Sharia law; "Why single out the Beverley Hills Hotel?" Why indeed?

[genwah]

The New York Post has a story, " A night at the vacant Beverly Hills Hotel".

Ten days have passed since Jay Leno, Ellen DeGeneres, Sharon Osbourne, Kim Kardashian and other great geopolitical thinkers engaged in a boycott here. Their stance: The hotel is owned by the Sultan of Brunei, who has just instituted Sharia law in his small Southeast Asian nation; until the sultan sells the hotel, or reverses his recent decision, no one should book a room or a banquet hall or a power lunch.

Here's the 'graph that started a germ of an idea...

Christopher Cowdray, CEO of the Dorchester Group — which holds 10 luxury hotels around the globe, and is owned by the sultan’s Brunei Investment Agency — has called for a more nuanced understanding.“Many of our employees may lose the more than $8 million in gratuities they receive annually working at meetings and functions normally held at the hotel,” he told CNBC. “Many iconic brands across a wide variety of industries — ­hotels, real estate, consumer products, luxury goods, technology and others — are backed by countries governed by Sharia and not aligned with our civil liberties . . . Against this backdrop, we question why the Beverly Hills Hotel is being singled out.”

I think Mr. Cowdray has a point. Why just two overpriced, typically LA hotels? I couldn't afford one night at the Beverley Hills Hotel if I sold my car. But do I buy anything from Brunei? From any Sharia Law country? I really don't know. I have a car, so I buy gas and oil, but those are fungible. Not that there's any way to live without buying stuff from people who will use their profits for evil, but still...boycotts/divestment can make a difference. South Africa, Flush Rush, and others. Not many, but a few.

At the very least, we should look into the Dorchester Group, of which Mr. Cowdray is the CEO. Can anyone untangle the Brunei Investment Agency that owns the Dorchester Group? What else do they own?

Anybody know any European activist groups, not just LGBT, there's women and X-ians that are being oppressed in Brunei, too.

[fujiyama]

1. These sorts of boycotts rarely have meaningful economic consequences

and no one believes this has an impact on the Sultan's net worth. While it may hurt hotel employees, it also brings high visibility to human rights abuses in Brunei. I don't see anything wrong with that. That's the whole point of this campaign.

I prefer not to shop at Wal Mart for a whole host of issues. That doesn't mean I'm doing it to hurt individual Wal Mart employees.

[genwah]

2. Exactly my point, except that I'm far from a Wal-Mart. No way is the sultan going broke, but I'd

like to see something happen in France, England, etc. just to make a point.