Daniel Ellsberg — the last guy to personally stand up to the war machine, when he released The Pentagon Papers to Congress and the press in the early 1970s, exposing the sham of the Vietnam War — has called for a boycott of Amazon. The book publisher, which is also a web host, dumped WikiLeaks from its servers this week under pressure from Sen. Joe Lieberman — a man wanted for other crimes against the people.
Here is how he starts his letter:
Open letter to Amazon.com Customer Service:
I’m disgusted by Amazon’s cowardice and servility in abruptly terminating today its hosting of the Wikileaks website, in the face of threats from Senator Joe Lieberman and other Congressional right-wingers. I want no further association with any company that encourages legislative and executive officials to aspire to China’s control of information and deterrence of whistle-blowing.
For the last several years, I’ve been spending over $100 a month on new and used books from Amazon. That’s over. I ask Amazon to terminate immediately my membership in Amazon Prime and my Amazon credit card and account, to delete my contact and credit information from their files and to send me no more notices.
Planet Waves will delete its Amazon accounts today.
Maybe a particular date could be chosen and shared via social media, inviting those who wish to make a statement about the decision by Amazon, PayPal etc, by boycotting them en masse for a day. I doubt that it will hurt their bottom line that much, but it is a chance for the collective anger to unite and make a statement by grabbing some media attention.
People have been willing to lay their lives on the line for less.
And didn’t Fox just reinstate what-his-name (you know- such yesterday’s news*) because people responded?
It is hard, really hard, to ‘boycott’ all the boogy-men, no doubt about it.
*clue: Keith O.
We don’t know what works, because we try so little.
I personally don’t want to do business with Amazon; and I want to reply in kind to their gesture this week.
Mystes has a very good point. Amazon does represent a lot of small business owners under its umbrella and we need to be cautious here about making snap judgments in an era where its becoming real obvious that interconnections are rampant and subtle.
Amazon did start off as a revolutionary and it provided a real opportunity for a lot. I dont agree with its decision to pull the plug on WL, and (having a strong libran signature) I also see the irony that Julian and Ellsberg point out regarding free speech.
But I also dont think that it is receiving big federal dollars like the big banks and oil companies are. Though I havent done the research on this. If so, than as someone pointed out on another thread, it would be time for small business owners to gravitate to a new internet source for sellers. That would lend itself to the whole reconstruction of shit that is just in its infancy.
Polarizations and generalizations and outright boycotts may very well be a thing of the past. They just dont work anymore in these times where things are very convoluted. Again, I think we need to be much more careful these days….
yours truly studpidly and hypnotically
Mysti, I don’t think that the boycott of Amazon is going to affect any customer who doesn’t boycott Amazon. And I would love to have a smidge of their programming to make our programming a bit smoother. That said, you know we always cooperate with people who hare having one issue or another. We trust that people will be real and that we’re not facilitating anyone’s adult handling of money — but Chelsea is there to help.
ef
Hey Care-care…
Well thanks, babe. Everybody does what they can vis. their kids, no? I know you have a full house/heart.
I’m not complaining (much) or suffering (too much). I’ll do this as long as I can. The throttle is presently on Full-Tilt until I can get enough going to move into *one* 30 hr. a week job rather than 2.
This is not “my” life. But I accept the challenge for what I hope will be a limited duration. Ovid still gave the best description of *my* life: Discinctaque en otia natus. “Born to lounge around in naked sloth.”
Ha.
Oh, one more thing: the only $$ I have available to buy 2011 LightBridge is coming out of my biz (Amazon) acct.
I don’t have time to explain the ins and outs of why I work with Amazon rather than eBay or Biblio or aLibris, suffice it to say that Amazon has the most sophisticated software and a streamlined process. I’ve done the others and they take twice as much muscle for half the income. I tried for 18 months, they were money/time pits.
I’m still not breaking even and won’t for another 6 months – longer if there is a general strike of Amazon. But I can peel off $20 here and there for client/supplier gifts. A/k/a LightBridge.
In short, you and the PW collective need to be aware that 1000s of families are using Amazon to offset this dismal employment scene. Your boycott –and Daniel’s $100– isn’t going to hurt Jeff Bezos. But it’s going to play fuck-ball with the rest of us.
M
Mystes,
I am sorry you are going through this. I have to say that I am so happy to see someone else who values being there for their kid more than having more money. Of course you need enough money; who doesn’t? I don’t blame you a bit for doing what you can to be there for your son so no matter what you do regarding Amazon, I am glad you love him that much! It makes me feel a lot better about mortgaging my old age for my kids so I can stay home with them; many times I feel like I am the only one who feels this way about my kids.
Um, hold on there a minute, hoss.
I’ve spent the last two years building an online bookstore through Amazon. It is my *one* hope for continuing to parent my kid full-time with only one job (I’m currently working two) – and. . .
Rumor has it that I am a writer. I can’t even begin to do any of that work until I get the teenage son through high school if I continue to work two jobs.
Have you tried feeding a 6 foot 15-year-old lately? He eats 3x as much as I do.
My days: driving all over central Texas interviewing Medicare patients, then coming back to my wholesaler, buying books, posting books, selling books, packing books, mailing books and doing the accounting. Then I make dinner, harangue the kid about homework, watch a movie and die for 6 hours. Lather, rinse, repeat until 2013.
So you want to nuke my path out of this?
Thanks.
Small BizMyst
We got rid of our acct in the Book of Blue office and Chelsea nuked the one she uses in our FL office.
I’ve posted this to facebook.
Deleting is better than a “boycott.” It’s a commitment.
I have also deleted my account at Amazon and given this as the reason.
Typical corporate territorial behaviour – they want to own the purveying of information themselves.
Wonder what the government promised them in return for this?
As Eric whispered last week, look for the motive!
I think they are a prime place to push back.
And we learn, they suck up to Joe Lieberman. Charming.
I have also deleted my account with them and I am using Facebook/ Twitter to encourage others to do the same. Thanks for letting us know this, Eric.