A Boycott of GE worked well in the in the 80's, outlined by the film

[Flabbergasted]

"Deadly Deception"

http://www.infact.org/deadly.html



They're back....

The nuclear madness of George Bush

http://www.greenleft.org.au/back/2006/661/661p12.htm

Jon Lamb

On February 6, US President George Bush confirmed his intention to commit the US to a program of reprocessing nuclear fuel. Touted as a key measure in the ''Advanced Energy Initiative’‘, outlined in Bush’s January State of the Union speech, the plutonium extracted from spent fuel is allegedly to be used as a fuel source for a new generation of nuclear power plants across the US and elsewhere.

The proposal will overturn a 29-year ban in the US on reprocessing spent nuclear fuel to extract plutonium, implemented in 1977 by President Jimmy Carter as a gesture of the US’s commitment to reduce nuclear weapons proliferation. The ban was also motivated by the failure of the West Valley reprocessing facility in New York, which was closed down in 1972 after six years of operation and only processing a fraction of the nuclear waste sent there. The clean-up of this site continues, at a cost in excess of US$5 billion.

snip

"We didn’t think nuclear was going to come this hard and fast”, Andrew White, chief executive of General Electric Nuclear, stated in an article in the Qatar-based Gulf Times on February 18. According to White, GE Nuclear, a division of the GE Energy unit, is expected to double or treble its income within the next decade.

White believes that as many as 200 reactors will be built in the US within the next century, to replace the current reactors and meet the expected increase in demand for electricity. The nuclear slush fund provided by the White House has given greater certainty to GE and other companies that build reactors."

[Redstone]

1. No. Not true. GE never did ANYTHING in reaction to ANY boycott.

They made a business decision. And anyone who claims that they made that decision because of a boycott is delusional.

Nice fantasy, but not true.

Redstone

[Flabbergasted]

2. Please explain?

[Redstone]

3. These people CLAIM to have run a "huge grassroots campaign" that

somehow I've never heard of. And I was very much around in the 1980s, including working with several divisions of GE as an applications engineer for a key vendor.

These people CLAIM that GE exited that business because of the boycott. Where's the proof?

These people CLAIM that, because GE sold its Aerospace division, the result was "removing one of the most powerful forces influencing nuclear weapons policymaking."

Really? This defies logic, because they didn't DISBAND the division. The SOLD it. So the people they sold it to, what did they do? They continued doing that SAME THINGS that the company did as a division of GE, that's what they did. They'd not have bought the division from GE otherwise, would they?

Right?

Then, they make the hollow statement: "INFACT responded by declaring victory and calling off the seven-year Boycott!"

This is an utterly disingenuous statement. So, "INFACT declared victory." Big fucking deal. anyone can declare anything. Remember bush on the aircraft carrier, with the "Mission Accomplished" banner?

You'd be well advised to be a bit more skeptical when people make unsupported claims. Just a bit of friendly advice.

Redstone

[Flabbergasted]

4. Advice received but, on the other hand, I would not have learned anything

from you if I'd not posted the article.

I think its time to have a real boycott?

[Redstone]

6. Boycotts don't work. Forget it.

If you got, let's say 100,000 people to stop buying GE consumer products, why would GE care? Consumer products are only a FRACTION of their business.

Same with EXXON. No way in HELL is ANY "grassroots movement" going to put a noticeable dent in their business.

It's a nice fantasy, but it won't work. Never did, never will.

I'm begging you, PLEASE forget about this nonsense and use the energy to do things that CAN work.

Volunteer time for your local Democratic candidates. Work in a soup kitchen. Build a house with Habitat for Humanity. Volunteer to hang out with the old folks at your local Senior Center.

Anything. Just not something useless, that's a waste of your time and energy. Capisce?

Redstone

[Flabbergasted]

7. No man Boycotts do work and continue to work and will work in the

future.

Boycotts fail often times because there is a lack of study, planning and promotion involved. A friend of mine (who protested in the sixties) told me the boycott of GE was valuable for the cause at the time.

The Nike boycott comes to mind as well

What we're really looking at is a simple tool that can work with the S.P.P. (see above) strategy.....

[Flabbergasted]

8. That's how ineffective boycotts work. It's the publicity that

matters. The bad publicity will worry the shareholders which will drop stock prices. There in lies the magic....

[Flabbergasted]

12. Just curious. Now Is your use of the word "Capisce?" along the lines of

"....Capisce?. Or I'm gonna send franky to break your knee caps." sort of mafia style "capisce"?

Or is that...... more along the lines of "I have a college doctorate in lit, and I'd just as soon talk to an ant as you..." sort of "capisce".

[Flabbergasted]

5. Who'd they sell it to? Why? Are you positve they didn't sell it because

They feared the boycott would catch on.

This probably would have went through activists circles. Were you an activist at the time?

Just questions....


"Really? This defies logic, because they didn't DISBAND the division. The SOLD it. So the people they sold it to, what did they do? They continued doing that SAME THINGS that the company did as a division of GE, that's what they did. They'd not have bought the division from GE otherwise, would they?"

[Flabbergasted]

9. I don't know,... I think that it is entirely possable that a group you

didn't know of at the time did push GE to sell a division of their company. Somehow I remember something about. Yeah I think I do somehow....

[Flabbergasted]

13. BTW, How did you come up with that name.....It's cool where'd it come

from?

[Flabbergasted]

14. Would you have a problem if I posted this again?

I want a second opinion?

[Neil Lisst]

10. why not start with Fox and Murdoch?

Why GE?

They aren't nearly as harmful as New Corp.

if you want to do that sort of thing, that is.

[Flabbergasted]

11. I really can't imagine a company that does more damage than GE

There is already a boycott on Fox. Its a media game. Its the attention that matters. They're all on the same page anyway.

GE is outside the picture. Its a raw company. They have 600 billion dollars in assets. All you have to do is chose companies that contribute to their 134 billion in ann. rev. From there its publicity, not lost sales that are the key.