Today, I'm going to talk about one very important thing you can do to support the people of #Palestine in general and of #Gaza in particular (besides attending solidarity rallies, or donating money, or sending Palestinians a kind word on social mediaโฆ):
Boycotting the occupation.
#FreePalestine #FreeGaza #Genocide #StopGenocide #Boycott #BDS #BoycottIsrael
1/11
First, you need to understand itโs very difficult for the people in #Gaza to boycott Israeli products. Gaza has been under a blockade since 2007 (I was 4 years old). Israel built a gigantic wall all around the Gaza Strip. The occupation forces have been deciding what is allowed in to Gaza and what is allowed out.
2/11
There is quite a lot of farmland in the Gaza Strip which used to allow Palestinians to grow their own food, as an alternative to Israeli products. But now all of the farmland is on the forbidden side of the yellow line as per Trumpโs peace agreement. So we can only resort to using the little food aid Israel lets in, or Israeli products they allow, which make up all of what we can find on the markets.
3/11
Weโre trying to survive war, starvation, a collapsed health system, a collapsed environment full of toxic chemicals and unexploded bombs and ammunition ready to explode as soon as anyone or anything gets too close. And thereโs still a blockade. Please show the people from #Gaza some understanding if you see them using ChatGPT, Google, WhatsApp or PayPal, or eating Israeli hummus or Israeli chicken or Israeli canned food. This is all weโve got.
4/11
However, not all my followers live in the #Gaza Strip. Then, you may have alternatives to Israeli products.
5/11
Thereโs an international campaign organised by Palestinians called #BDS, Boycott, Divest, Sanction. Itโs organised and supported by Palestinian trade unions, associations, NGOโs, as well as worldwide refugee rights organisations and associations, churches, synagogues, clubsโฆ Please note, and itโs important, that Iโm not affiliated with any of these organisations. All I want is for the war to stop and for peace to prevail.
6/11
The BDS organisation calls for everyone to put pressure on Israel until it stops violating international law. Itโs a movement for freedom, equality and justice, and against apartheid.
7/11
There are many international companies and organisations that benefit from the violation of international law and from the murder, displacement and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in Gaza and in the West Bank. Their money funds the bullets that kill Palestinian children, and the explosive robots that destroy whole neighbourhoods, sometimes whole villages. Itโs important your money isnโt used for that. Most often, there are real alternatives.
8/11
It works! Carrefour was forced to close all their branches in Jordan. Puma ended its complicity with the genocide. McDonaldโs is seeing global sales declining and has been forced to react in several countries. Some arms manufacturers were forced to close their branches in the UK.
I hope you realise that by watching Disney+, drinking Coca-Cola and eating at Burger King, you finance a genocide. It would be nice to stop now.
9/11
For more information, you may have a look at the international website of the BDS movement:
https://www.bdsmovement.net/campaigns
Or you may look at your local BDS website:
https://bdsmovement.net/join-a-bds-campaign
10/11
If you found this thread interesting, share it with your followers and with your friends. If youโd like to help my family pay off debts (we had to spend a lot of money to move and evade bombings), please consider donating to my fundraising campaign. Times are tough.
โก๏ธ https://chuffed.org/project/mohshbairgaza
Thank you for your support, from the bottom of my heart. Itโs a blessing to have supporters like you.
#Gaza #Palestine #FreePalestine #Genocide #StopGenocide #MutualAid #Boycott #BoycottIsrael
11/11
@mohshbair You wrote something well-written and informative, yet again!
I hope this will make some people think. And support you financially.
@mohshbair There are many, many people who support Palestine. On Mastodon, you see only a fraction of them. Most are on the streets, protesting, rather than on the internet. โ
But there's even more Westerners, unfortunately, who are just selfish. ๐ People for whom even just drinking some other drink is too much to ask for.
I never liked Coca Cola. It's unhealthy and disgusting. But for many people, it's their favorite drink, despite the health problems.
If these people won't even stop drinking it for their own health, they won't stop drinking it for other people. I am very disappointed in people. ๐ We can't convince everyone.
But like you say, the boycotts are working. More and more people become aware and stop supporting evil companies. There still are many good people.
Mohammed Shobair ๐ from Gaza
TP
Akane ่ๅ
ฐ ๐ณ๏ธโโง๏ธ
Shad
David Culley
kat donegan ๐ต๐ธโ
Sarah W
Ms. Que Banh
Chris McCabe
Andrew J Spaulding
Robin Barton