Question about the advisability of a nation-wide boycott against the state of Arizona:

[coalition_unwilling]

Do boycotts of entire states work to right injustices or do a lot of innocent people just get hurt along the way? Or something in between?

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/05/us/05prison.html?_r=2&hp

I am so spitting mad about this right now. There is another thread on DU about it too:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x1879042

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Should a general 49-state boycott of all things Arizona be immediately declared and implemented until such time as this $25 fee is rescinded? I'm especially curious to hear what our DUers who live in AZ think about this.

[Safetykitten]

1. Oh, and thanks for taking Janet away. I mean look how things have gone since she left.

[Lizzie Poppet]

2. It's a tough call.

Oregonian here, but raised in AZ and still have family and friends there.

I oppose this fee. If it were being done for genuine security reasons (AZ has actually had incidents of visitors helping prisoners to escape), I might feel differently, but by their own admission it's a revenue-generating scheme. If AZ hadn't been pissing away millions on corporate tax breaks, they might not be in such financial trouble.

But the fact is (successful) boycotts do indeed harm the innocent right along with the guilty. Anything that contributes to furthering economic decline impacts the movers and shakers responsible for crap like this LAST. It's ordinary folks who suffer first and most.

[coalition_unwilling]

7. Thanks. I am so mad right now, I could just spit. So I'm not

thinking clearly through this issue.

Even though i am currently unemployed, I'm going to be sending a token donation tomorrow by snail mail to Middle Ground Prison Reform. Its the local Arizona non-profit that brought suit on behalf of Arizona inmates and their families. Figure it's better than a boycott for the reasons you mention.

Thanks again though for taking the time to share your perspective.

[EFerrari]

3. The point is that innocent people are suffering by these policies already.

If a boycott will help change them, it's a net gain. Plus, a lot of people in AZ supported the boycott over the fascist immigration bill.

[coalition_unwilling]

16. That's a good point. I suppose I was thinking of hotel and

restaurant line workers whose jobs might be at risk were convention biz to dry up. But that's what makes me so mad is the patent unfairness and cruelty of this fee . . . that it is hurting innocent people already.

[EFerrari]

19. I know. They prey on the most helpless people. n/t

[Blue_In_AK]

4. I'm not necessarily in favor of boycotting states

(I remember that people wanted to boycott Alaska because Sarah Palin came from here), but Arizona is really running off the rails, and I'm so glad I have no reason to go there. I may never have a reason to go there for the rest of my life.

Not boycotting, just not going there.

[Curmudgeoness]

5. The problem I see with a boycott by just the left is that the right

would counter it by making a point to buy AZ products and vacation in AZ, etc. when they would not have done so without the boycott. Net gain from a boycott like this would be zero.

Most of the time, boycotts only work when it is an issue that most people can get behind.

[coalition_unwilling]

6. Good points you raise, but I really wonder if even the right wing,

reprehensible reptiles though they may be, would be for this type of fee to visit incarcerated family members. It just seems so patently cruel on every level.

[sabrina 1]

8. Lots of rightwingers will have to pay also. I wonder what the

ratio of Republicans V Democrats are in Az jails?

[Curmudgeoness]

10. I guess we could wait and see if the Reps are opposing this too.

But why do I have a feeling that they will be told that it is a good thing, and will automatically agree.

[sabrina 1]

17. If we call it a 'tax', which it is actually,

maybe that would get them on board?

Mmm, just wondering, if we called 'taxes' 'fees' maybe they would not object so much to charging the Wealthy 'fees' for the privileges they are granted, such as 'tax breaks'. Lol!

[customerserviceguy]

11. Well said

Besides, I just can't see too many people getting too upset over prisoner visits.

[EFerrari]

13. Some influential groups should be like the Urban League

and church groups that work with the poor and with prisoners.

[coalition_unwilling]

18. I'm planning on sending a donation to this non-profit tomorrow:

http://www.middlegroundprisonreform.org/main/index.html

They no longer accept PayPal, so I'll be sending a paper check via snail mail.

[EFerrari]

12. Well, it turns out that the travel industry and its satellites lost money

in the first year of the AZ boycott. The right did not make up the slack.

ETA http://www.usatoday.com/travel/news/2010-04-27-arizonaboycott27_ST_N.htm

[Curmudgeoness]

20. Good to know. I just keep thinking that we encourage them

to do more when we are vocal about doing less. Glad to hear that they still don't have as much resolve as we do.

[EFerrari]

25. The thing is, we may be a smaller group of voters

but most people share our views on social issues. The braying teabaggers amplified by the media can make us lose sight of that sometimes, imo.

[ChandlerJr]

9. How about just boycotting the prisons?

Hit 'em were it hurts.

[coalition_unwilling]

15. Um, you're advocating that the families of those incarcerated

boycott visiting their loved ones and family members?

If so, your suggestion seems almost as cruel as the fee imposed by Arizona lawmakers.

Or maybe I'm not getting your drift.

[pinboy3niner]

14. There is an existing, ongoing boycott

Who is boycotting Arizona?
Aug. 27, 2010 03:51 PM
http://www.azcentral.com/business/articles/2010/05/13/20100513immigration-boycotts-list.html




http://thesoundstrike.info/

[TxVietVet]

21. I have no intentions of going to Arizona.

Now, if I did, t would be to help organize workers there to fight the conservanazis that are screwing them. Let them strike and shut the f*cking conservanazi den of idiots down.

No one has really taken any action since all the bu$hit the conservanazis have been ramming through, taking away the human rights of people.

So, what's left? If I could speak SPanish, I'd be there right now fighting for the poor folks.

[ThoughtCriminal]

22. If I avoided every state that had a stupid and hateful law

It would get tricky to travel. Arizona has more than it's share (I should know, I live there), but I see no plus side. The political right in this state LOVES it when these boycotts are threatened or implemented. I don't think they care about the economic cost - they consider it good press for their lunatic base.

Tucson, Flagstaff and the Reservations are pretty liberal. But places like Maricopa, Yavapai and Mohave Counties are loaded with Tea party punch.

[coalition_unwilling]

23. Thanks for the insight from AZ, much appreciated. Do you have

any experience with Middle Ground Prison Reform? It is fighting the regulation. I was planning to send it a donation tomorrow.

This is its website: http://www.middlegroundprisonreform.org/main/index.html

[ThoughtCriminal]

24. No, but it's something I should look into

I have experienced the frustration of having a family member being incarcerated here (Maricopa County - not State). It's was frustrating to do simple things. For example, you can't send a letter, only postcards (security). But not just any postcards - they have to be "store bought", so they refused to deliver one that was made from a family photograph. Also, no stamps, we had to have the postcard hand stamped at the Post Office (I think it's so drugs can't be hidden under the stamp). Even following the rules, apparently about half the postcards we sent were not delivered.


The key thing that all these policies neglect is the importance of maintaining contact with the family.