The term “boycott” is derived from Captain Charles Boycott, an agent in Ireland for a British absentee landlord. In 1880, Boycott began evicting tenants who could not pay their rent following a particularly bad harvest. In response Boycott was socially ostracised. Shops refused to serve him, local business refused to transact with him and workers refused to tend his fields, stables and household.
In the 1930s boycotts of goods from Japan and Nazi German severely curtailed their preparations for war.
Boycotts of British goods in India were the main reason the non-violent protest of Mahatma Gandhi lead to Indian independence.
Following the arrest of Rosa Parks, boycotts of the Montgomery bus service put civil rights at the centre of US political reform.
International sporting and commercial boycotts helped bring about the end of Apartheid in South Africa.
In May this year, Brunei announced it was abandoning plans to make homosexuality and adultery punishable by stoning to death in response to global boycotts.
These a just a few examples of what boycotts have achieved. Is it any surprise that this government wants to legislate against them?
Scott Morrison threatens crackdown on protesters who would 'deny liberty'
PM signals action on secondary boycotts of resources companies and says progressives want to tell Australians ‘what you can say, what you can think’
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/nov/01/scott-morrison-th...