To consume – or not to consume – can be a political act, and a relatively old one at that, although early examples mainly took the form of boycotts. The boycott of English tea played a crucial role at the beginning of the American War of Independence. In India, Gandhi led a boycott of English textiles and the Salt March, two pivotal moments in his country’s movement towards independence. In the United States, the Montgomery Bus Boycott of 1955 sparked the movement to abolish racial segregation, after Rosa Parks refused to give up her bus seat to a white man. Although some predominantly political boycotts still exist (on products from South Africa or Israel, for example), the movement has changed. It now focuses on the practices of large corporations, and takes several different forms, in particular, that of fair trade.
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Daniel Goleman
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