Stop the War against humanity.
Boycott War Now!

Transcript of speech by Johan Galtung
Palm Sunday Rally 13 April 2003 - King Georges Square, Brisbane Australia

Very dear friends in peace

I have come from the old Europe, not from the Europe that had some difficulties understanding that they were just walking from the grips of one super power into another’s. That will not last.

I have some worries about the European union also aiming at super power status. We will fight against that. We will join our American friends in fighting for the decline of the US empire.

Now, I very much want to remind you, that after September 11, this is only war number 2. It is military intervention no 6, by the US after 1945. Number 238 after Thomas Jefferson started in 1804. Vice President Cheney has declared that there will be wars for a lifetime.

BBC has discovered a list of 60 countries JINSA, the Jewish Institute for National Security Affair in Washington and others have a plan for the forcible change of government regime in 22 Arab countries. The lists are long. This is war number two. There are wars to come. How do we stop it.

The European Union, the old Europe, has made an effort. They will continue. But everybody here, every body among the 15 million people, in the 600 cities around the world, [who gathered at] an historically a unique event on the 15 of February … every body can do something. Not only show heads in demonstrations - which we should do because we believe in democracy. But these people [supporting war] do not believe in it. They don’t count heads they manipulate them. But they are quite good at counting dollars. Economic boycott of US products abroad is indispensable as one method. I am here to talk about it and I would like to introduce some complexities in the picture.

We do not want to hit the American republic. Like Gore Vidal, I make a distinction between the US empire and the American republic – I hate the US empire. I love America. I have lived there great parts of my life. Its generosity, it innovative capacity, its fantastic perseverance. Like all other countries, it has its faults. We are there to help them – but the US empire is totally in all regards illegitimate.

A former planner for the Pentagon gave the best definition of imperialism I have ever heard - much better than my own.

“The purpose of the US armed forces is to protect our economic assets abroad and our cultural assault . To this end there will be a fair amount of killing."

Fair?! - FAIR?!

• 12- 16 million by overt killing by the Pentagon

• 6 million at least by the CIA

• By the structural violence at whose head the US is located, at least 1 million per day.

Fair? No my friends!

One way of bringing this to a stop is to deprive them of the income from abroad. That means systematically consumer boycott of consumer n goods, boycott of capital goods and boycott of financial goods. I say boycott. Sanctions are what counties do. And I propose that it be done in a Ghandian spirit, maintaining our contact with USA, entering into dialogue. I myself am there at least every second month.

Entering into dialogue, helping the forces that want to change - a regime change - badly needed. But you are not going to bomb them. And if out of boycott should come exceeding distress at the bottom of society, we would help. In other word what we want to do is to cut the tentacles abroad.

• For every Coca cola, drink a Mecca cola. For every franchise for coca cola, recommend Mecca cola. The French address is available on the Internet

• Instead of Microsoft you can use the free of charge Linux , a Finnish product.

• When you are looking out for your next travel, have a look at which aircraft it is If it is a Boeing change your plane.

• When you are looking for the kind of currency you want to bring with you - don’t buy dollars. Not necessarily Euros. Don’t buy dollars

They are printing dollars now to finance the war. Their basic finance is that government and firms will invest in the US, the government by buying US bonds, the firms by investing in US stocks. The South African regime was extremely shaken by the divestment movement - Do the same. You will be helped by the decline of the value of dollar. It is predicted that by the present rate of flushing out dollar accounts, the dollar will depreciate buy 40% this year. It is in your own interest. The average rate of profit for an American corporation is 6%. -A 6% decline in sales and we are in business - or to put it more bluntly -out of business. They will react! They will launch sanctions against countries with particularly heavy boycotts.

The method is solidarity with those countries and instead of boycott, having what someone has proposed to call “girlcott” the positive approach - buying products from the places that you would like to have them. They may push the burden onto the working class, in order to keep the profits. They do not have much margin in that regard because they have done it for the last years very consistently already. They have reduced the acquisitive power of the bottom 50% maybe 70 of the US population, down to a point where the US consumer spending inside the US is going down. The likelihood of a significant population movement, against the economics of the current regime is very high. Against that double pressure, I would suggest some basic yielding will come.

Do we boycott all firms? No!! The UN has three goals - peace, development, environment. I think the way one should do it is to boycott the worst.

• In the field of peace, those who either do it or have links to military procurement, to military destruction and deployment.

• In the field of development, those who treat minorities badly. Women badly for instance, through the evil instrument of pregnancy tests, in order to know whom not to employ and whom to fire. To firms that more than others buy up the capital goods, the production factors needed for poor people - the land, the seeds the water, the manure. Those are the firms at the top of the list.

• In the field of environment those who cause most destruction to the pressured planet ,our home. The home for all of us. They are making crimes these corporations. Every dollar you spend buying their goods is a contribution to them Now if you are worried about the franchise on Australian soil and you have a feeling that the boycott will hit them, recommend them to change franchise. They are not tied legally to one particular brand. They can change it. Have a dialogue with them. That dialogue is important.

When you are filling up your car at a tanking, you are not obliged to buy Exxon, Chevron and Shell. You can pass by them. There are alternatives. If they feel a decline in sales beyond 6%, they can change. You can have a dialogue with them. -You can help them. But by all the time indicating the substitutes you are gong to buy, you are also indicating that you are in it form the long run.

Why are we in it for the long run? Because they are in it for the long run. 12 –16 million killed through 67 military interventions not counting Afghanistan and Iraq. The figures are not yet in It is not fair. Fair amount of killing. Please! Please!

American friends! We are not here to hurt you. We are here to help you revolt against the people who have made a coup in your own country.

Thankyou

TRANSCEND was founded August 1993 by Johan Galtung and others as a conflict mediation organization, based on Galtung's experience with 20 conflicts over 35 years. TRANSCEND is a "virtual" organization with communication conducted mainly by e-mail. A major stimulus for Transcend's work was a commision to produce a study on Conflict Transformation for the UN Disaster Management Training Program, a 35-page "mini-version" document published by the UN in 1998, and a "maxi-version" (189pp) published in 2000. The study is now availalbe in over 12 translations. Manuals in peacebuilding, peace journalism, reconciliation, food assistance in disasters and nonmilitary approaches to security are almost completed. TRANSCEND is based on four pillars/modes of activity: action, education/training, dissemination, research.