Buy Nothing Day 1999:
An other report from San Francisco

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Dec. 3, 1999

we hung a banner "HelP us BuY NothinG" from a north bound 101 freeway overpass. This freeway is a major "vein" into the city. From there we trooped over to union square ( a mecca of interntional shoppers' delight) and flashed about eight signs around:
"buy buy holidays"
"cloning is controversial" (with the gap logo inset)
"buy nothing today"
"consume until we combust?"
"who would kill their mother?" (overlaid picture of earth with spilled blood oozing over her)
"When you buy, who pays"

we also passed about 500 "sprawl mart" flyers. these are flyers that conjure images of the usual walmart and kmart "sale" flyers. But instead of persuasions of consumption, we convey awareness and truth about...things...like...descriptions of where products are made, how made, with what materials, what pay rate to the workers, what sort of working conditions, etc. also alot of information on how much we americans do consume our earth's resources disproportionently to the rest of the world, etc. You get the picture, yeah? In addition, we sang "anti-shopping" christmas carols. Like instead of "jingle bells jingle bells jingle all the way..." we sing "free yourself free yourself from the corporate way..." & the 12 days of christmas sweat shop labor.

I was told that our city's critical mass also played a huge role, by rolling (about 300 bicyclists) through the squared plaza of mass holdiay shopping and screamed, "buy more, buy more"

We received requests for, and obliged, interviews for KQED, CNN, Contra Costa Times, Denver Post, UC Berkeley campus radio and paper. all in all we had a loud and bosterious presents for all the rich and unaware shop-o-holics in our little peninsula.

thank you for your efforts and interest

love, peace, and sustained hope,
samir

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