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Post subject: Gays Launch Stoli Boycott over Russian Homophobic Violence
 Posted: Jun 05, 2007 - 03:42 AM
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Site Admin
Joined: Aug 26, 2006
Posts: 440
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Gays Launch Stoli Boycott over Russian Homophobic Violence
Quote:
(New York, NY and San Francisco, CA) - Gay equality advocates in two American cities upset over the denial of full respect for the human rights of LGBT people in Russia, and the bloody confrontation on May 27 in Moscow as gays attempted to peacefully march, today announced they are launching a boycott of Stolichnaya vodka.
Vigils will be held at two Russian consulates, where gays will pour Stolichnaya vodka in the gutter.
The date for launching the Stoli boycott and vigils is Tuesday, June 5.
Ahem, somehow I must ask myself whether these folks have their brains at the right place. Michael Petrelis is going to participate in this? No doubt, Russia will tremble in fear when some of us will immediately cease drinking Stolichnaya and will sweep to Gorbatchew. Russia is not a democratic country, and the only way to stop the criminals currently in power from destroying this country is to stop buy the oil and the gas. This is, along with weaponry sells and domestic alkohol sells, the most important source of income for the Russian Federal Government. It's all the same - in Russia or in Nigeria: the oil brings these countries no good, it only gives the dictators the money they need for military.
Instead of drinking responsibly the folks should drink mineral water, and send the money they save for some good purpose - e.g. to ILGA for the next year's activities.
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Post subject: RE: Gays Launch Stoli Boycott over Russian Homophobic Violen
Posted: Jun 05, 2007 - 07:03 AM
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Joined: Sep 06, 2006
Posts: 1754
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Well, they should send money to ILGA regardless of whatever other decisions they should decide to make.
Certainly no one should be deceived into thinking that a Gay boycott of Stolichnaya will bring this surly Russian bear to its knees -- it will not. (Last I heard, the Russians were more than capable of supporting their vodka distilleries single-handedly, with no outside assistance). While such a boycott will have no perceptible effect on Russia, it will have an effect on those who boycott it -- it will enhance their awareness just that much more of what is going on and what needs to be done. People should be aware of what they are participating in, and should take care not to participate in evil. That refusing to participate in it will not necessarily diminish the evil is not a reason to capitulate to evil. |
_________________
"If you want the freedom, the abilities, you have to find a way. Just don't be so passive. We are capable of so much more." -- Larry Kramer
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Post subject: RE: Gays Launch Stoli Boycott over Russian Homophobic Violen
Posted: Jun 05, 2007 - 12:02 PM
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Site Admin
Joined: Aug 26, 2006
Posts: 440
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Yes, surely -- I know that most of the actions are designed to simply draw attention to an issue, and reinforce the group identity. Of course everybody is free to launch any campaign they think appropriate - I am only irritated by the serious folks fighting with wind mills. But alas, wasn't the same said about many of us on different occasions?  |
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Post subject: RE: Gays Launch Stoli Boycott over Russian Homophobic Violen
Posted: Jun 05, 2007 - 12:42 PM
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Joined: Sep 06, 2006
Posts: 1754
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I would hope (ever the hopeful one, I am) that the serious folks would, in due course, understand the utterly Quixotic character of pouring Stoli in the gutter and progress to other measures that might be taken.
These things have a remarkable habit of taking on a cultural value of their own. One can, in many regions of the US, still provoke harsh words by ordering a Coors product in a Gay bar. More than occasionally, one will find that this is also still not possible, the products of this company not being stocked by a number of Gay bars. Is the boycott against Coors over or is it not? Was it mooted by the boycott of Colorado that followed? Is that one over or not? A while back (abut a decade) I made the mistake of ordering a vodka and orange juice at a Gay bar -- the request was followed by a paternal "are you sure?" from the bartender. Still in the 90s the aversion to orange juice created by the Anita Bryant boycotts was in full flower. These things are almost reflexive in the US, at least among those who lean toward the Left. One can only hope to make use of the phenomenon. |
_________________
"If you want the freedom, the abilities, you have to find a way. Just don't be so passive. We are capable of so much more." -- Larry Kramer
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Post subject: Re: RE: Gays Launch Stoli Boycott over Russian Homophobic Vi
Posted: Jun 05, 2007 - 01:32 PM
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Site Admin
Joined: Aug 26, 2006
Posts: 440
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Feral wrote:
These things have a remarkable habit of taking on a cultural value of their own.
 You make an entirely new point here, which has not occured to me before - and is self-evident now. If these boycotts are seen not from the political, but from cultural perspective, they make sense... True, our every-day culture is shaped by many such habits, re-inforcing our identities. Boycotts might be as legitime means as visible symbols (rainbow flag, ear rings, stickers) are. Sven (one of GHF members) once said to me that one of our weak points is the lack of a mascot - "a something" which would suit for strong identification feelings and be highly recognizeable. |
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Post subject: RE: Re: RE: Gays Launch Stoli Boycott over Russian Homophobi
Posted: Jun 06, 2007 - 01:29 AM
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Joined: Sep 06, 2006
Posts: 1754
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After the murders of Mahmoud and Ayaz there were calls for a boycott of all Iranian carpets, but especially those from Mashad. I somehow doubt that Gays decorate their homes, businesses, and offices with so many Persian carpets that this call makes any sense in a political context (though I also suspect that, in naive desperation, the call was intended to have political and economic effects eventually). Perhaps someone thinks that a Gay boycott of Stoli will have something other than symbolic value... I hope not. No doubt some competing brand with better geographical credentials will come forward and cheerfully offer themselves as the morally superior beverage choice if it is the case. After all, the Gay people's propensity to drink is not much of a secret.
The list of Gay boycotts is perilously long these days. While those who call for them usually have some goal akin to blackmail in mind, on the street they are received as something more permanent. Colorado, Ohio, Virginia, Kansas -- the shut-out of entire states has been called for in the past. As quizzical as it might seem, I know more than a few people who would never drink Celestial Seasonings tea because it is based in Colorado, people who would never consent to eat at an Applebee's because it is based in Kansas and even people who would do something so rash as to give up eating M&Ms over a homophobic commercial during a Super Bowl game.
It would be nice if there were more positive, more affirmative actions that one could take instead of boycotts. Buy something from someone Gay rather than (or in addition to) boycotting someone homophobic. We are not so very numerous or wealthy that our refusal to buy will make much of an impact one way or another. Supporting those who support us, and especially supporting our own businessmen, is a much easier proposition. Ah, but if I said "buy Gay" no one would listen at all. |
_________________
"If you want the freedom, the abilities, you have to find a way. Just don't be so passive. We are capable of so much more." -- Larry Kramer
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Post subject:
Posted: Jun 06, 2007 - 04:26 AM
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Joined: Sep 06, 2006
Posts: 1195
Location: Valhalla Mountains, British Columbia, Canada
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Well, the folks at G-A-Y aren't crazy about the idea...
Quote:
... it seems more than a little shortsighted to turn that antipathy towards a privatized product, and to call for a boycott of said product. This is especially true when that particular product and company not only advertise on gay programs and in gay magazines, but also serves as the SOLE BACKER of a show on the nation's most prominent gay cable network!!
[...]
**UPDATE: Stoli is also a national corporate sponsor of Lambda Legal!
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_________________
"The dignity of an animal is measured by his capacity to revolt in the face of oppression." -- Mikhail Bakunin
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Post subject:
Posted: Jun 06, 2007 - 09:10 AM
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Joined: Sep 06, 2006
Posts: 1754
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Quote:
the SOLE BACKER of a show on the nation's most prominent gay cable network!!
I hardly think that two exclamation points are called for here. Might Good As You know that name of this show, or even the name of the network? Did they watch it? Did they value it?
Stolichnaya presents Be Real: Stories from Queer America did air and (should the hammer-over-the-head title mislead readers in some way) Stoli was the sole sponsor. The documentary was otherwise uninterrupted by commercials. As TubeWad put it, "to be fair, it's hard to earnestly call something "commercial free" when the title of the program advertises vodka." I don't know how much 'earnestness' is required to call something commercial free -- when Queer as Folk aired on Showtime commercial free (on Trojan's dime) the show was completely devoid of interruption by advertisements of any kind. GayWired called the documentary "nothing short of fantastic," though the review from my TV room couch was "nothing watchable." To be fair, my in-house media critic was sufficiently unimpressed by the first of the five installments to watch any of the others -- they may have been good, even fantastic. I am not such a fan of documentaries -- little could have induced me to watch such a thing. But yes... Stolichnaya vodka was the program's only sponsor, by design. (It is also true that they are a corporate sponsor of Lambda Legal).
Then again, there are persistent difficulties regarding Stoli's identification (which appears to be a socially constructed identification) as "Russian."
Quote:
"If Stolichnaya vodka comes from Latvia rather than Russia, then they should be honest about that. We think they should be proud of their Latvian heritage."
The matter is in court, and of course the sellers of Stoli staunchly deny these claims.
It might have made sense to pour Latvian vodka in the gutter last year, but this year is not last year and the boycott is supposed to be about Russia, dammit. Besides, the whole issue can be neatly side-stepped by drinking Absolut -- the stuff is made in Sweden, by a company owned by the Swedish state, or so I'm told. They advertise in Gay magazines, they advertise on Logo, they've been a sponsor of GLAAD for years and years, and you'll find them coughing up clots of cash at Pride parades now and again. |
_________________
"If you want the freedom, the abilities, you have to find a way. Just don't be so passive. We are capable of so much more." -- Larry Kramer
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