this post was submitted on 05 Apr 2026
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There’s a popular community on Lemmy called BuyEuropean, but Europe’s voting record at the UN seems just as problematic as that of the US and Israel. This makes me question whether boycotting European products in favor of Chinese ones might be more ethical, even though there isn’t a dedicated community for that.

The best alternative I can think of is using AliExpress instead of Amazon. Does anyone know where to find alternatives to products made in China?

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[–] Erika3sis@hexbear.net 2 points 2 days ago

I don't think boycotting the Seps and Zionists has ever been about their voting record at the UN, or else we'd also be boycotting countries like Argentina, Paraguay, Malawi, Papua New Guinea, Fiji, FSM, Nauru, Palau, Tonga and Tuvalu, who all voted against a 2024 General Assembly resolution demanding an end to the Zionist entity's unlawful occupation of the Palestinian territories within 12 months. BDS exists because the Zionist entity is reliant on financial and material support from the rest of the imperial core, so if you cut off that support then the whole colonial project goes kaput in the face of resistance. As for a boycott of Seppoland in Europe, as I see it, this serves two purposes:

Firstly: Europe is highly reliant on Seppoland in military, government, academia, daily life, everywhere. Weakening Seppoland's power in Europe is beneficial for European socialists, because a revolution in Europe cannot survive if your enemy can just starve you to death with an economic blockade, or paralyze your military and government with a software update and then invade your country using the troops they already have stationed there. This isn't to say that European socialists should actually support European military buildup — absolutely not, we'll presumably be fighting Europe's bourgeois armies some day, too — it's just that Europe needs some amount of resilience against Seppo meddling during, before and after the revolution. This is how I understand it. To put it another way, before Europe can become socialist, it needs the material independence from Seppoland required for European workers to be able to choose socialism, and that independence doesn't exist yet. I don't think "buying European only" is the answer — that's jingoism, right — but maybe pursuing Russia and China etc as trade partners over Seppoland, and at the same time pursuing a more self-sufficient economy… I think that could be good, right?

Secondly: Seppoland is a fascist settler colony. It might be the "head of the snake" on which Europe relies, but at its core it still has being a fascist settler colony in common with the Zionist entity, except that Seppoland is much bigger and much more colonized for much longer. This is the big difference between Europe and Seppoland, that settler colonialism is a much bigger contradiction in Seppoland than in Europe^[Which is not to say that there is no part of Europe under settler colonialism: https://hexbear.net/post/4293310], and the decay of capitalism is currently much more advanced in Seppoland. Right? But the scope and duration of settler colonialism in Seppoland relative to the Zionist entity does not change the fact that depriving Seppo settler capitalists of the funds and materials to maintain settler colonialism, and instead directing those funds and materials to those interested in dismantling the settler colonial system… can still contribute to the downfall of fascism and settler colonialism. But keep in mind that even if your patronage can perhaps help build up generational wealth in a marginalized community or whatever, a Black Capitalist™ or a Native Capitalist™ is always going to be a Capitalist™ at the end of the day, and will not necessarily be materially aligned against the settler colonial system. There's a lot of quotes and viral tweets about ""Black Capitalism"" I could mention here.

In any case, as pointed out by Salah: if these boycotts are just you changing your Consumer Habits to feel better about yourself, you won't achieve much. Change your personal consumer habits by all means, but you should mainly be thinking on the scale of workplaces, associations, governments and institutions.

Also, keep in mind that I could just be talking a load of nonsense. This is just how I understand things at present.