Boycott
From Wikipedia, a free encyclopedia written in simple English for easy reading.
A boycott is a protest where the protesters do not buy a product or give money to a company. Instead of buying a certain product, they might also buy another, very similar product from a different company.
The word was made during the Irish Land War'. It comes from the name of Captain Charles Boycott. Boycott was in charge of looking after the land of a landlord in County Mayo, Ireland. In 1880, the tennants (those who rented) wanted that their rent be lowered. Boycott refused, and threw them out of the land they had rented. The Irish Land League then proposed that instead of becoming violent, everyone in the community should stop doing business with Captain Boycott. The captain was soon isolated. No one helped him with the harvest, no one worked in his stables or his house. Local businessmen no longer traded with him, the postman no longer delivered his post.
To get his harvest done, he had to hire 50 people from other counties, the counties Cavan and Monaghan. They were escorted to and from their work by 1000 policemen. Of course, this cost far more than what the harvest was worth.
In 1881 the word came into general use.
[edit] External links
- Boycott Aruba--Justice for Natalee Holloway
- Academic Boycott Resource Center
- boycott resources
- List of boycotts at EthicalConsumer.org
- PandGkills Proctor & Gamble boycott
- Baby Milk Action, the secretariat for the International Nestlé Boycott Committee
- The boycott of Israeli universities
- From Budrus to Bil'in to Boycott - The Other Israel
- Protesting Coca-Cola's support for murder in Colombia
- Digital grassroots movement against big oil and gas price gouging
- Othercott - A Christian boycott of the film The Da Vinci Code
- Smart Boycotts
- Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel
- Palestinian Civil Society Calls for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against Israel
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