Successful Boycotts from History to Inspire You: Don’t Give Up on Palestine!

As the Gaza genocide continues, and as we watch in horror and many times feel hopeless and helpless, let us remember to keep on boycotting – companies like Starbucks and McDonalds are already openly reporting losses of billions with a huge loss of customers.

Boycotts work, and for many us, it’s the one tangible thing we can do to show solidarity with Palestine against the ongoing genocidal onslaught. Remember to check out the latest BDS list of who and what to boycott – keep it up, keep sharing, and keep encouraging those around you as well to stay motivated.

To help put things into context, here are just a few examples of successful boycotts in history – let us hope that what we’re doing now to show solidarity with Palestine will go down in history as well!

1. Captian Boycott (1800)

Where it all started and where we get the name from – in 1800, a small town in Ireland began a collected shun, or what would later be called a “boycott”, against English landlord Charles Boycott for refusing to lower their rent and being unfair towards his Irish tenants during a particularity harsh crop year.

He was eventually forced to leave town because of the tenants’ refusal to back down – he lost his workers, business, and even land because of this first successful boycott.

2. Ghandi’s Salt March (1930)

Ghandi’s fights for independence against British colonialists are well known and documented – and perhaps one of his most famous acts of rebellion was against Britain’s salt laws, which imposed heavy taxes and bans on Indians producing or selling their own salt.

Leading a 240-mile march, Ghandi led the protest that stated no more salt would be bought until Britain ended its unfair ban on the processing or selling of locally made salt by Indians. The outcome was victorious – the British viceroy agreed to end the salt tax and release several political prisoners as well.

3. Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955)

During the Civil Rights Movement in the US, fighting against the backward segregation laws that were in place at the time, civil rights activists organized a 13-month protest and boycott in response to Rosa Park’s arrest – Black residents refused to ride any and all city buses.

This massive boycott had such a far-reaching impact that the US Supreme Court was forced to outlaw segregation on public buses – although the fight for full civil rights would continue, this was still a major step forward for the civil rights movement.

4. Bristol Bus Boycott (1963)

One of the most important boycotts in modern English history, the Bristol Bus Boycott saw a massive boycott of the Bristol Omnibus Company, for their refusal to employ Asian or Black people during a time of extreme racial discrimination.

The boycott was so successful, that the city of Bristol was forced to end its racist policies and went on to employ their first non-white conductors.

5. Anti-Apartheid Movement (1986)

During South Africa’s horrifying period of apartheid, there was an international movement to boycott the oil company Royal Dutch Shell – which was complicit in supporting the apartheid regime in South Africa. This massive boycott movement called for Shell to be withdrawn from South Africa, and campaigned for everyone to boycott Shell by not buying their gas across the Western world.

The outcome saw US Congress voting to override a veto by President Ronald Reagan on the Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act – and eventually, apartheid ended in South Africa in 1990 after a long and hard-fought fight from South Africans and those who supported them from around the world.

Boycotts continue to this day, and still have the potential to truly change the world we live in – we must continue to show solidarity, speak out, and boycott everything in our power to show the world that the majority of us really do support Palestine.