Writer Sara Joseph urges boycott of American products over US-Israel war efforts

Malayalam writer Sara Joseph on Sunday called for a boycott of certain American corporate products, alleging that they indirectly support the United States' war efforts, including its backing of Israel.

In a Facebook post shared on the occasion of International Women's Day, the writer urged women to go beyond words in expressing opposition to war and instead adopt practical forms of protest in their daily lives.

Framing her message as a series of questions, she asked whether women could begin their "participation in war" from everyday spaces such as the kitchen, bathroom and bedroom by rejecting products made by major American corporations.

Sara specifically mentioned products such as Colgate toothpaste, Tide/Ariel washing powder, Head & Shoulders and Pantene shampoos, and Johnson & Johnson products, urging women to give them up. According to her, these companies are large US corporate entities that also financially support the American effort to manufacture warplanes, weapons and missiles used in conflicts.

She described the proposed boycott as a "silent revolution" that could begin from the household and spread widely if more people adopted it and encouraged others to do the same. "Let us practise this resistance and inspire others to do the same, so that it spreads like fire," she wrote while concluding her post with Women's Day greetings.

Her remarks come amid heightened global tensions and supply chain disruption after the US and Israel launched strikes against Iran, killing its Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Iran retaliated with widespread missile and drone attacks in the Gulf and on the Strait of Hormuz, disrupting the flow of oil.