Write a commentTo iHeart Oswego: Every Thursday, Organize Oswego joins thousands across the globe in a weekly strike for Gaza.
On that day, we do not shop, we do not buy, and we do not participate in the economy of complicity.
Here's why: the dollars we spend in Oswego do not stay in Oswego. They flow upward—into corporate profits, into federal tax revenue, into the hands of companies like Lockheed Martin and Boeing that build the bombs now falling on Gaza. Every checkout line, every credit card swipe, every burger wrapper or soda bottle becomes part of a supply chain of death.
Walmart, McDonalds, Burger King, Coca-Cola—these are not just familiar names in our town. They are corporations with deep ties to Israel's occupation and U.S. militarism. When we buy from them, we don't just buy groceries or fast food; we help fuel a global system that prioritizes profit over Palestinian lives.
The U.S. government sends billions of our tax dollars in military aid to Israel, money that could be funding schools, hospitals, and safe housing in our own communities. Instead, it is underwriting a campaign of mass starvation and displacement. Meanwhile, corporations that profit from endless war depend on our unthinking consumption to keep their shareholders satisfied.
That is why a Thursday strike matters. When we collectively withdraw our spending, we disrupt the cycle. We say no: our money will not be used to bury children under rubble, to bomb refugee camps, or to starve families behind blockades.
Oswego is not powerless. Every community has the choice to look away or to act. Organize Oswego calls on our neighbors to act: spend nothing on Thursdays. Make it known that we will not normalize genocide.
—Organize Oswego
