The second part is tied to the first part - the organizers did actually successfully capture an entire market
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Replying to @arthur_affect
They got a plausible commitment from the black community institutions of the whole Montgomery metro area
1 reply 0 retweets 5 likes -
Replying to @arthur_affect
They unambiguously shut down the revenue the buses depended on, at a specific point in time
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Replying to @arthur_affect
It wasn't a general nationwide protest against "the bus industry", it wasn't aimed at shaving 0.05 points off giant revenue figures
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Replying to @arthur_affect
That's kind of the ugly truth about boycotts - they work best locally against local power
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Replying to @arthur_affect
A boycott can really fuck up a small business, or a local chain, or even a municipal public transit system
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Replying to @arthur_affect
But against a large corporation they're weak. That's the point of having a large corporation, that's what corporations are for
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Replying to @arthur_affect
A sub-point here is that the "buyers" who were boycotting were making a very serious life change
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Replying to @arthur_affect
Not riding the bus anymore meant changing how you did your daily commute and how you as a non car owner traveled in general
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Replying to @arthur_affect
Which is why the economic impact mattered. They notice if you stop doing something you do every day
1 reply 0 retweets 8 likes
If it's an occasional, luxury purchase - buying books, watching movies - the effect is far more dilute
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Replying to @arthur_affect
There's the ugly corollary of that point - it's very hard for a boycott to be effective that doesn't inflict pain on the boycotters
1 reply 3 retweets 24 likes -
Replying to @arthur_affect
Boycotts are damaging when they had a very good reason to expect your loyalty and you become disloyal anyway
1 reply 1 retweet 13 likes - Show replies
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