Even targeted boycotts¶

This, btw, is why PFLP has not asked us to boycott. Even targeted boycotts of specific corporations are too dispersed to make an impact, and don't fit into the strategy they have developed. We don't have the organizational heft to enforce a boycott of even a single company. https://t.co/0y9FYApMgT We don't have any systems in place to, for example, make HP feel any sort of pressure over their support of "Israel." We don't have regional organizations with enough pull to go to the community and say "We're not purchasing HP products," and have them listen. Even with an overwhelming majority of the public in favor of Palestinian liberation, only a tiny minority of them will have even heard of the concept that HP is being targeted for boycott, or why that matters, let alone be on board with the plan. The impact we could make on that front is diffuse and multiple layers removed from the direct actions we have been directed to take. We would be pressuring people to pressure HP to pressure the government to pressure "Israel" to... voluntarily stop occupying Palestine? It's not like it's physically impossible to use boycotts to hamper domestic markets so thoroughly that the cartel of capitalists known as the US decides the occupation isn't worth it. Just like it's not physically impossible to shut down literally every weapons manufacturer. It's just a completely absurd prospect at our current level of development.

And again, if we had that power, we would already have a full-blown revolution on our hands. The best we could hope for in that tactical space is a couple of percentage points knocked off HP's revenues. Of course you personally can and should participate in these boycotts. It's kind of a slap in the face to the resistance to just go "Eh, but I like McDonald's, so what's the harm?" But don't mistake posting boycott lists on Twitter for engaging in productive struggle. The best use of boycotts -- same as protests -- is as a tool to assess the readiness of your local community for deeper radicalization. They can be used as stress tests: if you can't even get people to stop eating at McD's, you probably can't train them into communist soldiers. But even that's ok! We don't need the ENTIRE community to be communists. We just need the majority to eventually be willing to collaborate with us. They need to see us as doing important, useful work, and prefer to work with us than the oppressors. That's another point in favor of deepening our organizational heft, rather than rushing out into "propaganda of the deed." No matter the deed, imperial propaganda will always outflank you in terms of BREADTH. We need to be prepared to inoculate with DEPTH of education. If this is all sounding like a looooot of work and preparation... Well yeah. Revolution is not a game. It's not a social club. It's not a Twitter thread. It is a fundamental restructuring of social life, top to bottom. It is the hardest work any of us will ever do.