Grafton Group plc - no corporate social responsibility

by Bystander Tue Aug 28, 2007 11:13

Why don't they picket government buildings non-stop for allowing A-I to have any sort of embassy in Dublin?

Oh, I forgot, you should always go for the Soft Targets....

by Sinead Tue Aug 28, 2007 13:24

What effect does picketing a government building have? Very little other than a symbolic gesture.
Whereas, when someone profits from an occupation, it makes sense to go after the income they get from it. So, if the silver and gold is a soft target it's a good one.
It's a lot better than Hamas suicide bomber's tactics, which besides being morally reprehensible, are not very effective in ending the occupation, seeing as the Israelis can always use these bombings as an excuse to crack down even more on the Occupied Territories.

by Padraig Tue Aug 28, 2007 22:04

What if all people of good conscience spontaneously stopped purchasing Israeli goods all over the world as a means of objecting to Apartheid Israeli policies? Conceivably this might have some kind of effect? Obviously it would have a direct economic impact on Israeli society, it would force the Israeli government - if not the Israeli people - to _at_least_ examine their policies. Boycott is one of the few ways available for the average man to actually make his voice heard in this world.....cause lets be honest, if people act to take money away from other peoples pockets they don't tend to ignore it, do they? Effectively, picketing will attract the curious, the open-minded and the converted to the Israeli/Palestinian situation but an effective boycott can force the active occupying population to readdress their conscience - and possibly their policies....something which is, at this stage, badly needed.

Protesting outside embassies is of course worthwhlie and justified. But even closing embassies would only make a practical difference if the act were followed up by a direct policy of boycott, divestment and sanctions against Apartheid Israel because trade and investment is 'Real Politic' and trade and investment is what keeps countries alive.

So picketing embassies is one option but it has to be part of a more practical approach. People are not, of course, going to spontaneously boycott Israeli goods - they mightn't know what they're buying is from Israel, they mightn't even know about Israel at all....so informing them is essential. So woodies sells Israeli goods. Is this irrelevant? Should it be ignored? Why not ignore every place in the world supporting Apartheid Israel? The answer is obvious, too many people are suffering to ignore this situation. And one of the more important effects of picketing woodies is that it might give people the idea of looking out for and boycotting Israeli goods in other areas. So this is not a 'soft target', it is, in my opinion, a necessary and definately a worthwhile target as part of an overall plan.

by pat c Wed Aug 29, 2007 16:23

Heres a good argument in favour of the boycott:

Two Palestinian children have been killed in an explosion in a farming area in the north of the Gaza Strip, Palestinian sources say. Witnesses said the children were killed by cross-border Israeli artillery fire east of the Jabaliya refugee camp.

The Palestinian Health Ministry said the dead children were 10 and 12 years old. It said another 10-year-old was injured in the blast.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6969111.stm

by David L Thu Aug 30, 2007 12:17

And here's another argument for boycott - the fact that Israel is not allowing paper into the Gaza strip. This means that hundreds of thousands of schoolkids won't have textbooks when school starts tomorrow. The reason for this ban - as the Israeli man says, paper can be used 'for propagandist endeavours'. http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=73944

In this situation it's difficult to oppose an academic boycott of Israeli institutions - when they are actually banning Palestinians from having paper.