Personal Psychology (Personality & Self-Esteem):
By Javed Ahmad
How does one deal with an enemy that threatens people with weapons, loss of job, loss of liberty and freedom? How does one deal with a government that leaves people no choice but “You are either with us or against us”? Gandhi became famous for his “Nonviolent Civil Disobedience”. In other words, “Boycott”.
On this article I’ll mainly focus on boycotting at an individual level. Once we understand the mechanism, it would be easy to understand the consequences of boycott at a wider scale.
I do not recognize United States as a civilized nation anymore. Nor do I recognize the nations that behave the way US do. Therefore, the lists of the nations or countries that I shun are:
The list could however get bigger as the time pass by. Depending on how the world events make its turns.
Israel has been on the top of the list for many years now. I’ve always argued that, Israel has no right to exist, not in Palestine. If United States feels so strongly for Israel and its well being, then they might as well bring that nation under their own territories. Therefore, I never recognized Israel as a legitimate country. I agree with those who say that Israel is “occupying” Palestine.
US, UK and Australia got into the mess because of Israel. Zionists- the rulers of Israel have infiltrated into the political and economical systems so well that nothing happens without their consent. As a result, we are now witnessing the preparation for 3rd World War in the Middle East. Their armies are now occupying some sovereign countries and are killing women, children and older people indiscriminately. And none of these are accidents.
India came on my list almost accidentally. The pre-planned riots in Gujrat that left many Indian Muslims dead and burnt alive shook me so badly that my respect and admiration for Indians have fallen apart. I still do not understand, how can a group of people grab people of another group on religious ground and burn them alive? What kind of religion is Hinduism that makes its followers like animals with no heart and mind? How can a human being be so cruel to another human being? Visit the following sites to get a picture of what they have done:
http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/Gujarat6_files/frame.htm
http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/Gujaratupdate19_files/frame.htm
http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/GujaratBurning22April_files/frame.htm
Therefore, I had to act. Pretty much that same way I acted upon my decision on leaving US (please read my article “Why I Left US?” if you don’t know what I’m talking about). I felt the compulsion to show my disagreement through action. So, for now, I’ve chosen to boycott the product and services offered by those countries.
How do I do it? Well, I just follow some simple rules:
How much have I succeeded in this boycott game? Well, pretty much I would say. Have my lifestyle got limited due to my boycotting? Yes, in some ways. But the amount of self-satisfaction I get is priceless.
I even had to limit my choices of schools due to my unwillingness to take the GRE and GMAT. Simply because, those are American standards (Americans don’t have any ‘standards’ anymore), and I would have to pay in “American dollars” to apply and sit for the test administered by the “Americans”.
When I left US, I closed all my accounts in the US and converted all US currencies into Canadian dollars (many are now switching to Euro). The way the Americans are stealing the monies by ‘freezing Islamic bank accounts’, there is no guarantee that they won’t do it to Muslim individuals under the pretext of catching ‘terrorist’!
When I plan my travel, I make sure that I do not use any American, British, or any such airlines, nor accept any itinerary that have transits through any of those countries. There have been some incidences where the airport security people harassed innocent passengers just on the basis of suspicion while they were on transit through the American airports. Forget about traveling to those countries!
I've also stopped watching American movies at the theatres. Nor do I purchase or rent any American movie videos or dvd's. In other words, I'm also boycotting Hollywood. Hollywood is an efficient money making venture of the secret government. Return against the investment in movies are always huge. Millions and billions are made in each movies, especially on those that are a hit at the box office. And who are the film makers? Where does all the money go? Who benefits? Have you noticed how Hollywood have gotten busy in movie making right after 911? Have you noticed the increase of new TV programs after 911? American Idol, Joe Millionaire, Elimidate, etc. (mostly junk)? What is the purpose of all this? Simply to keep people in the land of fantasy, and suck them out of their hard earned money. The money that would go to governments secret agendas.
Boycott can have a huge impact if we add up all the individuals like myself. People around the world are now engaged in some kind of boycotting around the world, especially in the Middle East. As a result, McDonalds, Starbucks had to close down many of their foreign locations.
So what would be the outcome? Do your math, as the revenues continues to decline at home and abroad, so will the profits and taxes. As the profits and taxes fall, the support for the governmental plans and programs would be affected due to shortage of fund. This would directly affect the military infrastructure of those countries. Need I say more?
Check out the following web sites on boycott:
http://www.boycottisraeligoods.org/
http://www.coopamerica.org/boycotts/
http://www.inminds.co.uk/boycott-israel.html
Finally, the following letter appeared at http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/letters.html on April 18, 2003. This is a remarkable example of boycott coming from the international intellectual community. Highlights are my own emphasis.
Dear WhatReallyHappened,
I have a letter than I am thinking of either hosting myself
on my webserver, or that I ask you possibly host. It is a rather interesting
exchange between two big names in Physics.
It is something I received in an e-mail from a colleague who has his finger on the
pulse of the scientific community (mainly Physics).
This is a correspondence between XXXXXX and YYYYYYYYYY (of
the highly esteemed journal in physics : Physical Review E). These are two big names in the
Physics world, both of whom have made huge contributions to our understanding
of neural network theory.
This mail below has four parts:
1. XXXXX requests YYYYY to review a new submitted paper.
2. YYYYYYY oneline reply
3. ZZZZZZZZ reply to YYYYY letter
4. YYYYYY replies.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
XXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Univ.
di Roma, La Sapienza
Ple Aldo Moro 2
00185
Roma, ITALY
Electronic URL-Download Referral from Physical Review E
Code: EA8932
Title:
Transitions in oscillatory dynamics of two connected neurons with excitatory
synapses
Received
08 January 2003
Dear Dr. XXXXX
We
would appreciate your review of this manuscript, which has been
submitted to Physical Review E. This message is the COMPLETE REFERRAL. No
hardcopy will be sent unless requested.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
From: YYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY
To: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Sent:
Friday, March 21, 2003 6:11 PM
Subject: Re: Review_request AMIT EA8932 Roudi
I will
not at this point correspond with any american institution. Some of us have
lived through 1939.
YYYYYYYYYYYYYYY
-----------------------------------------------------------------
From: ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
To: YYYYYYYYYYYYYYY
Subject:
your email to the American Physical Society
Date:
Tuesday, April 08, 2003 10:31 PM
Dear YYYYYYYYYY
We have
received your email with your decision not to review a paper for us in light of
American actions in the middle east. We recognize that reviewing
manuscripts is a voluntary activity, one that you perform as a service to the
physics community, and we thank you for your efforts.
Given the voluntary nature of your participation we of
course respect your decision to cease, and have made an indication in our
database so that no further papers will be sent to you for review until you
inform us otherwise.
We ask, however, that you consider the following in hopes
that in the not too distant future you will decide to review for us again.
We regard science as an international enterprise and we do
our best to put aside political disagreements in the interest of furthering the
pursuit of scientific matters. We have never used other than scientific
criteria in judging the acceptability of a paper for publication, without
regard to the country of origin of the author.
We have done this even in cases where some of us have
disagreed strongly with the policies of that country, and we will continue this
practice. We believe it is essential that all parties involved make every
effort to separate social and political differences from their participation in
scientific research and publication. The pursuit of scientific knowledge needs
to transcend such issues.
Sincerely,
YYYYYYYYYYY
Editor-in-Chief
-------------------------------------------------------------------
From: YYYYYYYYYYY
To: ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
Date:
Wednesday, April 09, 2003
YYYYYYYYYYYYYY
American
Physical Society
Dear YYYYYYYYYY
Thank you for you letter of April 8. I would have liked to be able to share the
honorable sentiments you express in your letter as well as your optimism in the
future role of science and the scientific community. To be frank, and with much
sadness and pain, after 40 years of activity and collaboration, I find very
little reason for such optimism.
What we
are watching today, I believe, is a culmination of 10-15 years of mounting
barbarism of the American culture the world over, crowned by the achievements of
science and technology as a major weapon of mass destruction. We are witnessing
man hunt and wanton killing of the type and scale not seen since the raids on
American Indian populations, by a superior technological power of inferior
culture and values. We see no corrective force to restore the insanity, the
self-righteousness and the lack of respect for human life (civilian and
military) of another race.
Science
cannot stay neutral, especially after it has been so cynically used in the
hands of the inspectors to disarm a country and prepare it for decimation by
laser guided cluster bombs. No, science of the American variety has no
recourse. I, personally,
cannot see myself anymore sharing a common human community with American
science. Unfortunately, I also belong to a culture of a similar spiritual
deviation (Israel), and which seems to be equally incorrigible.
In
desperation I cannot but turn my attention to other tragic periods in which
major societies, some with claims to fundamental contributions to culture and
science, have deviated so far as to be relegated to ostracism and quarantine.
At this point I think American society should be considered in this category. I
have no illusions of power, as to the scope and prospect of my attitude.
But, the
minor role of my act and statement is a simple way of affirming that in the
face of a growing enormity which I consider intolerable, I will exercise my own
tiny act of disobedience to be able to look straight into the eyes of my
grandchildren and my students and say that I did know.
With regard
YYYYYYYYYYYYY
PS I intend to distribute our exchange as much as possible.
I authorize and pray that you do the same.