International day for Boycotting US Products

By Khaled Hanafi,
IslamOnLine (IOL)
July 22, 2002

Environment and anti-globalization organizations worldwide called on all citizens suffering from U.S. injustice to give up drinking American soft drinks, especially Coca-Cola, for the day of Monday, July 22, 2002.

Head of the Egyptian Society for boycotting Zionist and American products, Ahmed Bahaa Edeen Shaaban told IslamOnline Sunday, July 14, " We call upon Egyptian and Arab citizens to support our drive, especially as far as Coca-Cola is concerned. It is a symbol of U.S. hegemony that must be resisted".

Shaaban added that the soft drink is not on top of the unified boycott list, agreed by the General Egyptian Committee and Labor Unions. "This is the first time we try to make one unified list of boycotted products. We are trying to apply it throughout the Egyptian land," he said.

The unified list of boycotted products, a copy of which has been received by IslamOnline, includes goods considered symbols of U.S. domination. Among them are MacDonald's, Coca-Cola, Sprite, Fanta, Arial (Washing powder), Marlboro, Pampers (baby diapers), Heinz products',etc.

In his justification of a unified list of boycotted goods, Shaaban said that many lists appeared, causing confusion among the consumers because some lists included national products. " So, there had to be accurate measures to brand a certain product liable to boycott," he added.

"The Egyptian Committee prepared the unified list through specialized economic experts, who applied strict rules to be followed. First rule applied is boycotting all Israeli companies and products, as well as affiliates thereof. Second rule is selecting a sample of U.S. and Western products, as a message to the U.S. and other pro-Israel states to the effect that bias to Israel will hurt the interests of such states.

"Third rule is to guarantee an alternative to the boycotted product. Then making sure that boycotting any product will have no negative impacts on the Egyptian economy. Finally, only companies and goods meeting the boycott measures are to be included in the unified list," added Shaaban.

The Egyptian Committee believes boycotting western products will also encourage Egyptian-made products and give a boost to the national industry.