This is not the first time Hezbollah calls for boycotting US products. They have linked it in the past to conflicts between Palestinians and Israelis, and the list of products they disseminated via social media are very similar to those – in content and design – to the list that were disseminated in the past. But this time around, there’s a new angle and a clear agenda.
Hezbollah understands that boycotting American products by its constituency is futile. Even if all the people living under Iran’s umbrella decided to boycott American goods, it is highly unlikely that the US economy will shake. But Hezbollah has two objectives for this campaign.
LOBBYING THE COMMUNITY
As soon as Nasrallah uttered these words, tons of Hezbollah’s supporters – probably those who are organized under Hezbollah’s social media army – took to Twitter and Facebook and launched accounts with hashtags encouraging people to boycott American products. The argument of these social media discussions started with a strong boycott campaign against everything American. However, people started complaining that Hezbollah itself uses American products.
Many made fun of how those who are mourning Soleimani are using American-made cars. Others pointed out how fond Soleimani and Nasrallah’s son – Jawad Nasrallah - are of Timberland, an American outdoors clothing brand. In one picture, Jawad Nasrallah is seen with two friends while wearing a shirt with the logo of the American company Timberland with “USA” underneath and in another picture, Qassem Soleimani is wearing a Timberland jacket.
These comments were embarrassing. It is clear that Hezbollah’s – and its community – consumption of American products will always challenge its attempts to launch an ideological war against the US.
In response to these comments, Hezbollah’s social media army started a new rhetoric. The new argument is that no, Hezbollah’s campaign is not about breaking the US economy, or even making causing the people challenges when they commit to this campaign. The goal is to voice a moral stance and boycott US products as much as possible. At the end of the day, they still need Twitter and Facebook, both American companies.
Another reason for this campaign is to lobby the community around a cause. Hezbollah’s resistance has been put on hold for many years and the Lebanese people have become very disillusioned with Hezbollah’s resistance rhetoric. Words are no longer valid and it is becoming hard for the people to believe that Hezbollah is still a resistance movement.
Hezbollah’s commanders Imad Moghnieh, his son Jihad, and Mustpha Badreddine were killed in battle and Hezbollah did nothing to retaliate. Then their positions in Syria and the rest of the region have been frequently bombed and destroyed by Israel and they did nothing. And now their leader Qassem Soleimani was killed and everyone expected Iran and Hezbollah to launch a war against the US and Israel. Still, nothing happened.
Therefore, a boycotting campaign seemed the least that Hezbollah could do to consolidate its resistance rhetoric, instead of launching a war and losing whatever left of its commanders, fighters, and weapons. However, this is also not going to fly. Despite the momentum of this campaign, it will probably fizzle as the Lebanese people – including the Shia – are more concerned with the deteriorating economic crisis, and the spread of the Corona virus coming from Iran, than a new campaign against the US.
HELPING IRAN
Fearing that this campaign is going to eventually fail and fizzle, the electronic army of the party of god decided to take advantage of the thousands of people following these social media groups, and to promote Iranian goods.
A quick look at the these groups and the discussions going on within them, it is not difficult to realize how often the group administrators are using the space to promote Iranian products – and sometimes Syrian goods – as both cheaper and an alternative to US products.
This subtle – but obvious – promotion lead to a new wave of complaints by many Lebanese who thought it was rather immoral to promote Iranian products and shops when the Lebanese farmers and factories are closing down and going bankrupt because they cannot find proper markets for their products. For example, instead of promoting Lebanese products, these groups are encouraging the Lebanese to buy Iranian cleaning products, personal care products, food, cigarettes, and even Iranian smart phones.
Going through these pages, one can clearly see how many Iranian shops, supermarkets and exhibitions have recently opened in Lebanon, mainly inside Hezbollah-controlled areas; that is in the southern suburbs of Beirut, the south of Lebanon, and the Bekaa. It is also striking that an Iranian car company – SAIPA – opened a branch in Lebanon, in addition to the fact that Iran has already flooded the Lebanese market with cheap steel and other products.
As Lebanon drowns further and further under economic and financial burdens, and as more than 40% of the Lebanese are unemployed, Iran decided to take advantage of the Lebanese people’s pains in order to move and sell its products, while the US is hitting the Iranian regime with sanctions.
Iraq has been going through the same problem for many years, and Iran has used Iraq to sell its products, until the Iraqi people decided one day that enough is enough. When the Iraqis took to the streets in October 2019, their slogans were directed against the Iranian regime as the main culprit behind the deterioration of their economy.
The Iraqi people were very clear in blaming Iran and they started a campaign to boycott Iranian products that flood the Iraqi markets, mainly within Shia areas. As the Iraqi protestors started to realize that the Iraqi products should be prioritized over the Iranian ones, the anti-US rhetoric faded and the Iranian campaigns to boycott American products failed.
Now it’s Lebanon’s turn. Instead of encouraging and promoting Lebanese products, Hezbollah wants the Lebanese to buy Iranian and Syrian ones, defy the international community, and help Iran survive sanctions. All that while the Lebanese people are feeling the hunger, the desperation, and a bleak future.
Hezbollah – again – wants the Lebanese people to sacrifice their lives and futures to help implement Iran’s agenda and help save its economy, while isolating Lebanon further from the international economy.
However, despite these attempts, the Lebanese people – since they took to the streets on October 2019 – have realized that no war rhetoric or ideology, and no sectarian identity will save them from poverty and hunger. Their priorities today are very clear: save the economy, implement reforms, fight corruption, and build state institutions. Instead of the Islamic resistance, people are today calling for resisting corruption and the greed of the political elite. This scares Hezbollah, and its new campaign looks out of place.
