FLASH NEWS
Irish vs. Charles Boycott: Who was behind the first "boycott" in history, as a form of protest
2024-12-23 23:24:33 / MISTERE&KURIOZITETE
By G iorgia Maria Pagliaro
The etymology of the verb "boycott", and of the word "boycott" derived from it, has a not very old origin. It derives from the English word "boycott", and refers to social and political events, which had as the protagonist the man bearing this last name.
It was the year 1872, when Charles Cunningham Boycott, of English origin, but from the age of 17 a resident of the Isle of Achill, moved to Mayo, in the same county, where John Christon, third Earl of Urne, offered him the job of the manager of 2,184 acres of land, near the nearby town of Niles (in all of Ireland, Christ had 40,386 acres of land).
Lord Urn had declared that he preferred at the head of his lands any one of proper authority, an English or Scottish man, rather than an Irishman. Boycott, who was of English descent and boasted of his pedigree, and the fact that he was capable of cultivating the lands of the Isle of Ice even in the most adverse weather conditions, accepted the offer.
Lord Urn settled it on a farm of 629 hectares of land, which had a house, courtyard, the ruins of an ancient castle, two islands, and a small harbor for fishing boats. When Boycott officially became the estate agent of County Urn, the Great Irish Famine had already occurred, some 30 years earlier.
The latter was caused both by the failure of the potato and tomato crops, as well as by the large population growth, and the negligence of the British government, which did not take into account the need for strong investment in infrastructure, for a rapid recovery of Irish territory, without its solution until 1882, the year in which two English scientists, John Lindley and Lajne Playfer, discovered the pathogen that attacked crops: oomycete, a kind of mushroom.
Meanwhile, in 1879, Irishman Michael Devitt founds the Land League (the powerful Irish League of Land Labourers), an agrarian organization that worked to reform the system of land ownership during British rule. He demanded a fair rent for agricultural workers, a fair rent for farm dwellers, and the guarantee of the right to sell the worker's share of the land without interference from the landowner.
The league filed a lawsuit against Charles Boycott. The farm workers he managed had asked for a weekly wage increase from the £7-11 they were paid, to £9-15 a week.
Not receiving any positive response, the villagers went on strike during the wheat harvest. After an attempt to continue harvesting wheat with only the help of his family, Boykot gave in to the workers' demand, albeit with great reluctance.
The workers then asked for a 25 percent reduction in the land rent price, as had happened the year before, with a 10 percent reduction. But when Boycott refused to grant their demand a second time, the workers launched the first documented boycott in history, forcing farm workers to join the movement en masse.
An expedition of 50 workers from Cavan and Monaghan, heavily guarded by soldiers and police, rescued what was left of the crops, but Boycott was forced to leave Laug Mask for almost a year until the situation calmed down.
However, his stay in Ireland was strongly opposed, for as the "Irish Post" newspaper says: The Mayo Branch of the Irish League, expressed the demand that the Boycott workers abandon their work, and undertake a campaign of isolation against the farm manager, throughout the community of the area.
This campaign involved stores that refused to serve Boycott as a customer. Boykot understood that he was targeted, and he was not so much afraid of the possible violence against him as of the silence and disregard from anyone he simply met on the street.
So, a social punishment suffered by Boykot, which served to change his life even worse than a real criminal sentence. In fact, the Irish journalist continues: Furious with rage, Boycott made the fatal mistake of reporting the situation to all the most powerful media in London: The campaign against him thus became a big issue in the British press, as he wrote to the prestigious " Times" a letter which, among other things, stated:
“On September 22, a bailiff, accompanied by a police force of 17 men, came to my house to protect my family, followed by a noisy crowd of people cursing my family members. The next day, September 23, people gathered at the entrance to my farm, and several hundred of them came to my house and threatened me, my family, all the workers, ordering them not to work for me anymore."
My caretaker, scared, quit his job. My blacksmith received a letter threatening him with death if he continued to work for me, and my tailor was ordered to serve me no more. Merchants have been warned not to supply my house with goods, and I have just received a message from the postman, telling me that communication by telegraph has been interrupted…”
But this letter, in the end, had the opposite effect of what Boycott hoped: Media intervention helped to recover the losses, but the entrepreneur, already tainted as the cause of the economic collapse, was forced to leave Ireland on December 1, 1880.
Charles Boycott died 7 years after leaving the country, following an illness, at his home in the county of Suffolk, England, where he had been stationed. From then on, his name would forever be associated with the "boycott" as an extreme form of protest.
-
Rogue drones, London: Russia uses them to disorient Ukrainian military
December 23, 23:10 -
Inter gets the next victory in Serie A, cleanly defeats Como
December 23, 23:05 -
Happening now...
America may withdraw from Europe, but not from SPAK
Nga Gentian Gaba
ideas
Who is the Surrel Rabbit?
Nga Sidi Hasanaj
The two wrong paths of the opposition with the Ombudsman
Nga Patrik Sadikaj
top
Alfa recipes
TRENDING 
services
- POLICE129
- STREET POLICE126
- AMBULANCE112
- FIREFIGHTER128