quote:

Who Is Boycotting Whom?,Ali Al-Mousa, Al-Watan: Arab News http://www.arabnews.com/?page=13§ion=0&article=77920&d=16&m=2&y=2006

quote:

The title of this article is an important question that we haven?t asked. We have to consider this question. An economic newspaper stated recently that the income of one Danish man is equivalent to 40 Arabs. Is it true, like so many community and mosque leaders say, that the Danish economy relies heavily on the Arab market? The Danish economy is not just cow and butter like so many people, and more than a few Arab editorial cartoonists, think it is. If Denmark is producing the butter that is partly responsible for the health problems of many Saudis (whose own dietary choices are the true culprit), then the same Saudis are turning for Danish medicines for treatment. Denmark is indeed a major butter exporter, but it?s also a major producer of insulin, the treatment for diabetes. According to the Health Ministry, 90 percent of diabetic Saudis use insulin. Boycotting is a healthy protest as long as it achieves the goal of registering protest, and not in the barbaric manner a handful of Muslims behaved by burning down government property. This does more harm than good. It is hypocrisy and a big lie if we believe that these people committed these acts out of love for the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). Who is boycotting whom? With all the SMS messages that were circulated, we did not hear anyone asking to boycott insulin. I am not calling to boycott insulin, but what is the alternative if we boycott insulin? If Salman Rushdi, the Indian-born writer, wrote something offensive against Islam again, are we ready to boycott the thousands of tons of fancy Indian rice we consume? If Finland published the same cartoons, are we going to stop buying Nokia phones? If they were published in Germany (which they were, by the way) are we going to boycott the medical equipment that we use to discover cancer in our stomachs? What about German cars? We are wearing English-made headgear, Japanese-made underwear, and shoes fashioned in Italy and finished in China. If we decided to boycott every country that offends us, we will walk naked on the streets. We are so dependent on the east, west, north and south, and we thank God that Denmark is the target of our ire because our idea of this country is limited to butter and Legos, as well as a slew of products not produced in Demark but mistakenly assumed to be Danish, such as NIDO (Switzerland), Anchor (New Zealand), KDD (Kuwait) and Kinder (Italy). When we move from being poor educated consumers to highly productive and educated producers, then we can talk about boycotting products. Until we transform our universities into technologically advanced research institutes, instead of poetry-teaching schools, we cannot talk about boycotts. When we are able to produce a Paracetamol pill, then we can talk about boycotts. When we are able to feed our stomachs and wear clothes made in the Arab world, then we can talk about boycotts. We depend on the world and the world does not necessarily need us. We are begging the world for their investments and we run after them to catch up.