Boycott Italy for Amanda Knox, NO WAY

The intensive trial of Amanda Knox in Perugia, Italy has been a long and complicated process that on December 5^th, 2009 resulted in a 26 year sentence in prison for the murder of her roommate Meredith Kercher.

Since the sentencing there has been a small movement to boycott Italy as a protest to the trial result. Twitter, Facebook members and famous figures such as Donald Trump have taken on the cause of the boycott.

While boycotting may be a traditional method of getting your voice heard; in this particular case it is the most ridiculous and absurd way to support Amanda Knox or get the attention of the powers that be in Italy.

1. Italy is the #1 tourist destination in the world and the impact of an Amanda Knox boycott would only produce a ripple in the sea of tourists who flock to Italy from all over the world.
2. Italians don’t boycott and don’t respond to boycotting. Boycotts only work in societies that recognize them. Italians respond to face to face negotiation and have for centuries.
3. An Italy boycott will hurt Americans more than it will anyone else. So what does “boycott Italy” mean? Stop going to Olive Garden? Stop buying olive oil and pasta at the supermarket? Stop traveling to Italy? Return all of your Italian shoes to the store? All these options hurt business owners, employees and organizations here in America.
4. A lovely young person; Meredith Kercher was brutally murdered and Amanda Knox was her roommate. In American courts the saying “beyond a reasonable doubt” is the gauge used to determine innocence or guilt. No matter if you think Amanda is innocent there was a murder and her involvement is foggy at best.

Historically boycotts surround cut and dry issues such as African Americans during the US civil rights movement (notably the Montgomery Bus Boycott) the movement that advocated "disinvestment" in South Africa during the 1980s in opposition to that country's apartheid regime. When a person is murdered in cold blood there may or may not be extenuating circumstances that lead to a result; it is far from cut and dry, right or wrong and in the Knox case we don’t know enough to boycott an entire country.

The Italian justice system may be a factor in the verdict, but boycotting Italy is not a way to be heard. Italians are strong and proud people who stick by their decisions no matter if they are right or wrong. The way to get an Italian to change their mind is to speak to them on an eye to eye level; threatening them will only result in a deadlock.

Those that propose a boycott of Italy are ignorant and if they took the time to understand how Italians work they can put their energy and intentions to good use.

Here are some useful ways of protesting the Amanda Knox sentence in a way that Italians will hear.

1. Travel to Italy and submit your protest in person. Don’t go over in a WTO sit in the street until the police drag you away method, but go to the courthouse and submit a letter in person of your protest. Local authorities who realize that someone came across the world to give a letter of protest in a respectful way will be heard much louder than a few less tourists in town.
2. If you can’t afford to go in person then write letters, post video commentaries and write blog posts but BE RESPECTFUL and don’t use threatening verbiage. Imagine you are a hostage, would you go to your captures and say “listen if you don’t let me go, I’m going to (put your favorite threat here) compared to “I see why you are doing this but here are my reasons why you might let me go. See the difference?

It’s time for fresh thinking. It’s time to negotiate. Americans, business owners and the travel industry have been bludgeoned almost to death with the economy, war and uncertainty; let’s not throw a boycott boomerang that will just come back to hit us while we are down.