Israel-Gaza conflict: Will banning select businesses in India help?

On October 28 Delhi author Arundhati Roy and Indianorigin novelist Jhumpa Lahiri joined hundreds of prominent international writers in signing an open letter pledging to boycott Israeli publishers and cultural institutions in a mark of protest against the ongoing conflict in GazaThe letter states that culture has played an integral role in normalising injustices in the strifehit region The authors further write that they will not work with Israeli cultural institutions that have been ldquocomplicitrdquo or silent observers of the ldquooverwhelming oppression of Palestiniansrdquo The letter has caused ripples across India which has long considered Israel an ally but where citizensrsquo support is split between the two sides While lakhs of people have thrown their support behind Israel with the tag IndiaIsWithIsrael a similar number took to the streets in nationwide protests in November 2023 against the war that has led to thousands of civilian deaths in Gaza The protests were marred by police crackdowns across the country including in Mumbai where the police detained 17 people including four minors at a prayer meet for Palestinian children on November 14 Childrenrsquos Day last yearYuvraj Pokhra Jacinta Kerkatta and Shoeb HussainThe jolt from the authorsrsquo pledge letter has been felt most keenly in this city which serves as a microcosm of the national discourse on the issue According to the World Jewish Congressrsquo website the majority of Indian Jews live in Mumbai and its surrounding areas including Thane The biggest synagogue outside Israel and in Asia is the Ohel David Synagogue in PuneThe open lettermdashthe first such highprofile action taken by Indians on the global stagemdashhas reenergised some who have also shunned multinational brands with an alleged proIsrael stance as part of the international Boycott Divestment Sanctions BDS movement Boycotting their favourite brands is far from convenient but for many Mumbaikars this is a form of protest that they can sustain alongside their demanding daily routine in a city where the authorities donrsquot look too kindly on agitationsNot everyone can go to protestsrdquo says Shwetha Wankhede a 38yearold lawyer based out of Navi Mumbai ldquoIt is difficult to find a space for protests in a city like Mumbai where there are crackdowns by the police Not everyone can risk getting arrested and endangering their jobs or their livelihoods some donrsquot have access to legal counsel Boycotting is a quiet way to protestrdquoA proPalestine protest in Mumbairsquos Azad Maidan in December 2023 PicGetty ImagesWankhede was already at odds with allegedly exploitative labour practices of some brands but decided to boycott them in the aftermath of the Gaza conflict ldquoBoycotting Starbucks was a very conscious decision for me With the escalation of the conflict I have stopped buying from most brands that have been known to support the Israeli government This now includes Dove Ariel Burger Kinghellip I monitor the list of brands to shun via the No Thanks app as well as the BDS websiterdquo she addsThe last inperson demonstration against the Gaza conflict took place at Yari Road on April 5 on the last day of Ramzan While there were no arrests made that day attendance had dropped just 500 to 600 peoplePooja Pradeep whose work involves movement building conflict transformation and community building has been trying to organise ontheground protests but has met with dwindling interest ldquoIn the last few months Irsquove tried to find interested people not just to continue protests but even to talk about what is going on but it has been difficult to find many Enthusiasm is lower than what it used to be probably because many feel despair or numbness I understand that not everyone can sit in protests or donate or boycott To them I say lsquoDo what you canrsquordquo Pradeep tells us on a call from Havelock Andaman and Nicobar from where she works remotelyA proPalestine protest at Puducherry in November last yearBoycott is a form of quiet protest but it made a lot of noise in December 2024 when American coffee chain behemoth Starbucks was hit by a over R155 crore loss in value following a drop in sales This was followed by the ouster of the then Chief Executive Officer Laxman Narasimhan in August Amid growing protests in December Narasimhan had written a year ender letter to his employees ldquoThere are conflicts in many parts It has unleashed violence against the innocent hate and weaponised speech and liesmdashall of which we condemn We see protesters influenced by misrepresentation on social media of what we stand forrdquo he saidAnother giant hit by the boycott is McDonaldrsquos In March the fast food giantrsquos Chief Financial Officer Ian Borden announced that within hours of the boycott campaign the company suffered losses of approximately 7 billion or R61 crore The USbased chainrsquos shares also plunged by more than three per cent during the trading session in that week The brandrsquos sales took the biggest hit in Muslimdominated countries such as Saudi Arabia and MalaysiaSoon the McDonaldrsquos Corporation in a post on X said ldquoWe are dismayed by the disinformation and inaccurate reports regarding our position in response to the conflict We are not funding or supporting any governments in this conflictrdquoImran Khan a resident of Kurla is among those who closed their wallets to the fast food chain despite his teenage daughtersrsquo aged 14 and 17 love for the fries there ldquoWinter is fast approaching in Gazardquo he says trying to impress upon us the urgency for a resolution to the conflict which has left a majority of Palestianians displaced from their homesSince last year the family has switched to fries from local eateries and stayed away from brands on the boycott list ldquoBut it is very hard to stay off everything There are products that I cannot avoid but I tryrdquo says Khan ldquoWe are doing this because it feels like a monster is attacking an ant and children are caught between the crossfiresrdquoAn Oxfam report Every Casualty Counts released on October 7 to mark a year since the conflict escalated states that 11000 children have died in Gaza since thenldquoI tell my daughters that we are Indians As a country we saw the British rule over us We must try and look at it as a war between an occupier and the occupied and not on the basis of religionrdquo adds the IT professionalThere remain sceptics who question what the boycott hopes to achieve with some even labelling it an antisemitic movementAbhijit Iyer Mitra a freelance journalist and YouTuber doesnrsquot hold punches while sharing his opinion ldquoA boycott is an absolute right itrsquos your money and you can do what you want But the issue I have is given the historical precedent in the West where Jews have been segregated and not allowed to engage in certain professions this was the very tool that led up to the Holocaust We see this repeated with people saying they will not touch anything to do with the community Itrsquos a classic case of antisemitism repackaged in a new bottlerdquoMitra goes as far as calling the boycott a proterrorist movement ldquoWhat is this campaign in support of It is to support Hamas and Hezbollah which are terrorist organisations This is sheer hypocrisy and their support of terror is just wrongrdquo he saysFrom Havelock Pradeep counters that the boycott is not about targeting Jews rather it is about shunning business and institutions with a proIsrael stance ldquoFirstly let us understand that when we say we want to boycott Israeli institutions or businesses that directly cause harm we do not mean boycott Jewish people The State of Israel is different from Judaism and conflating the two is wrong Infact plenty of proPalestinian Jewish activists have been exhibiting what it means to show true solidarity in these timesrdquo she explainsThe Israeli consulate in Mumbai on being contacted for a statement on the cultural boycott denied commentWe speak to photographer and cinematographer Tim Sassoon who hails from the Sassoon family which has had immense influence on the permeation of Jewish culture in Mumbai founding institutions like the David Sassoon Library for one While no one from the family resides in India anymoremdashincluding Tim who lives and works in Los Angeles USmdashhe tells us ldquoI would say that military doctrine universally says that the success of any counterinsurgency operation rests on the statersquos relationship with the civilian population If the state is willing to separate and protect the civilians keep them safe and satisfy their needs then the state can win If not then the war will eventually be lost as it has been in so many nationalist movements against a colonial power from the IndoChina anticolonial resistance to Algeria The only other way to win is actual genocidemdashbut at the expense of becoming a pariah staterdquoThe Sassoon scion paints a bleak picture of the future ldquoI am disheartened that Israel is contemplating turning Gaza over to the settler movement Gaza was always a Palestinian area back to the prehistoric borders which Israel uses to assert their claim Itrsquos expansionist I do not expect Hamas or the Gazans to surrender having sacrificed so much to get this farrdquo Considering this how much impact can one Indian have by choosing not to give their money to a brand alleged to sympathise with the Israeli causeThis is a question Bandraresident Shoeb Hussain 32 gets a lot Despite his love for Nike sneakers he has stopped buying from the company He continues to wear his existing pair but has pledged not to buy a new set ldquoWhen I tell anyone that I am trying not to buy sneakers anymore or eat at fast food chains that support Israel they askmdashtum ko kya isse kya hogarsquordquo he says ldquoBut what is the alternativemdashdo nothingrdquoSo does the boycott movement really matter ldquoEvery small and big resistance taking place in the world for Palestine is like the flame of a small lamp in the deep darknessrdquo says Jacinta KerkettaThe poetjournalist who is known for her work highlighting the plight of Adivasis in Jharkhand recently refused a literary award from the US Agency for International Development USAID because of its alleged ties to Boeingmdashone of the largest arms suppliers to Israel ldquoThinking that such efforts will not succeed or that nothing will come of it can be extremely disheartening We should make all such efforts with hope so that we can say to ourselves and also to the new generation that we were not silent spectatorsrdquo she addsKerketta believes that the Adivasis have a lot in common with the Palestinian people ldquoAdivasi society has a long history of resistance We do not struggle to accumulate power and authority Our people have seen such massacres throughout our history Thatrsquos why I protest against the genocide of the people of Palestine And there is a demand for their freedom and a dignified life for the people and children there Adivasi people see this initiative as important and genuinerdquo she adds over the questionnaire we sent on WhatsAppWhat is the boycott movementBDS is a Palestinianled nonviolent movement calling for a boycott of Israeli and multinational companies it believes are complicit in violation of Palestinian rights The list of boycotted companies is constantly updated on the BDS websitemdashbdsmovementnet Protestors also refer to the No Thanks app which was developed by Palestinian Ahmed Bashbash after he lost his brother in the attack on Gaza The apprsquos X handle NoThanksBoycott says that it has over 45 million users throughout the worldldquoThe structure of international business hegemony is with these few companies and the way they diversify makes it difficult to keep track of who is complicit So I am very grateful for the No Thanks app and the BDS website which tracks companies and updates even fasterrdquo says Shwetha WankhedeOthers though have called it selective activism Suratbased journalist Yuvraj Pokharna says ldquoBoycotts are fair and democratic But the Machiavellian chaps with dubious credentials behind such organised campaigns is one thing that people can now see through Why donrsquot they speak for the rights of Hindus in Bangladesh Canada or even BharatrdquoldquoWhy only boycott Israel and single out Jews Why not boycott OIC and Muslim nations for not condemning Islamist Jihad that the world is grappling withrdquo he adds