Green Party Candidate in Canada Launches Boycott Boeing Campaign

Photograph Source: Oleg V. Belyakov – CC BY-SA 3.0

Daniel Giavedoni said he was moved to launch the boycott after hearing of the two recent crashes of Boeing 737 Max 8 planes that killed all 346 people on board.

Giavedoni posted a petition online calling on consumers everywhere to boycott all Boeing planes. He created a Twitter handle called Boycott Boeing and a hashtag #BoycottBoeing.

Giavedoni said he initially defended Boeing to friends, but after reading details of the two crashes, seeing evidence of Boeing’s negligence, and hearing consumer advocate Ralph Nader on the radio call for a boycott, he decided to act.

Giavedoni says Kayak has a flight selection tool that allows to deselect Boeing planes before searching for a flight.

“If boycotting will cause a major inconvenience or additional cost, do not feel the need to boycott for that flight,” he writes. “A good boycott must be sustainable over the long term. Do it when you can, don’t worry about it when you can’t, even if you do it once every four flights, it will still have a meaningful impact if enough people do it. If you are unable to boycott Boeing, you can still sign and support the boycott by sharing this petition.”

On the online petition calling for a consumer boycott of Boeing, Giavedoni writes that “reports from multiple news sources all indicate that the Boeing Company has disregarded basic safety requirements at their facilities, has influenced the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and continues to lobby the United States government to allow Boeing to continue to engage in this reckless behavior.”

“I was stuck by the idea that the Boeing CEO is making $20 million a year while at the same time destroying the company,” Giavedoni said. “They are eroding the fundamentals of the company.”

“And so the question — what to do? There was that frustration. A boycott is such a powerful symbol. Such a simple act. Everything else requires you to get out in the streets, make phone calls. You might not get a lot of feedback. With a boycott, you can actually measure results. You just switch off Boeing planes. All of a sudden, you are making a huge political statement. They will go out of business if they ignore it.”

“Consumer boycotts are an integral part of the political process,” he said. “People simply withdraw from a market. It is fundamental to the functioning of a market to have consumers making rational choices – to not fund people who don’t have your best interest.”

Giavedoni says he plans to run as a Green Party candidate in October for a seat in the Canadian Parliament from the Don Valley North riding in Toronto against the Liberal incumbent Geng Tan.

On his web site, Nader is selling “Axe the Max” buttons.

“Before and after the fatal crashes of Lion Air 610 and Ethiopian Airlines 302, Boeing did not reveal, did not warn, did not train, and did not address the basic defective aerodynamic design of their plane,” Nader said. “Boeing’s bosses gagged everyone that they could. Boeing still insists that the 737 Max is safe while pushing to end the grounding. Purchase ten (10) “Axe the Max” buttons for $10 today and join the movement to let Boeing know that the 737 MAX must never be allowed to fly again.”

Russell Mokhiber is the editor of the Corporate Crime Reporter..