{"id":769,"date":"2004-08-23T11:54:44","date_gmt":"2004-08-23T18:54:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp\/2004\/08\/boycott_scout\/"},"modified":"2004-08-23T11:54:44","modified_gmt":"2004-08-23T18:54:44","slug":"boycott_scout","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/2004\/08\/boycott_scout.html","title":{"rendered":"BOYCOTT SCOUT"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you’ve never received an email message calling for a boycott or a petition to sign, you’re
\nprobably the only one who hasn’t. The latest that came to me said that Germany had decided “to
\nstop all arms sales to Israel,” followed by similar bans by other European countries, and asked for
\na retaliatory boycott of travel to and products from these countries, to show support for
\nIsrael.<\/P>
\n

The Europeans and their Muslim allies should understand that boycotts works
\nboth ways. When we said NEVER AGAIN, we meant it. Europe is stuck in the mentality of 1933
\nand conditioned to thinking of Jews as defenseless entities. The reality is very different. As long as
\nEurope adheres to and supports its primitive Middle Ages death cult, European products must be
\noff limits.<\/BLOCKQUOTE>
\n

The rest of the message, as given verbatim<\/FONT><\/B><\/A> by boycottwatch.org<\/FONT><\/B><\/A>, a self-described “consumer advocacy
\norganization” that does not do product comparisons or evaluations but tries instead “to make sure
\nconsumers are not tricked into believing lies,” goes like this:<\/P>
\n

We continue to call for a complete boycott of travel and products from the
\nfollowing countries France, Belgium, Spain, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland, Norway, Denmark,
\nHolland, and China, due to their support, sponsorship, and\/or participation in global Islamic
\nterror. The voting record of the above countries at the UN openly endorses Muslim terror.
\n

Remember, every time you buy a bottle of Evian, a Carlsberg product, a Spanish melon, a
\nGodiva chocolate, a Dior lipstick, a Gucci bag, or a German kitchen appliance, you are financing
\nthe next Muslim mass murderer.

The European Union gives over $10 million per
\nmonth to the Palestinian Authority, knowing full well that the money is funneled to buy, import,
\nand train Muslim terrorists and their weapons of mass murder.

We strongly encourage
\neveryone to buy Canadian, American, Australia, Britain and Israeli products instead. Buy Estee
\nLauder or Ahava instead of Chanel, Dior, and YSL. Tell the salespeople why. Educate the public
\nwhen you shop.<\/P>
\n

Europe is underwriting the Arab war to exterminate the Jewish state. We cannot sit idly by
\nwhile this happens. Make your voice heard and let them feel the sting in their pocketbooks. Let
\nthe Europeans know that supporting terror does not pay.<\/P>
\n

Please send this to at least 10 like-minded people.<\/P><\/BLOCKQUOTE>
\n

<\/P>
\n

Boycottwatch.org summarizes the message as “a non-verifiable email” and discredits it for
\nvarious reasons, among them: “Nobody taking responsibility for the boycott call. … No original
\ncontact source for the boycott call. … No way to verify if the email has been altered.”<\/P>
\n

We asked William Osborne<\/FONT><\/B><\/A> what he thinks
\nof the email. He’s not only the smartest, best-informed, most-principled person we know —
\npace<\/I> all our smart, well-informed, principled friends — but he’s an American expatriate
\nactivist who has lived in Europe for the past 27 years and has followed the politics of Europe and
\nthe Middle East with deep interest and strong historical views about anti-Semitism.<\/P>
\n

Here’s his take:


\n

I hadn’t heard about the German embargo<\/FONT><\/B><\/A> on military exports to Israel. The Green
\nParty has a long history of opposition to Israel, but this has little to do with 1933 and much more
\nto do with their leftist and pacifist politics. The Greens tried to block even the export of
\nanti-missile defense systems to Israel during the last Gulf War when Iraq was actually shooting
\nmissiles at Israel. The 1933 part comes from their absolutism — a bane of the German mentality.
\n

<\/P>
\n

In re: Remember, every time you buy a bottle of Evian, a Carlsberg product, a Spanish
\nmelon, a Godiva chocolate, a Dior lipstick, a Gucci bag, or a German kitchen appliance, you are
\nfinancing the next Muslim mass murderer.<\/I><\/P>
\n

These kinds of crudely anti-European arguments are ridiculous and do little to aid the cause.
\nInstead, one pictures fanatics on that side of the dispute. To tell the truth, there is far more hatred
\nof Arabs and Moslems in the U.S. and even in Europe, than anti-Semitism. The Turks in Germany
\nface constant abuse (though in fairness, I must say that German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder’s
\ngovernment is evolving far more enlightened policies). Chauvinism is the source and could easily
\ncarry over to persecution of other groups, like Jewish people. Chauvinism is wrong on both
\nsides.<\/P>
\n

As for me, one would naturally suspect that my views are European, but that isn’t really true.
\nI of course sense the anti-Semitism that informs a lot of the European
\nperspective. It puts me off, and as you know, I have been rather vociferous about that, sometimes
\nto good effect, I think. <\/P>
\n

[A university student at the University of Vienna has been inspired by Osborne’s article
\n“Artist-Prophets”<\/FONT><\/B><\/A> — published in Leonardo Music Journal
\n(Vol. 9, 1999) M.I.T. Press — to do her Master’s thesis on the Vienna Philharmonic’s
\ncollaboration with the Third Reich.]<\/P>
\n

Actually, my view on the Israeli\/Palestnian war is far, far more Berkeley than European.
\nWatch Democracy Now!<\/FONT><\/B><\/A> for a couple weeks and you will see where
\nI am more or less aligned [Hey, it’s our favorite news site], though even they sometimes go too far
\nfor me. They simply do not give enough credence to the difficulties of dealing with the Muslim
\nmindset. <\/P>
\n

On the other hand, I will never subscribe to shooting to death rock-throwing children,
\nbulldozing houses, building walls euphemistically called fences, or respecting politicians of hatred
\nlike Benjamin Netanyahu or Ariel Sharon. As you know, the assassinated Yitzhak Rabin<\/FONT><\/B><\/A> is much more my type. The current morass
\nshows how hatred breeds hatred and can even wear down a country and people with the noble
\nand humanistic ideals upon which Israel was founded.<\/P>
\n

I know I will sound like a crackpot, and maybe I am, but I think the United States is mostly
\nresponsible. The Israelis are extremely independent-minded people. They have a desire for
\nself-reliance that only the Holocaust and two millennia of being pariahs could produce. If they had
\nany chance at all, they would very rightly keep an independent distance from the U.S. In reality,
\nthe populace of Israel is mostly from Europe and its view of government and culture is far more
\nEuropean than American. The U.S. knows this and keeps the Palestinian conflict alive in order to
\nkeep Israel totally dependent upon the U.S. I do not think I am being cynical or overly suspicious.
\nOur country is sinister. It has a huge incentive for keeping its hands on the Middle East, and Israel
\nis its fortress in that area.<\/P>
\n

Well, anyway, there you have it.<\/P><\/BLOCKQUOTE>
\n

<\/P>
\n

Here are some other calls for boycotts<\/FONT><\/B><\/A> against
\ninsurance companies, dairy products, hotel resorts, Broadway shows, newspapers, record
\ncompanies and almost anything else in the market for customers. As Brando once said in “The
\nWild One” in another context (he was asked what he was rebelling against): “Whaddya got?” I
\ndon’t know if these other boycott calls are justified. But at a glance most of them seem
\nso.<\/P><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you’ve never received an email message calling for a boycott or a petition to sign, you’re probably the only one who hasn’t. The latest that came to me said that Germany had decided “to stop all arms sales to Israel,” followed by similar bans by other European countries, and asked for a retaliatory boycott […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-769","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-main","7":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pbvgEs-cp","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/769","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=769"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/769\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=769"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=769"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=769"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}