Buy Nothing Day Action (Philadelphia)
Sunday, November 26 2006 @ 02:00 PM PST
Contributed by: Anonymous
Views: 102
Direct ActionLast Friday the 24th was buy nothing day as im sure many of you know. This is an account of the action I participated in.We (about a dozen at our peek) [sic] met at an intersection in the fashion district of philadelphia at
noon on friday and had a mobile dance party in honor of consumerism. we dressed as businessmen and gave away “certificates for guilt-free consumerism” a copy of the text is below. We hit probably 20 stores including the gap, starbucks.. and the sidewalks in between. We entered the stores with loud music (such as material girl) talked to customers and employees and handed out over 500 of the certificates. The reactions were varied. Some people were offended others entertained, one person even joined. We at one point ran out of flyers but used the time waiting for more to join an anti-fur rally outside of a fur store. We were successful in disturbing business (in some stores all the customers cleared out as we entered) we made some people question their privilege and the effects of their lifestyle and we HAD FUN doing it. I think it’s safe to say it was over all a very empowering experience.
This is a challenge to every anti-capitalist to take action next buy nothing day or any other day in between then and now.
I’m interested in feedback and hearing about any actions that any of you participated in on Friday.
Soidarity!
A copy of the text on our certificates…
Buy! BUY! Buy!
Why? Because it makes us happy like nothing else can.
The frenzy, the excitement, there?s nothing quite like
it. It’s the American way. It’s Consumerism, it’s
Gluttony, It’s our way of life and we?d personally
kill a thousand Arabs to assure that we can drive cars
as big as we want to, wherever we want to. We?ll drive
them down the street and let them idle as we buy an
exercise bike to ride in our living rooms. Why? So we
can watch TV as we do it. We?ll buy a piece of
clothing to make our peers respect us and then throw
it away when it’s out of style. We buy things we don’t
need. Sometimes we buy things we don’t even really
want and we?d force a million Mexican?s into
sweatshops ourselves just to make sure those things
get made. We don’t care about the homeless guy we walk
by everyday, why should we care about third world
workers?SO BUY! BUY! BUY! There?s no war going on, not in our
homes, no bombs in our living rooms. Who cares about
mercury in the water? We can drink bottled water.
Global warming? Deforestation? Acid rain? It’s worth
it to us. We know that’s the price of our lifestyle
but we don’t have to deal with it. Our privilege will
protect us. So here is your certificate to help you
cast away any doubt or guilt once and for all. Just
say these words? God bless the Free Market!
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