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Boycott grows { May 10 2002 } Date: Fri, 10 May 2002 19:38:55 -0700
>An Anti-American Boycott Is Growing in the Arab World
>By NEIL MacFARQUHAR
>
>
>For good measure, their slogan "the American pastry" is being jettisoned,
>with Mr. Nasier musing aloud that doughnuts might qualify as traditional
>Saudi fare, given that he started making them 21 years ago.
>
>"We share the same outraged feelings of the Saudi public toward the
>attitude of the American administration," Mr. Nasier said, speaking by
>telephone from the Jidda headquarters of his 180-outlet chain. "We are
>deleting anything that relates to America."
>
>American support for Israel, especially during its recent military
>offensive in the occupied territories, is driving a grass-roots effort to
>boycott American products throughout the Arab world. With word spread via
>the Internet, mosque sermons, fliers and even mobile phone messages, the
>boycott seems to be slowly gathering force, especially against consumer
>products.
>
>Purchases of American goods generated by 300 million Arabs form such a
>small part of American exports that even a widespread boycott would not
>cause much of a blip. Most trade consists of big ticket items like
>airplanes, with total American exports to the Middle East amounting to $20
>billion in 2000, just 2.5 percent of America's total exports.
>
>But a long boycott could retard the spread of franchises and other
>products, experts say. Sales at most American fast-food outlets in the
>Arab world are already off somewhere between 20 and 30 percent on average,
>American diplomats and industry analysts say, and consumer products face a
>similar decline.
>
>The boycotts have largely been the effort of individuals and small groups
>without government involvement, like student organizations and such civic
>organizations as are allowed to exist. They reflect a growing sentiment
>that Arabs should distance themselves from the United States, and they
>want their governments to do likewise.
>
>"They are beginning to feel that shouting slogans in reaction to what the
>U.S. is doing is not enough," said Kamal Hamdan, a Lebanese economist. A
>Marlboro smoker, he said that whenever he pulls out a packet, somebody
>invariably now reproaches him with, "What, still smoking American cigarettes?"
>
>He went on: "They want to design detailed programs against specific goods
>and services that might involve the banking system, insurance, financial
>markets. They want to find some pressure points that can have an economic
>impact."
>
>The attitude is everywhere. Scores of lists circulate suggesting
>non-American substitutes for things like Lays potato chips and Head &
>Shoulders shampoo. The research does not always seem that rigorous;
>Domino's Pizza was listed as non-American on one list apparently on the
>strength of sounding Italian.
>
>Al Montazah, a supermarket chain in Bahrain, enforced the boycott on all
>its roughly 10,000 daily customers by replacing some 1,000 American
>products with alternatives. A few parents lacking Pampers diapers
>grumbled, but Abdulmonem al-Meer, the general manager, said the move had
>boosted sales at some stores.
>
>"I know it will not do much in terms of putting pressure on the American
>government, but whatever I can do I should do," Mr. Meer said.
>
>The boycott calls have thus far prompted little violence toward American
>companies, although an empty Kentucky Fried Chicken outlet in the northern
>Lebanese city of Tripoli was bombed overnight Thursday.
>
>Even places like Syria, where American products have long been barred, are
>trying to get into the act. Billboards around Damascus show horrific
>scenes of Israeli troops razing Jenin refugee camp, with the slogan,
>"Boycott American products — Don't be an accomplice," in Arabic and English.
>
>"No Americans Allowed," reads a yardlong wooden sign in the window of
>Mondo restaurant, incongruously an American-style diner decorated with
>icons like the Statue of Liberty. "The American people should feel that
>they have a problem," said Ahmed Diab, the 38-year-old owner.
>
>The Arabs established a boycott office in Damascus in 1951 against
>companies that did business with Israel, and that kept products like
>Coca-Cola and Ford vehicles out of the Middle East for decades. But it
>gradually faded as major markets like Egypt signed a peace treaty with Israel.
>
>Boycott support in the region's government-run newspapers has been almost
>universal, although outright endorsements by senior officials have been
>rare, given that it could hurt foreign investment. The Syrian government
>is among the few encouraging the boycott.
>
>More typical is a speech by Sheika Fatima al-Nahyan, the wife of the ruler
>of Ajman in the United Arab Emirates, telling a women's group, "Start by
>boycotting all makeup and clothes made by the enemies and prevent children
>from buying their products, too."
>
>The idea has gained the whole-hearted support of many religious figures,
>with myriad Friday prayer sermons devoted to the issue. Worshipers at one
>Jidda mosque were so fired up when they emerged that they converged on a
>hapless grocer next door to demand that he tear down a Coke sign. He demurred.
>
>Sheik Yusuf al-Qaradawi, the influential Muslim cleric on Al Jazeera
>satellite network, displays a blinking banner on his Web site that reads,
>"Boycott America from Pepsi cans to Boeing."
>
>Indeed, the flood of e-mail and Web sites sets this effort apart from all
>previous ones. Calls for boycotting three American corporations —
>McDonald's, Starbucks and Microsoft — gained rapid momentum through the
>Internet.
>
>In the case of McDonald's, the rumor erupted that it donated a part of
>every meal's cost to Israel. Local franchises from Morocco to the Persian
>Gulf issued statements denying it, stressing that they were locally owned
>and operated. The Lebanese McDonald's even paid for an instant message to
>be flashed on 60,000 cellphones, but in some cases the damage had been done.
>
>After a McDonald's opened a year ago at the end of her street in Taif,
>Saudi Arabia, Lama Muhammad's 5-year-old daughter insisted on one Happy
>Meal a day. But recently she started watching the news with her mother. "I
>told her we are not supposed to buy from there because they support
>Israel," her mother said. The child has not asked for a Happy Meal since.
>Saudi parents report that their children vie in the schoolyard to list all
>the American things they avoid.
>
>In the case of Microsoft and Starbucks, word bombarded across the Internet
>after the Israeli Microsoft branch sponsored a billboard supporting the
>Israeli Army, as did remarks reportedly made by Howard Schultz, chairman
>of Starbucks, at his Seattle synagogue.
>
>A local news article forwarded endlessly quoted him as saying that Jews
>needed to confront rising anti-Semitism worldwide and that the
>Palestinians needed to do more to fight terrorism. The remarks about the
>Palestinians prompted the boycott call, even though the company issued two
>statements saying Mr. Schultz did not believe terrorism was representative
>of the Palestinian people and that he thought Israeli and Palestinian
>states should live together peacefully.
>
>"Everybody is addicted to Starbucks — it's the hip place," said Kholood
>Khatami, a 25-year-old Saudi journalist. "It's not empty, but it is not as
>crowded as it used to be. I'm boycotting. Of course, there are some things
>you cannot avoid — technology and software is all American."
>
>Many companies, especially fast-food restaurants, are fighting back with
>huge advertising campaigns saying the boycott will only hurt locals.
>Burger King, in a typical advertisement this week in Saudi Arabia, pointed
>out that it bought everything from bread to lettuce to mayonnaise from
>Saudi producers.
>
>Others with American products like Kellogg's breakfast cereal or Hershey's
>chocolate are hoping that the United States will change its Middle East
>policy fast enough for old consumer habits to return.
>
>"Our sales are suffering, but I am not concerned about the loss of sales,"
>said Sheik Wahib S. Binzagr, the patriarch of a Jidda merchant family that
>has imported a wide variety of American goods for decades. He was
>nonplused to find the clan's own name on the boycott list.
>
>"I laugh from desperation because I cannot do anything about it," he said.
>"There is damage, and I think efforts should be mobilized to rectify the
>bad relationship, and then the other things will correct themselves."
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