When the journalist Varindra Vittachi asked Ghandi what advice he had now that India was free, Ghandi thought for a while and replied: “Reduce your wants and supply your needs.”
Who to boycott isn’t as important a question as what.
Big Tech, Big Finance, Big Energy, Big Retail, Big Politics.
Why? They track us, capture us, exploit us, addict us, and then sell our futures for their short-term gain.
The sad truth is that most of the big companies in the world do this. Their corporate structures are designed to extract, rather than provide, and governments whose purpose is to regulate them are far too often set up to facilitate that. Add the icing of propaganda on top and you get our delicious cake of consumerism. And that’s the cake we need to boycott.
Google is a war contractor, surveillance engine, and monopoly. It supplies cloud services and AI tools to the Pentagon and Israeli military, tracks billions of users, and dominates global search and advertising markets.
Apple builds unrepairable devices in a closed system reliant on exploitative supply chains. Its cobalt—used in batteries—is mined under brutal conditions in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where child labor and deadly mining accidents are well-documented. If labor were fairly paid and conditions ethical, an iPhone could cost over $3,000.
Spotify pays artists fractions of a cent per stream and recently invested in Helsing, a military AI company used by European armed forces.
Big Fashion like Zara, Shein, H&M, and Big Food like Nestle, Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Tyson Foods, McDonalds, Kraft, mass-produce single-use products that flood landfills with plastics and toxins. Plastic-coated paper, synthetic fibers, and microplastics are now found in human blood, organs, placentas—and they don’t break down.
Cancer, fertility issues, and developmental disorders are all rising, correlated with chemical exposure from plastics and industrial waste. Many have not been studied adequately.
Big Banks like JPMorgan Chase, Citi, Bank of America, and Wells Fargo are the top financiers of fossil fuels. Fossil fuel companies, in turn, fund arms manufacturers and lobby for war. The Pentagon is the world’s largest institutional fossil fuel consumer.
Fossil fuel and arms companies co-fund lobbying groups like the American Enterprise Institute, Heritage Foundation, and Atlantic Council. A full circle of profit from destruction.
Top lobbyists to congress are the Pharmaceutical industry, Tech, Oil & Gas, Military-Industrial Complex, AIPAC, Wall St and Finance, Healthcare and Insurance, Agribusiness and Food Giants.
And we shouldtake a moment to single out American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) which not just right wing Israeli political lobby—it’s a key political force aligned with Big Tech, Big Oil, and the arms industry. AIPAC helps fund and elect U.S. politicians who push for: Unconditional military aid to Israel ($3.8B/year). Blank-check defense budgets that enrich Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, and Northrop Grumman.
AIPAC actively suppresses criticism of genocide, human rights abuses, and apartheid policies—while aligning with far-right, anti-democratic figures if they support militarism. Crackdowns on dissent, including anti-boycott laws and surveillance of activists. And most members of congress (both Republican and Democrat) take PAC money from AIPAC and its network which has meant the backing of the US government behind the ongoing genocide of Palestine and the conflating of an apartheid state with Judaism, and confusing a human rights struggle with a religious war.
