Filed under: Capitalism, Mass Media | Tags: adbusters, black friday, BND, Buy Nothing Day, consumerism, doorbuster, holiday shopping, sale, shopping, thanksgiving, wal-mart death
After sitting back and digesting the spoils of Genocide Appreciation Day, many prepare themselves for the traditional kick off to the Holiday shopping season, Black Friday.
Many others however see it as just another mile marker for America’s rabid commercialization of a formerly pious time of year. But religion alone isn’t the only reason to object to Black Friday. The deadly mania that has come to be Black Fridays hallmark has lead many to actively stand against the frenzied consumerism.
“Buy Nothing Day“, started in 1992, conveniently falls on Black Friday in the US and Israel. Participants enter into a 24 hour moratorium on consumer spending, attempting to throw the advertising antics into sharp relief.
Not content to celebrate Buy Nothing Day simply by . . . not buying anything? Try these ideas on for size-
* Credit card cut up: Participants stand in a shopping mall, shopping center, or store with a pair of scissors and a poster that advertises help for people who want to put an end to mounting debt and extortionate interest rates with one simple cut.
* Free, non-commercial street parties
* Sit-ins
* Zombie Walk: Participant ‘zombies’ wander around shopping malls or other consumer havens with a blank stare and marvel at the expressionless faces of the shoppers (their fellow zombies). When asked what they are doing participants describe Buy Nothing Day and explain its foundational principles.
* Whirl-mart: Participants silently steer their shopping carts around a shopping mall or store in a long, baffling conga line without putting anything in the carts or actually making any purchases.
* Public protests
* Wildcat General Strike: A strategy used for the 2009 Buy Nothing Day where participants not only do not buy anything for twenty-four hours but also keep their lights, televisions, computers and other non-essential appliances turned off, their cars parked, and their phones turned off or unplugged from sunrise to sunset.[1]
* Buy Nothing Day hike: Rather than celebrating consumerism by shopping, participants celebrate the earth and nature.[4]
* Buy Nothing Critical Mass: As the monthly Critical Mass bike ride often falls on this day or near, rides in some cities acknowledge and celebrate Buy Nothing Day.
Filed under: Breaking News, Capitalism, Student Activism | Tags: california, davis, education, kerr hall, kresge town hall, mark hall, occupation, san fransisco city college, san fransisco state, santa cruz, sit in, Student Activism, student protest, uc, UC Berkeley, uc davis, ucla, university of california, walk out
IndyBay Reports:
On Thursday, November 19th, the University of California regents approved a 32% increase in undergraduate fees, pushing fees to over $10,000 a year for the first time. Student regent Jesse Bernal was the only vote in opposition. Protests, including the occupation of four buildings, have taken place November 18th and 19th at UCLA, UC Berkeley, UC Santa Cruz, UC Davis, San Francisco State and San Francisco City College. Students occupied Campbell Hall at UCLA, Kresge Town Hall and Kerr Hall at UC Santa Cruz, and Mrak Hall at UC Davis.
On Wednesday at UCLA, one protester was reportedly arrested after police struck students with batons and another person was reportedly tasered.
About a hundred students were arrested on Thursday at UC Davis. UCSC’s Kresege Town Hall and Kerr Hall are the only buildings that remained occupied Thursday evening.
For photos, more articles, and future updates, please visit California IndyBay
Filed under: Breaking News, Capitalism, Student Activism | Tags: campbell hall, education, occupation, regents, riot, Student Activism, twitter, uc, ucla, university of california
Stay abreast on what is going on in the UCLA Student Occupation at these sites-
UCLA Resistance: Blogging from inside Campbell Hall
Jesse Cheng: UCLA Student Regent Designate, Live tweeting the Board of Regents Meeting
IndyBay CA: Radical news from the Golden State
Filed under: Breaking News, Capitalism, Student Activism, Video | Tags: Activism, bruins, california santa cruz, Capitalism, education, riot, student, uc, ucla, university of california
After the University of California Board of Regents decided to approve a 32% tuition increase, students have been in an uproar. Reports say that Campbell Hall is currently being occupied by 40-50 students, and that police are using tasers and nightsticks to keep protesting students and faculty at bay outside of Covel Commons, where the Regents are meeting.
LA Times Article
More on this story as it develops.
Filed under: Capitalism
sit back and watch big business sore with your dreams of money and war. do you here that its big business screaming for more more. now do u wonder why the working man is poor. As your children play in the sand games of blood and gore. why treat mother earth like a crackbaby whore. pump your mind with the media sounds spining your world down down. feat this fear this the ancher man chants. there is not much to keep you from peeing your pants. So turn to the billboard it will tell you what to eat where to go and how much money you cant win in the Lottery
Filed under: Anarchism, Downloads, Recommended Reading | Tags: alan moore, Anarchism, anarchist, bonfire night, graphicl novel, gunpowder plot, guy fawkes, v for vendetta, watchmen
Remember, remember the fifth of November,
The gunpowder treason and plot,
I know of no reason
Why the gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot.
That’s right folks! Tonight is the night we commemorate the attempt to blow up the British Parliament. How do we do we celebrate such a joyous occasion you ask? The British light bonfires and burn effigies of “arch-villain” Guido “Guy” Fawkes. But that isn’t the only action inspired by Guy’s deeds.
Before it was a frankly enjoyable film, V for Vendetta was a graphic novel by none other than Alan Moore, the man also behind Watchmen. While the Hollywood version was scrubbed of any political significance, the original is a moving read about coming to the realization that the only limits to personal power are the ones you set for yourself. Still waiting for your Evey-in-the-rain moment? Well, maybe this will help.
Share and enjoy!
Filed under: Environmental Activism, Video | Tags: 2012 Olympics, REM it's the end of world as we know it
I got this from submedia
Filed under: Recommended Listening | Tags: jimmy page, Led Zeppelin, les paul, mary ford
Micheal Jackson’ dead!? Put that shit on the front page, talk about it for days on end. Broadcast his funeral on tv, Im sure thats what he would have wanted. (Not kidding here)
One of the best Jazz guitarist of all time, the INVENTOR of the gibson Les Paul the guitar that created rock and roll! (Check out his wiki for all the other things he invented.) Who cares he could NEVER compare to the great MJ. Dont even think of putting that on the front page.
The mass media paid little attention to the death of Les Paul.
R.I.P. Or turn in your grave because your better the Micheal Jackson.
Filed under: Mass Media | Tags: American Newspeak: The Mangling of Meaning for Power and Profit, newspeak edward herman communism capitalism
For those interested, this is a great book on the subject http://www.amazon.com/Beyond-Hypocrisy-Decoding-News-Propaganda/dp/0896084353/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1253519466&sr=8-1
Also http://www.amazon.com/American-Newspeak-Mangling-Meaning-Profit/dp/0865714649
Filed under: Anarchism, Propaganda of the Seed | Tags: anarchist, Anarchism, anarchy, infoshop, global warming, education, sds, come out, cars, el camino, cheese, mcdonalds, air condition
Yesterday we talked about coming out anarchist. But that isn’t the only secret we are keeping. All of us, every last anarchist on the planet, does something they know they shouldn’t. Be it network TV, McDonalds, or simply finding comfort in monogamy, we all take part in things which we know to be at the very least unnatural, and often harmful to our very being.
What do I mean? How about I use myself as an example. Regular readers know me as the unreliable, yet prolific, voice of Propaganda of the Seed. I am a committed pacifist, anarchist, and environmentalist. I oppose aggressive violence in all forms, be it against people, property (whatever that means), or that which we share in common. I believe that the only power over our destinies is the power we exercise over it. I believe that as long as we ignore the fact that we are but one part in the vast system of our planet, we are ignoring that which is swiftly becoming our soon to be dead Earth.
I have been active in numerous causes and groups. SDS, Emancipating Education for All, the march on the Pentagon to mark our fifth, sixth, and soon seventh anniversary of the invasion of Iraq. I write for a radical blog, and am a frequent contributor to InfoShop news.
But I have a dirty secret. I love cars. Everything from classics to muscle to exotics. If it runs an internal combustion engine, and is designed to be driven, rode, or survived on public streets, closed tracks, or mountain trails, I love it. Ferraris, 4×4s, and Falcons. I love them. Such is my mania that I have to force myself to stay on topic rather than go on a tangent about how excited I am about the new 4Runner and the fact that the Fiat 500 may finally be coming to these shores.
I am sure some of you have turned up your noses at that statement. Cars are crass symbols of our decadent society. Additionally the internal combustion engine, while far from the largest contributor to global warming (despite what mainstream politics say), is a destructive and harmful way to get your jollies. I know this. Every time I go to a car show, a small part of me in the background is constantly thinking “you know this is all wrong, why do you take part?”
The reason I do is because it is my culture. My dad is a car guy, my brother is a car guy. As I grew up I never surrounded myself with car guys intentionally, yet I still found myself constantly in the company of people who share my disease. And you know what, I bet you do to.
It may not be cars, it may not even be so big, but I bet there is something we all do that we know we shouldn’t. I don’t know what it is, maybe people know you as an outspoken vegan, yet you still sneak some cheese and crackers when no one is looking. Maybe you see the injustice in our class system as you drive to work for J.P. Morgan. Maybe you openly mock friends who don’t recycle, yet can’t bear to live without air conditioning. Whatever it is, you know you do it and you know it is wrong.
I think it is time we own up to our imperfections and accept each other for who we are. So long as we maintain this image as flawless warriors against the status quo, we are both making our own lives more difficult, and making it harder for others to join us. Surely you have heard people who share your politics yet not your activism use excuses which site the fact that because of all the things they do that AREN’T perfect, they could never stand up for perfection. But we know that is bunk as none of us are perfect. But until we acknowledge, both amongst ourselves and in the public eye, that none of us are perfect it will be impossible to gather the support we need to change the system in any significant way.
One of the strengths of anarchist theory is that we don’t need to present a better option. We do not have the burden of presenting the people a path to enlightenment, instead everyone is responsible for their own enlightenment. So maybe we need to realize that eliminating cars, air conditioners, or the consumption of meat may not be the solution for everyone. I want to live in a world without restrictions, not a world without lumpy-cammed V8s idling under candy colored steel.
