By Jane Duncan

Cultural boycotts are all over the news now.

The European Broadcasting Union has failed to take a decision to withdraw Israel’s participation from the Eurovision song contest. Russian and Belarusian individual athletes are being allowed to participate in the 2026 Winter Olympics.

This is despite growing calls for cultural boycotts of these countries for their repressive conduct.

But are cultural boycotts justifiable and are they effective in forcing repressive countries to change course? If the boycott against apartheid South Africa was anything to go by, then absolutely, yes.

Cultural boycotts isolate repressive countries internationally by turning them into pariahs in the eyes of the global community. They can contribute to economic sanctions, depriving these countries of the resources they need to sustain war and repression.

International campaigners used the cultural boycott to great effect to isolate apartheid South Africa. By preventing the regime from using its artists and sportspeople – its most prized ambassadors - to normalise its relations with the international community,........

© LBC