this post was submitted on 07 Sep 2025
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Buy European

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[โ€“] skisnow@lemmy.ca 55 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

I don't know how it is in EU countries, but I'm distressed at just how deep US corporations have their claws into UK politicians. e.g. https://www.thenational.scot/news/25367773.peer-urged-crack-palestine-action-request-us-arms-firm/

[โ€“] TankovayaDiviziya@lemmy.world 8 points 1 week ago (2 children)

It has been known that the US companies used UK as lobby when the latter was in the EU.

De Gaulle was right. He always thought the US will use UK to wedge itself and influence Europe. Even though he knows UK will always stand with Europe, he said they will always pick US over Europe.

[โ€“] CptOblivius@lemmy.world 3 points 1 week ago

Don't worry we have Putin and Netanyahu influencing us in the US. So the US is just a middleman wedge into the UK, from now Russia and Israel.

[โ€“] DrDystopia@lemy.lol 45 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Scandimandian here, hell yeah. Local is best, produced by fellow citizens somewhere in the county second.

A lot of stuff, particularly tech is hard to find though. At best it's low grade Chinese stuff with a custom label slapped onto it. Not even assembled here by foreign parts. Just straight from slave factories.

But I eat local eggs at least. Made by slave hens.

this is the problem with people zealously advocating boycotting american industry. good on paper, sticky in practice.

itโ€™d be great if you could just never buy american again but certain economic sectors, such as tech, only really offer you the one market. idk what europeโ€™s precious metal industry looks like but both the US and Europe need to heavily invest in fabs in the coming decades. for all the problems we have, the entire Westโ€™s reliance on Chinese fabs is our collective achilleโ€™s heel

[โ€“] AllNewTypeFace@leminal.space 16 points 1 week ago (1 children)

As someone once put it, โ€œpolitics is the art of saying โ€œnice doggyโ€ until you can find a rockโ€. Buying off the toddler-in-chief with obsequious compliments and gold-plated tat buys time to decouple your economy, and is a less-worse alternative than him deciding to make an example of your country, sinking your economy, and your government being replaced by actual Nazis.

[โ€“] maam@feddit.uk 6 points 1 week ago

I mean Donald Trump is already attempting to replace the governments with Nazis yet they project about globalists treating tariffs over progressive policy, look at how Elon Musk interfered with Germanyโ€™s election making them turn further rightward with his propaganda Platform Twitter giving extra spotlight on right wing voices, that wanker would litterally try to convince Germany for first-past-the-post and with terrible options being fascists or neoliberals. Thank god leftists can win under mixed-member proportional, however european need to become more resilient against the far-right with tighten election rules ie $50 per year contributions to local, regional and national elections.

I always find it interesting how the UK, who left the EU complaining about sovereignty, is not trying to give up US tech products like the EU is.

[โ€“] Tja@programming.dev 6 points 1 week ago (1 children)

The one on the left is a lie. Coca-Cola consumption has risen since trump, for instance.

[โ€“] Bunbury@feddit.nl 5 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Got some data to back that up? All I can find is a decline in Europe revenue 2025 Q1 by 1.1%, but hey, maybe you found more recent numbers?

[โ€“] Tja@programming.dev 1 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (1 children)

Data from July where I read it: https://www.reddit.com/r/BuyFromEU/comments/1m6ykfl/cocacola_earnings_beat_estimates_as_strong_demand/

Growth was 3% in EMEA, can't find the 5% for Europe, might have hallucinated that one...

EDIT: I just noticed I didn't claim 5% in my previous comment above, but had this exact discussion recently many times and was convinced it was 5% up in Europe. It's late, I need a nap...

[โ€“] Bunbury@feddit.nl 4 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Oh wow, thanks. Someone under that post also linked that this is not about Coca Cola the drink, but everything owned by the Coca Cola company, which is over 500 brands.

As I recently explained to someone else on here: I genuinely donโ€™t think most Europeans are doing the research regarding the background of the brands they buy. Itโ€™s easy to avoid things like the standard Coca Cola drink as thatโ€™s well known to be from the US, but Iโ€™m sadly willing to bet that most of those other brands would be purchased without much of a second thought.

[โ€“] birdwing@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (1 children)

I think the easiest way to get people to adapt is to require that stores have sections with "European products". Products in there must be 100% European in origin.

Mandate that stores separate those two. Promote the European ones. Check if it actually is.

If we make it easier for the consumer, we make it easier for all.

[โ€“] Bunbury@feddit.nl 1 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Yeah, I was thinking along similar lines, but maybe just a mandatory country of origin flag next to the price. However the downside of that is that some of our food is already picked one country and then transported to another for processing, then transported to another for packaging. So my idea is unrealistic. However I like your โ€œthis is picked, processed and packaged in Europe onlyโ€ type of labeling. Sadly Iโ€™m sure that all of the big food producers would be against it and they have a lot of money to lobby the government to prevent this.

[โ€“] birdwing@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (1 children)

An alternate would be new stores that only do European.

I'd foresee a lot of potential with that, honestly. Stores that explicitly advocate themselves as having 100% European products, and can back it up.

Eurofederalists would be happy because it gives the EU a stronger footing.

Nationalists would be happy because it means their own country, or at least Europe, is largely represented.

Ecologists would be happy because it'd mean less waste generally, in terms of transport.

And so on....

[โ€“] Bunbury@feddit.nl 1 points 6 days ago (1 children)

I just know that the main supermarkets in my country are actively lobbying the government and suing the competition to squash them. But hey, if we donโ€™t try we lose by default.

[โ€“] birdwing@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

Ugh, this is exactly why we should abolish CEOs and require all former bosses to work the lowest paid job of their company for two years. Or they pay all people earning less than them the same wage (or more than them), and decline bonuses. And also don't donate to politicians, direct or indirect.

In return, former bosses who adhere to this, and snitch on other CEOs, get extra help.

[โ€“] Libb@piefed.social 6 points 1 week ago

I'm not much into memes, but kinda like this one :)

[โ€“] cecilkorik@lemmy.ca 3 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Most politicians, and pretty much all viable ones who have any chance of getting elected or can control the direction of any major party, are either rich bastards themselves or cronies and sycophants to the rich, the fact that they're the only choices we get to vote for doesn't make them "representative" it just means they've completely stacked the deck so that we have no choice but to vote against ourselves no matter who we vote for. Democracy itself hasn't totally failed us (yet, I hope) but our political system of representation and the current institution of democracy certainly has.

[โ€“] Sunshine@piefed.ca 3 points 1 week ago (1 children)

This doesnโ€™t apply in countries with proportional representation since people can vote who they want.