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Regular readers of this blog and its predecessor may be taken aback at this point. I am no fan of the consumer politics fad. A generation of slightly-left-of-centre type people who in years past might have grown into passable trade unionists or single-issue campaigners have instead had their political development stunted by the belief that their political power lives in their wallet. Here we have activism for the Thatcherite imaginary, with the decision to consume displacing the ballot box or the picket line. It is an intrinsically individualistic model of social engagement, and one which far from challenging the capitalist order which produces the misery against which consumer activism is directed, inserts its proponents more firmly into the dominant ideology of that order. There is also some evidence that, even it is own terms, the most irritating manifestation of consumer politics, Fair Trade - concern for development packaged in a manner suitable for rural church halls and easily scared Waitrose shoppers - doesn't actually work in its own terms.
Anyway, here's Žižek saying similar things,
Right, that's enough Žižek. Back to me. Why do I support BDS? First, it has been called for by Palestinian groups themselves and is backed by the main solidarity organisations worldwide (there's a comparison to be made here with the boycott of apartheid South Africa). Far from having the usual atomising effect of consumer political actions, of relating to some imagined political movement only through a fetished commodity, when I refuse to buy some Israeli product I remind myself of a real movement of which I'm a part, I perform my solidarity. So there's something to be said for not buying Israeli goods.
That said, the usual objections to consumer activism aren't entirely defeated in this case. I won't buy Israeli goods, but I don't fondly imagine that the Israeli state will be brought to its knees by Western consumers being careful about their celery purchases. It will take far more economic, political, and - let's disabuse ourselves of 'beautiful soul' liberalism here - probably military effort than that. Yet, here's the thing: BDS isn't just, or even primarily, about keeping a close eye on one's shopping.
Individual consumption decisions are one thing. Systematically targeting inward investors in Israeli capitalism is another thing altogether, and looks far more like collective political action of the old school. Protests against companies and industrial campaigns designed to force the turning off of Israel's economic taps can make a real difference, weakening and putting pressure on the Israeli state.
Nor should the role cultural and sporting boycotts in isolating Israel be underestimated. Academia and the arts are key places here. I have no words for the kind of rose-tinted worldview that resists at this point on the basis that cultural and intellectual intercourse bring people together, and therefore boycotts in these areas should be avoided. Leaving aside the implicit suggestion that the basic problem in the Middle East is that people just don't get together enough (one which I feel might not stand up to critical scrutiny), it is a purely academic question how far up one's own arse one needs to be to propose that, when bombers are raining hell on hospitals, houses, and mosques, a bit of fringe theatre is likely to prove a healing remedy.
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*And I'm quite happy to put it in those terms. I think the rationale for the Israeli state, as set apart for one particular ethno-religious group, is intrinsically racist and almost inevitably genocidal in cumulative effect. I support a one-state solution guaranteeing the rights of all religious and ethnic groups. I should argue for this at length at some point. For now, though, if you support a two-state solution but oppose current Israeli policy, substitute accordingly.
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