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LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

Eat Burgers, buy Egyptian

Boycotts are funny things – they force you to take a stand on an issue, even if you decide to be a non-boycotter. When other people announce that they’re boycotting a certain product, then the issue lingers in the back of your mind, and comes to the fore every time you consume the boycotted item.

A few years ago, I rarely ate food from American chain restaurants. But after a year of living in Egypt, when I started working at an office, I quickly became a regular customer of some of the big chains. Eating the stuff, however, is just a habit, and I don’t usually think too hard about the implications of the choice I’m making. That’s surely the way most economic transactions are for most people most of the time.

The current boycott of American products – extending beyond imports to include local franchises of US chains – has forced me to make a conscious decision whenever I forget to bring a bagged lunch to work.

Fast-food restaurants have become symbols of the global American culture. So they’re an obvious target – easy to reject whenever the United States acts in a way that the consumer doesn’t like. In happier times, people found eating at (or hanging around outside) the same places an easy way to envelop themselves in a more "American" way of life.

Well-targeted boycotts can be effective – especially when the consumers in question are strategically positioned and have a bit of clout. For example, when Arab Americans boycotted Disney a few years ago, they managed to get a song-lyric in the film Aladdin changed. Pressure from the same constituency led to Burger King taking its name off a retaurant that it had opened in a West Bank settlement.

But boycotting American fast-food restaurants in Egypt is an acutely misguided response, doomed to ineffectiveness. Aside from the suspicion that the boycott will fizzle away and be quickly forgotten, the whole idea is ill-conceived and based on a misunderstanding of how "American" these chains actually are.

First of all, they are franchises, usually owned and operated by Egyptian (or in a few cases, other Arab) companies. And, importantly, they employ thousands of Egyptian workers in what – by local standards – are well-paid jobs with decent opportunities for training. Columnist Said Sonbol has already made this point in Al Akhbar: "The boycott wrecks Egyptian interests and causes no damage to US interests."

Secondly, the restaurants are an easy target because there are obvious "local" alternatives in the market, so boycotting doesn’t require a drastic change of habits on the part of the consumer. Even at the offices of Cairo IT companies, most employees had a go at boycotting US fast-food chains. But try avoiding US-affiliated companies in other areas – like computers – and it would not be so simple.

Moreover, the share represented by the Egyptian and Arab markets – through local partners – is a tiny, virtually inconsequential slice that is not going to change the Americans’ unfortunate habit of supporting Israel. (The answer to that is probably more, not less, trade with the States.)

The point is, when you buy from most of these companies, you are in fact buying Egyptian.

The one problem with opting out of a boycott is – having been politicized by the circumstances – I now feel a wave of indecision whenever I want a burger. Haven’t had koshari in a while.

NEIL MacDONALD

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