BOYCOTT
“We stop buying.”
2001–2010s
Coalition of Immokalee Workers — Fair Food
Who
Florida tomato pickers (CIW) vs Fast-food and retail giants (Taco Bell, McDonald’s, Walmart…)
Tomato pickers can’t squeeze growers alone, so they pressure the brands that buy the tomatoes until Taco Bell, McDonald’s, and others sign binding Fair Food deals.
Outcome Fair Food Program — penny-per-pound, codes, monitoring with major buyers
Lesson Go after who sets the price — the brands — when growers claim they can’t pay.
Documentary
Food Chains — trailers / clips1987–1990s
ACT UP — treatment access under crisis
Who
ACT UP chapters and Treatment Action Group vs FDA, NIH, and pharma gatekeeping
ACT UP occupies FDA and Wall Street, stages die-ins, and pressures drug companies until trial rules and access change for people with AIDS.
Outcome Faster approval pathways; AIDS shifted from death sentence toward manageable condition
Lesson When the bureaucracy’s timeline is a death sentence, stop the building until the timeline changes.
Documentary
How to Survive a Plague — clips1965–1970
Delano grape strike and boycott
Who
NFWA / UFW (Chávez, Huerta), Filipino farmworkers vs California growers and supermarket buyers
Central Valley pickers strike the fields, then take the fight to supermarket shelves nationwide until growers sign contracts.
Outcome Contracts with major growers
Lesson If labor alone is replaceable, move the fight to the brand’s customers.
Documentary
Fight in the Fields / UFW grape boycott1955–1956
Montgomery bus boycott
Who
Black Montgomery residents, Rosa Parks, MIA organizers vs Montgomery bus system and Jim Crow city power
After Parks’s arrest, Black Montgomery stops riding the buses for over a year. Carpools and churches keep the city moving while courts and boycott pressure run together.
Outcome Supreme Court ends bus segregation in Montgomery
Lesson Economic noncooperation plus logistics can beat a system built on your fares.
Documentary
Eyes on the Prize — Montgomery clips