to the environment and partially because it generally means a more ethical and humane form of production) - rather than specifically target one multinational.
A wonderfully enlightening post, Miss Jen :) Thank you.
eleanor - welcome :) Yes, it is that whole trying to find sanctions that will only affect the military thing isn't it? The whole oil question just seems to have far too much impact on the people... So hard!
MM - Boycotting universities does sound like a vaguely mad plan! As I was attempting to say (but not convinced I managed it), I feel boycotts are more for the individual than attempting to affect the company - so I'd never "evangelise" a boycott if that makes sense?! But yes, local/organic etc etc I would "evangelise"!
rosanna - thank you :)
Post a Comment