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Notes -
https://abcnews.go.com/amp/Business/companies-starbucks-mcdonalds-face-controversy-amid-israel-hamas/story?id=104219615
Meanwhile, https://www.aljazeera.com/amp/news/2023/11/14/indonesians-boycott-mcdonalds-starbucks-over-support-for-israel
So, the Starbucks union posted pro-Palestinian messages on social media, as is their right to do. Starbucks in response distances itself from its union — not even to support Israel, but simply to stay out of it altogether. McDonald’s franchises are independently owned and operated, so McDonald’s in Israel gives free food to the IDF, and McDonald’s in Indonesia and other Muslim countries gives aid to Palestine instead.
And for just doing business as businesses do, https://www.news.com.au/finance/business/retail/propalestine-vandals-who-targeted-starbucks-and-maccas-in-melbourne-dubbed-extremists/news-story/6f6c50b4316aa4426b90702d5ccf1c91?amp
I mean, I could at least see the Chick-fil-A boycott making sense. You eating at Chick-fil-A benefits the CEO and private owner of the company, so you want to stop giving money to that guy even if that might end up hurting others employed by Chick-fil-A who don’t share such views.
Or the Hogwarts Legacy boycott, where an argument could be made that even pirating the game gives cultural clout to the Harry Potter brand, and therefore you should avoid the game altogether if you dislike JK Rowling enough. I mean, I disagree, but I can at least see where that is coming from. You don’t want to benefit people you dislike, even if it also benefits others who you have nothing against at all.
This, though? This isn’t even hurting “the right people.” What? Am I missing a potential steel man here, or are these protestors not even bothering to pretend like what they’re doing has any rational basis beyond pure tribalism anymore?
Melbourne has always been a hotbed of leftwing political activism. The area of the city where the vandalism took place is close to the State Library of Victoria; a site used regularly for political protests.
I'm not sure I'd call it a "hotbed", but Melbourne definitely is the most left-wing city in Australia (the inner city is the only safe Greens seat in the country, and most of the rest is Labour). And yes, the SLoV is a common protest site, though not all of them are CW-loaded (that's where I went for the PauseAI protest, for instance).
AFAIK Canberra's more left wing, such as being the only region to actually Vote Yes at the last referendum... but I guess it's more of a Labor-voting Left Wing than a radical one.
Only 75% of Victorians live in Melbourne; nearly 100% of Australian Capital Territorians live in Canberra (the population figure for Canberra on Wikipedia is actually higher than that for the ACT, due to being somewhat more recent). Haven't run the exact numbers but I think Melbourne by itself voted Yes (also, a significant chunk of the No areas still vote Labour - they're leftist in the unionist/socialist sense).
But yes, I did forget Canberra.
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