The Week 12 Boycott

There's a nationwide boycott of big supermarket chains this week in Sweden and it's been great fun. Probably the only downside has been all the tedious opinion pieces criticising it.

Seen a lot of people talking trash about it over the course of the week actually. The critique mostly focuses on the possibility that the boycott might not magically solve the problem in one fell swoop. And I think it's really normal for the prospect of a supermarket boycott to make absolutely anyone uncomfortable. It's not fun to confront how much structural power over society has been centralised in this handful of organisations. And taking part isn't exactly easy either. Some places even have so little competition that participating in the boycott means not buying groceries at all for a week.

So I think in a lot of cases people just don't want these uncomfortable thoughts in their heads. Then it's easier if you tell yourself that actually the boycott is stupid. Immediately you're back in the comfort zone of having permission from yourself to do absolutely nothing about the problem.

In practice the fact that it's a little bit hard is part of the fun. I've been all over Malmö this week visiting shops I'd have otherwise spent a lifetime walking past and never seen inside. Two places we got food from were even interviewed by Dagens Nyheter about the boycott – Bagdad Kött and Möllevångstorget – and they both said they've noticed an uptick in business this week.

The big chains usually work with two or three wholesalers. In the oriental food industry we have hundreds of wholesalers. So we can get better prices by making them compete with each other.

The fact that neither of the places DN interviewed were run by white Swedes is no coincidence either. That’s a demographic group I haven’t seen behind the counter of any of the new places I’ve been this week. Bit embarrassing for Sweden's ruling coalition of neoliberals and white supremacists that their fav scapegoat ethnic group has been doing free market economics better than them all this time.

Been really cool going in so many new places too. You really missed out if you sat on the sidelines of this thing. Worth having a think about getting involved next time. The fact that it's not easy really is half the fun.