Stop Trump - Boycott Amazon

Few days after his seizure of power, fascist terror clown Donald Trump announced the invasion of the US war machine in Panama Canal and Greenland, and threatened Canada to capitulate to his agenda. Billionaires Jeff Bezos (founder of Amazon), Mark Zuckerberg (Meta/Facebook), Tim Cook (Apple) and Sundar Pichai (Google/Alphabet) have already paid their respects to Trump at audiences in Mar-a-Lago. These initial gestures of submission were followed by their lining up at the inauguration. The billionaires had recognized that the rules would change from now on - and they signaled their willingness to follow them. The favor of the 78-year-old Mad King in the White House is now crucial to avoid being targeted by the state. Billionaire Jeff Bezos, who owns the Washington Post, prevented election endorsements for vice president Kamala Harris during the hot election campaign phase. Amazon is said to have paid 40 million dollars for a report by and about Melania Trump. We start with the boycott of Amazon to stop Donald Trump. Although Amazon is not a food producer itself, it sells and delivers grocery stuff. In 2017, it acquired US organic food specialist Whole Foods for 13.7 billion USD to expand its grocery operations.

Ethical Consumer has been campaigning for a boycott of Amazon since 2012, particularly because of Amazon's tax avoidance which costs the UK millions in public funds every year. Globally, the tax avoidance of Amazon and other companies costs 245 billion USD a year. The impact is disproportionately felt by poorer countries. Amazon has invested in dominating the market, thereby monopolising industries while keeping its profits low. This way, it can defer paying taxes until another time. Amazon’s monopoly supports staggering inequalities: between March and September 2020, at a time when most businesses were struggling, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos saw his personal wealth increase so much that he could have given all 876,000 Amazon employees a bonus of 105,000 USD and be as wealthy as he was pre-pandemic. But of course he preferred to keep the money for himself. Other concerns with Amazon are: services to fossil fuel giants, workers' rights abuses, greenwashing and harmful environmental practices. Ethical Consumer has compiled a list of the top 10 reasons to avoid Amazon. It is also known that Amazon destroys millions of products that are outdated or have been returned, likely because to keep it stored is worth less than trashing it and bringing new stuff in.

Amazon is an official boycott target of the Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) National Committee. BDS National Committee has since 2005 led impactful boycott campaigns against brands that complicit with human right abuses in Palestine. In May 2021, as the Israeli military bombed homes, clinics, and schools in Gaza and threatened to push Palestinian families from their homes in occupied Jerusalem, Amazon and Google signed a 1.22 billion USD contract to provide cloud technology to the Israeli government and military (Project Nimbus). Nearly 400 Google and Amazon employees expressed their concerns about Project Nimbus in an open letter, saying that this "technology allows for further surveillance of and unlawful data collection on Palestinians, and facilitates expansion of Israel’s illegal settlements on Palestinian land." On top of that, Amazon is planning to invest 7.2 billion USD in Israel up to 2037, launching its Amazon Web Services (AWS) data centres in the country.

Resistence to Amazon is growing. Some movements and some legal actions have seen major success in the last years. The European Union's fight against "sweetheart deals" that allegedly allow big multinational tech companies to avoid hundreds of millions of Euros in tax in other member states had some impact. In 2017, Amazon was ordered to repay 250 million Euros in tax by the EU, but unfortunately, the decision was overturned by the general court in 2021. In 2019, the company had to cancel their plan to build their second headquarters (HQ2) in New York, because of fierce opposition from activists, local politicians and residents. In May 2021, the European Parliament challenged Jeff Bezos over Amazon's union-busting and spying on workers. In January 2024, the French National Commission for Information Technology and Liberty (CNIL) ordered Amazon to pay a penalty of 35 million USD for creating an excessively intrusive system for monitoring employee work activity in its warehouses. #MakeAmazonPay is a coalition of trade unions, campaigners, and civil society organisations from all over the globe taking action against Amazon's atrocious working conditions, as well campaigning for better pay. Campaigners in over 30 countries have taken action on 29th November 2024, calling for cancellation of Amazon Prime subscriptions on Black Friday or Cyber Monday.

How do you boycott Amazon? One thing is clear: whenever possible, reduce the amount of money you give Amazon, through not buying things from Amazon. There are plentyful of ethical online stores whether you're looking for books, clothing or gifts. Ethical Consumer shares their recommendations for online shopping with proper sustainability credentials. Many supermarkets offer delivery service for food that can be ordered online. Find here the best online grocery delivery services in the UK. You can use your spending power to send Amazon a clear message. Let them know you are that you are not buying from them by emailing them in your country. Take action now and pledge to boycott Amazon. Sign the Amazon Free Pledge now!