CMEP Action Alert: Tell your Representative, “Stand Up for The Right to Boycott!”
Representatives Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib, and John Lewis have introduced a resolution affirming that all Americans have the right to participate in boycotts in pursuit of civil and human rights at home and abroad. Let us encourage your representatives to join them in standing up for our civil liberties by cosponsoring H.Res 496!
In a political environment where civil liberties and freedom of expression are increasingly coming under attack, H.Res 496 reaffirms that all Americans are free to engage in economic measures to protest injustices everywhere in the world. Churches for Middle East Peace upholds the right to find appropriate and various ways to end unjust practices and policies that violate international laws and conventions, including exerting economic leverage on commercial and government actors.
Tell your Representative, “Cosponsor H.Res 496!”
Boycotting injustices in an effort to affect change is a time-honored American tradition that predates the very existence of our country. From the Boston Tea Party to the Montgomery Bus Boycott to the boycott of South African goods in protest of apartheid, Americans–and our churches–have a proud history of participating in boycotts to advocate for human rights abroad. In addition, the right to boycott is a constitutionally protected civil liberty that has been upheld in court.