Our reporter, assigned to cover the press conference held Saturday by the Union of the Professional Associations to launch the so-called "Arab and Islamic boycott of all American products,” came back to the office rather bewildered. Many relevant questions — such as what products precisely the campaign intended to boycott, and what other countries in the Arab and Muslim worlds were expected to launch similar initiatives — were clumsily circumvented.
Other questions were answered only partially, or not exhaustively. The general impression among journalists present was that the meeting — and the campaign, to a great extent — had not been thoroughly prepared for. Not that this is anything new. Lack of serious preparation has marked many campaigns launched by the professional unions over the years.
Let us not forget, among others, that it took them some two years to announce the famous “black list” of the so-called Jordanian normalizers, and that, when that list finally saw the light last week, it counted a “disappointing” 20 names, including at least one non-Jordanian.
But, if lack of preparation cannot certainly be considered an exclusive associations sin — has not lack of preparation, after all, long characterized government policies and even international high-profile events, such as some peace summits? — We must say that the very idea of launching a boycott against US products was naive, to say the least. Have union leaders not been informed that something called "globalization" has taken root many seasons ago?
Dear union leaders, kindly allow us to share this piece of information with you: Over the last two years, mergers between European and American companies alone totaled more than three trillion dollars. Could this indicate that discerning what is American and what is not is becoming increasingly problematic?
But let us assume that the boycott has to be taken seriously. Then, why haven't we heard the associations call on all of us to do away with Microsoft and Intel — which, by the way, opened one of its plants in Israel — and just throw our computers out of the window?
Why haven't we heard them, for example, call for a boycott against Boeing, and ask people to travel the world on horseback? The fact that the boycott advocates appear to be focusing specifically on American brand names that have invested in the country makes their campaign sound more like a call for economic suicide on a national scale than an initiative to support a just and comprehensive settlement in the Middle East.
For, if what they really want is supporting the Palestinians in their struggle for their national rights, clearer priorities and much more creative thinking are needed. — ( Jordan Times )
© 2000 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
