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London/ Brussels (pte024/01.04.2003/14:31) - International NGOs are more often calling for a boycott of US companies in protest against the war in Iraq.
Up to now, calls for economic boycott have applied to "classic" US products and companies, such as Coca-Cola and McDonalds. But now some NGOs are focusing on companies that supported the Bush presidential campaign, and one Croatian NGO has even turned down aid money from the States.
The Belgian group "For Mother Earth" has published a list of suggested companies to boycott on the Internet http://www.motherearth.org/USboycott/index.php , which has become the primary means of networking and communicating among NGOs. The "black list" includes General Electric, Philip Morris, Exxon, Chevron, Ford, General Motors and several US airlines. Listed Bush campaign contributors are the MBNA bank, Microsoft, and many military and oil companies.
Ten Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) have also joined the call for boycott. "Although people went on the streets to protest before the war began, they were simply ignored by their governments. The only thing left for them to do is to boycott companies that are definitely profiting from the war," said MEP Patrica McKenna. "We will only end our campaign when the USA shows more respect for international law," said Pol D'Huyvetter, speaker of For Mother Earth. His group was one of the main actors in the call for boycott against Shell in 1995, when the oil group was planning to sink its outdated platform Brent Spar in the ocean. At the time, Shell suffered considerable damage to its image. D'Huyvetter hopes the "Shell effect" will encourage European politicians to become more active against the war.
In another development, a Croatian media institute has turned down the equivalent of about 87,000 euros from the US government in an anti-war protest.
The Croatian Multimedia Institute http://mi2.hr, an NGO, turned down money from the USAID organization http:// www.usaid.gov to be spent on third sector development in the Balkan state.
In a statement issued in Zagreb the Multimedia Institute said: "The government of the United States of America - disregarding international law, subverting international decision-making forums based on international law, and disregarding worldwide public opposition - is waging war on Iraq.
"We wish to express our regret that despite the commitment and professionalism of our American partners we are terminating our cooperation on this project." (newsfox-special Iraq)
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