THE BIG BOYCOTT

As the world sits back and watches life go by (and the news on tv every evening), some very real people are fearing for their lives, living amidst bombings and gunfires as they fight to keep the land each group thinks is likely theirs.

Ever since I became aware of what was happening in the news (around the age of 8), nightmarish tales of the fight that is ongoing in the Gaza strip has always been there, from the time Yasser Arafat and his missions to negotiate peace right until his death, and up till now. And with all the nations surrounding it, some strong, some weak, taking sides with perhaps the group they think ought to live there, or based on ideology and political interests, it is a wonder that the conflict has never ended even after all this while. I can't help wondering why, and yet I can't seem to think of any reason, or how anyone can make things better. This is probably one situation where the phrase 'make peace and not war' will fall on deaf ears.

In light of the latest series of blasts and bombings that are occuring, there was a call by a certain former important person and a few quarters to boycott Israeli and American products, which I personally think doesn't and cannot do anything to help the situation in Gaza. Firstly, seeing that my country does not even recognize Israel as a sovereign state (Our International passports allow us to go anywhere in the world except Israel), it is natural that there exists no trade between the two countries, and therefore I see that the call for the boycott serves no purpose. Secondly, what does the United States have to do anything with this (except allegedly being Israel's strongest supporter)? Of course there were some of the foreign policies made by the US under the Bush administration which was not very smart - especially the one on Afghanistan. But if you're going to boycott their goods, their currency and their economy, it will only make the American people suffer, some of whom are friends which is almost as bad as bombing a school full of kids because one of the kids parents was a war criminal, for instance. It's always the people who suffer due to the actions of their governments and despite how much the governments hate each other, the people on the street (well, not ON the streets, but you get what I mean) are mostly nice. The politicians are not going to suffer, except maybe for a vote of no confidence, but how often does that happen? The politicians are most probably rich enough to sit back and sip martinis on a Sunday afternoon.


My faith in the intelligence of the Malaysian politicians returned after the chief minister of the state I live in said that the boycott is pointless, one reason being with the globalisation which has enveloped our world, lots of so called American products are also produced elsewhere, some even here, which in turn will have some sort of effect in so many different ways. But then, he is from the opposition and was voted for the plain and simple reason that we needed some changes.

I can't offer a solution to the conflict which is going on because so many people have tried so many different things and nothing seems to have worked so far, but I do hope that it ends soon, amicably, peacefully and that the peace lasts for a long time. There is already too much blood soaking the land.