It’s time to turn off, tune out and drop President Bush a message March 21 2003

Boycotting the US showbiz behemoth is the most powerful anti-war gesture you could make, writes Gerald Stone.

Street marches against the US-led attack on Iraq cannot be compared to the mass demonstrations which helped to end the war in Vietnam. The politics of public protest changed forever when President George Bush announced his startling doctrine proclaiming America’s right to launch a pre-emptive military strike against any target of its choosing.

If the leading democracy on earth is prepared to go to war regardless of public opinion around the world, what means are left to ordinary citizens in Australia and elsewhere to try to make their feelings heard?

Demonstrations in foreign capitals are hardly likely to have much impact in the new era of the Bush doctrine for one simple reason. They are all show and no “blow”: they have no way of making a solidly entrenched President feel exposed to the winds of change.

Earlier this week, in a letter to the Herald, I offered one long-shot possibility of getting directly through to the White House: a viewer boycott of the Oscars.

Perhaps the idea wasn’t as far-fetched as some critics tried to make out.

The US, for all its military might, has a political system that makes it very vulnerable to protest campaigns which target any of its major industries. The entertainment industry is certainly among the most influential of those.

The Academy Awards broadcast is traditionally the most widely watched of all American television shows. If there was clear evidence of a drop in ratings attributable to anti-war sentiment, it would send a symbolic message to the bosses of the big studios, networks and pop music companies.

They would begin to realise that an unpopular war has the potential to threaten billions of dollars in overseas profits, and they would make sure that message was passed on quickly to the politicians who represent them

American-born Gerald Stone is a former executive producer of 60 Minutes and a former editor of The Bulletin.

More…http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/03/20/1047749876953.html