Not protectionist but it’s fair to start using more eu brands when reasonable.

I always try to buy local products while shopping but if the best alternative is a product made somewere else, i’ll take that. I tend to use local brands because they’re more regulated and fair, but if that’s not the case, and they’re just more expensive, then it’s not worth it.

For exemple, I used telegram for years( since 2017) instead of WhatsApp because it was more secure and offered me alternatives and customization. Then I saw it’s founder’s messages on x about France and about romanian elections so I started to dig up stuff about him and I closed my account. I never stopped using WhatsApp but in paralel I used telegram with my wife (that is 90% of messages I send/receive).

I’ll switch to something else that I still have to find as soon as possible.

Tbh, in a world that’s getting more and more filled with aggressive and blatant protectionism from (not only but especially) the two dominating major powers, it will be quite hard for Europe to sustain without using the same tools to a certain extent.

Sure, open source is a very good solution for a lot of things and I’ll prefer them to a domestic but proprietary solution, if applicable. Yet I also acknowledge the need for us to use our elbows more than we so far liked to.

I am fine with simply boycotting the US, China, Russia and any dictatorship.

It depends on what your goal is. I used to share your opinion, but find myself increasingly of the opinion that these ideals must be kept separate. Much as I like the idea of open source, not all open source applications or crowd-sourced data can keep up with companies with hundreds or thousands of people actually responsible for it. Similarly, when it comes to innovation, large resources and private investments are needed. If we focus too much on requiring every single thing related to software being open source, we risk the entire effort failing before taking off.

Open source is great, and if you care especially much about this topic that’s also great, but it’s still quite niche (the general public won’t care), while geopolitical sovereignty is a big topic many are rapidly coming to appreciate. Let’s start with this part where there’s already substantial agreement within the population instead of necessarily packaging them together. Switching over from sending our money to the US for the privilege of dependence to investing our money into our own companies seems a relatively easy and well supported first step, over European and open source and non-addictive and no obnoxious ads and low energy consumption and and and. All all worthwhile causes, but insisting on all at once is doomed to fail. IMO it’s better to move in steps, and start with the low-hanging fruit.

You have it backwards. BuyFromEU is a reaction to protectionism.

I myself see it as a way to support European companies more than as a way to punish foreign ones. I think the effort to push non-proprietary software can align with the push to become less dependent on US companies (especially Big Tech), just like the push to use less single-use plastics can align with the push to use public transport more frequently. For that reason, i really like the terms buying with purpose and voting with your wallet more than the term but from EU. But at the same time, i don’t let the term decide what i do or not do, and my guess is that holds true for most people interested in this movement.

Even when you buy a car, all the electronics are from asia

Ive got a wool shirt on right now from a local company, but the wool itself is from new zealand 🇳🇿

It’s not “perfectionism”, it’s single-mindedness. Using EU made stuff no matter the cost in other areas is not perfect, it’s singleminded. And yes, single-mindedness isn’t particularly useful.

it’s not even fully EU, I’m seeing products there listed from UK, why? confused