Basic Guide to Boycotting

By Te Urukeiha Tuhua (he/they/ia, Tūhoe)

Keeping shit political (as usual) and I’m back to talking about boycotting. If you’ve been paying attention for the last two years—as every half-decent person has been—then you already know that we are boycotting all products and brands that support Israel’s illegal occupation and genocide of Palestine. It’s easy enough to stay away from the most well-known boycott brands, like Coca-Cola, Starbucks, and McDonalds, and it takes little to no effort to remove them from the shopping lists. 

But sometimes it gets a bit tricky. I know I wasn’t the only person who felt caught out when Spotify became a high boycotting target for its $700m investment into military AI. I’ve been a loyal Spotify user for pretty much my entire life. My mum announced that she would be deleting our Spotify accounts within the month, and while I agreed with her decision, I felt frustrated and upset. I felt attached to my Spotify account. I had over 200 playlists dating back to when I was 12, each of them preserving a particular memory or moment in my life. I didn’t know if I would be able to keep them, and it scared me to think that I might lose them forever. 

These worries felt small again when I thought about the ongoing genocide. When our money becomes bullets, missiles, directed into Gaza—towards children, journalists, doctors, families, people who just want to live—we must boycott. All of our lives and the future of our world, the future of Palestine, literally depends on it. 

It means that we have to make changes in our own lives. It means we need to look at the other streaming services we use, like Disney and Amazon Prime, and boycott those as well. Creating a better society, and creating a world that we want to live in starts with all of us. I know that a lot of us feel powerless when we see the devastation in Gaza, and wish that there was something we could do to stop it. The truth is, Israel relies on our silence and inaction in order to continue their genocide. When we pay attention and stop supporting them with our money, they lose their power. That’s why it’s imperative to boycott. 

Through hours of deep diving on Reddit and extensive searching (finding ethical alternatives is hard, actually) I’ve managed to compile a short list, and there is sure to be something here that will work for you. Many of the services that we use regularly and take for granted can be easily swapped out for alternatives that work just as well, and ensure that we aren’t being complicit in the genocide. 

Music Streaming

The good news is: You won’t lose your playlists! I downloaded an app called Soundiiz which helpfully allowed me to download all of my playlists, tracks, and albums from Spotify and transfer them to a different service. I had to pay a small subscription fee for this, but I was happy to do so in exchange for keeping all my playlists—and the memories that go with them. 

My two main music app recommendations would be Qobuz and Tidal, especially for people who want something as similar to Spotify as possible. Each of these can connect to Soundiiz, and you can transfer your playlists onto them from there. They also offer discounted student subscriptions, making each of them around $9 per month. An added bonus about Qobuz is that it isn’t even available for Israeli users, whereas Tidal is. 

Then there’s Bandcamp, an online record store that enables you to support artists directly. Artists can set their own prices for their tracks and albums, and you can stream them from the app or download them onto MP3. It’s a cool place to go if you’re looking for artist merchandise, vinyl, cassettes, or discs. Over 80% of the proceeds will go directly to the artist. 

If you’re looking into other services, ensure you do some background research first. When I first started looking into Spotify alternatives, I found Deezer and made the switch onto it pretty quickly. About a week later I discovered that Deezer has investments into Israeli media—thankfully I was still on the free trial, and I stopped using it before actually paying a subscription. Avoid making the same mistake that I did, and do your research first! 

Avoid: Spotify, SoundCloud, Apple Music, Youtube Music, Deezer 

Film/TV Show Streaming

None—I failed to find any ethical subscription services for streaming movies and shows. Then again, I stopped searching after about ten minutes, and instead looked into what the majority of us are already doing: online streaming. (It’s a bit of a legal grey area, so as a disclaimer, I am not endorsing this.) 

Online streaming is free, and you can access almost any film or show that you want. Different websites can be hit or miss, and you may need to install ad-blockers on your browser in order for some to work. Some popular websites include pstream.mov, 123movies, soap2day, and stremio (this one requires the ad-blocker torrent.io). Looking through threads under reddit.com/r/piracy may also help you to find reliable methods that work well for you. Getting a torrent client (like BitTorrent) and a media server (like Plex) and learning to sail the high seas can be a safer and more robust method than online streaming, too. 

If you don’t want to miss out on the experience of scrolling through the movie catalogue and adding to your to-watch list, try out Letterboxd, a social platform for keeping track of the films you like and sharing them with your friends. You can create and share lists with one another, as well as rating and reviewing films. My friend put me on to it a couple of months ago, and it’s quite cute and fun to use. 

Avoid: Disney, Amazon Prime, Netflix, all of them (probably)

Late Night Meal? 

To end on a happy note, here’s a place you absolutely can support. I discovered Abrakebabra by accident one night when I found myself caught in a hail storm as I waited for the bus, and I went inside their restaurant for shelter. They were playing ‘Leve Palestina’ by KOFIA over the speakers, which immediately made me like them. I didn’t buy anything that night, but the workers were happy for me to sit and relax for a bit before heading back out. Before leaving I thanked them, and the workers called out “Free Palestine!” to me which, of course, I loved. 

If you’re on your way home from the clubs, hungry and exhausted from dancing, McDonald’s is not your only option. Abrakebabra remains open until 2:30am on Friday and Saturday nights, making it a great place to refuel and rest after hitting town. I went back to try their loaded fries, and found them delicious and filling. It can be a little pricey, as eating out generally is, but it felt worth it to me. And if you’re looking for something cheaper, you can always make a stop at the nearest Night ‘n Day for a pie. 

For all of you still boycotting, protesting, and generally just doing your best: I see you. I’m with you. Never give up diva, until Palestine is free (from the river, to the sea.)