Weeklong boycotts of individual corporations such as Amazon, Nestlé, and Walmart will follow.
Johannes Werner
Original Air Date: Feb. 26, 2025
Host: Tomorrow, midnight, a one-day “Economic Blackout” will begin. This is a decentralized, social media-driven response to the dismantling of DEI programs by corporations, but it goes beyond that particular grievance, tapping into grumbling about the dismantling of government agencies led by a billionaire. The boycott asks people to stop or minimize spending for 24 hours on Friday, Feb. 28.
John Schwarz.
John Schwarz: They raise prices because they can. They squeeze every dollar out of us because they can. They pay their workers less, they cut corners on quality and charge you more because they can. And if they can do that, then we can stop paying. This Friday, Feb. 28, we’re throwing that first boulder into the pond. We’re going to pull our dollars out of the system and let that ripple spread, because ripples become waves and waves become storms, my friend.
Johannes Werner: This is John Schwarz, the 50-something dad in New York, who started the consumer-activist group called People’s Union. On its website, and in social media, Schwarz and his People’s Union are asking to halt spending online or in-store, and not use credit or debit cards. The one-day boycott aims at retail giants Amazon, Walmart, Best Buy, and Target, and it asks people to stop buying gas and fast food.
Essential purchases—food, medicine, emergency supplies—are cool with the People’s Union as long as they are done in cash and with small, local businesses.
Poster advertising the economic blackout.
From its appearance on social media, there is widespread support. Individuals in Sarasota and Manatee and local groups such as Indivisible, as well as the Sarasota Democratic Party, have called to join the 24-hour Economic Blackout.
This is an attempt to disrupt the economic order and “take back control of our economy, government and future of our country.” The one-day action is meant to be just the starting shot for a campaign that aims to disrupt and reform the U.S. economy from the ground up. In the weeks ahead, Schwarz has announced weeklong boycotts planned for specific retailers.
JS: This blackout is just the beginning. We’re moving on to Amazon next and then Nestlé, and believe me when I say some of these corporations will never get another cent from us. Companies like Target who continuously want to price gouge and play with equality; companies like Amazon who built their empire by exploiting labor and crushing small businesses and paying nothing in taxes; companies like Nestlé who have profited off of child labor and water privatization—we’re coming for all of them, and the boycotts will get longer and longer, and we will not stop until these corporations are forced to beg the government to pay their fair share, until they lower their prices, and until they stop treating the American people like they are disposable income. This Friday is your opportunity to take a stand. No spending. No shopping. Not a dime unless it’s a small local business. We’re not asking for change. We’re creating it. Remember: A storm never asks permission. It just arrives.
JW: Upcoming People’s Union weeklong boycotts will target Amazon Mar. 7-14, Nestlé Mar. 21-28 and Walmart Apr. 7-13.
There’s also a separate boycott against Target by Black faith leaders, including Al Sharpton. They are calling for a 40-day “fast” against the big-box retailer, to protest its dialing back DEI initiatives. That boycott will run during Lent starting on Ash Wednesday, Mar. 5.
The movement seems to hark back to the success of Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Schwarz and the People’s Union also have ties to the “underconsumption core” trend that began last year on TikTok, a more fundamental pushback against consumerism and aggressive corporate marketing.
Reporting for WSLR News, Johannes Werner.
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