Back to our regularly scheduled "what should we be boycotting" posting - a couple of hours ago (today, Wednesday 8th November) the BDS movement has put together a definitive explainer on which companies it is currently targeting, splitting companies into four categories and explaining why each company is being targeted and also what each category means for consumers, institutions, etc.
PLEASE NOTE: The BDS movement is the official, strategic, coordinated boycott, divestment, and sanctions campaign created by the BDS National Committee of Palestine. If you want to take part in boycotts and other forms of pressure against corporations in your efforts to help free Palestine, use this organisation's advice as your official and primary source. Other common boycott campaigns such as the "Big Three" (McDonalds, Disney, Starbucks) are at best incomplete and at worst actively contradictory representations of this targeted boycott campaign that we should all be aiming to follow for maximum efficacy and impact.
I have bolded where "big three" companies appear in this new release in order to clarify what action the BDS recommends for each.
click this link to read the explainer.
If, for whatever reason, you can't or don't want to click the link, here's a quick summary:
CONSUMER TARGETS: the BDS movement calls for a complete boycott of the following brands
Ahava
AXA
Carrefour
HP
Puma
RE/MAX
Siemens
SodaStream
Israeli produce in your supermarkets (avoid buying said produce and, if you find any in your local store, contact the supermarket to demand its removal from shelves)
DIVESTMENT TARGETS: governments, institutions, and investment funds should exclude and divest from as many complicit companies as is practical
Elbit Systems
HD Hyundai / Volvo / CAT / JCB
Barclays
CAF
Chevron
HikVision
TKH Security
PRESSURE (NON-BOYCOTT) TARGETS: for strategic reasons the BDS movement does not call for a complete boycott of these brands & services. they should be subjected to other forms of pressure until they end their complicity in Israeli apartheid
Amazon
Airbnb / Booking.com / Expedia
Disney
GRASSROOTS ORGANIC BOYCOTT TARGETS: other boycotts not organised by BDS. If these campaigns are not already organically active in your area, focus your energies on the strategic campaigns above.
McDonalds
Burger King
Papa John's
Pizza Hut
Wix
(and others, e.g. Dominos was mentioned in a past release)
Starbucks continues to not be officially mentioned by the BDS Movement. The boycott of Starbucks primarily stems from its decision to sue its union for using the company's name and branding in pro-Palestine posts. As another grassroots organic boycott campaign, albeit not one openly acknowledged thus far by the BDS Movement itself, my personal recommendation would be to treat it like other campaigns in that category - i.e. continue boycotting & encouraging others to do so if there is already an organically active campaign in your area, but please keep the "official" BDS boycott list as your main focus.
