Buy Nothing Day 1999:
International contacts and activities

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Last update November 25, 1999 - 15:00 GMT

New contacts on the list in: Denmark, New York, Panama, Colorado,

Below the list of BND-contacts in:

Australia - Austria - Belgium - Brazil - California - Canada - Colorado - Czech Republic - Denmark - Finland - Florida - France - Germany - Great-Britain - Hungary - Israel - Latvia - Massachusetts - Michigan - The Netherlands - New York - New-Zealand - Northern-Ireland - Norway - Panama - Poland - Quebec - Slovakia - Slovenia - Spain - Texas - United States

Is your country not in the list...? Why don't YOU take the initiative?!

Also you can have a look at www.adbusters.org/campaigns/bnd/toolbox/contacts.html for more contacts.

AUSTRALIA

Libby Davy on Mon, 22 Nov 1999: ,,We are doing an alternative gift guide, website ( www.barkingowl.com /cc from 26 Nov ), street theatre, publicity campaign, putting up posters and generally trying to stir things up.''

Barking Owl Pty Ltd, The Owlery, 11 Cliff Street, Fremantle 6160, Western Australia.

Tel (+61 8) 9336 6442 Mob 0419 943 989 Web: http://www.barkingowl.comE-mail:

AUSTRIA

Saturday, November 27th: 'Kauf' Nix Tag'

Ronny Wytek reports: ,,On our last coordinative meeting we decided us for the following activities:

• Free and vegan Food from "Food Not Bombs"
• "Advertising-art": We will organize a big box, for the advertising-paper people want to get of...later we and interested people/kids will fold Origami-art out of it or we do some paper-aeroplane challenge
• "Slow walk": Groups of four walk very slow within the hectic crowd...a Flipchart will invite and inform all passerbys about the "departure times"...
• "Rest Zone": hectic people and exhausted Santa Claus (we will organize dresses) have the possibility to have a break in deck chairs.
• "Waste Info": "Kauf Nix" will be hand-written on waste paper in several languages (even latin!) and handed out to passerbys.
• "Kauf Nix Song" will be played and sung, lyrics can be read on a flip chart.

We decided that we will hand out no leavlets, flyers, folders or anything like that in order leave the focus on the "waste info" (see above). With that we have very good experiance!!! Written info will be fixed and just for reading and not for taking it away...

We have a new meeting point: on 27.11. office of AAI in 1010 Vienna, Volksgartenstr.1 at 0900 o'Clock, so that we are able to transport the materials we need together (without cars) to the place of celebrations.

On 27.11. at 10.00 we will start celebrations on 1060 Vienna, Mariahilfer Street 75.

Our new email:

Contact: Ronny Wytek, A-1040 Vienna, Johann-Straussgasse 33/7. Phone and Fax: ++43/+1/5045204. Email:

BELGIUM

Saturday, November 27th: 'Niet-Winkeldag'

General contact: Netwerk Vlaanderen vzw, Inez Louwagie, (network for alternative economy and fundraising for grassroots- organisations), Vooruitgangstraat 333/9, 1030 Brussel, Belgium. Phone: +32 (0)2 - 201.07.70 Fax: +32 (0)2 - 201.06.02. Email:

Buy Nothing Day will be celebrated in Gent. A campaign-newspaper will be available soon.

Wallonië contact Marthe-Marie Rochet, Reseau-Association de Jeunes Consommateurs, Rue de l'Eglise 14, 1350 ENINES (ORP/JAUCHE), Belgique, Phone/Fax: +32 - (0)19/ 63.75.10

Other contact Wallonië:

Christian Jacques, Le Consommateur Actif, Route de Renipont 33, 1380 OHAIN, Belgique, Tel/Fax: +32 (0)2/633.10.48.

BRAZIL

Caio Lazzuri on Mon, 22 Nov 1999: ,,Our actions will be put up posters and make a few speeches arround some schools and colleges...''

E-mail:

CALIFORNIA

Samir Bitar on Tue, 16 Nov 1999: ,,Hi, my name is Samir, and i am a contact person for the San Francisco/Bay area network of organizers for BND '99.

My email is: My phone is 1.415.642.4033

In addition may I let you and yours know that BND in the U.S. falls the day after our Thanksgiving (Nov. 25th), which means that BND is Nov. 26th of 1999. For those of you who do not know why, well let me enlighten you to our sad consumer society here in the states. The day after Thanksgiving is known to our economists as the BIGGEST shopping day of the year, it officially "kicks off" the Christmas shopping season.

Clark on Mon, 22 Nov 1999: ,,I will be selling "nothing" for "nothing" in Union Square, a shopping district in San Francisco, California. Our packages of nothing will include Gift Exemption Vouchers and a modified flier like the one on the adbusters Web site.

I also plan to engage people in conversation to talk a bit about consumption in America and get them to think about their consumption habits.''

E-mail: Clark

CANADA

Friday, November 26th: 'Buy Nothing Day'

General contact: The Media Foundation, (Campaign manager: Tom Liacas), 1243 W, 7th Avenue, Vancouver BC V6H 1B7, Canada. Phone: (+1)604.736.9401. Fax: (+1)604.737.6021. E-mail: Internet: http://www.adbusters.org

Activities:

Adbusters Media Foundation wil make full use of its resources to promote Buy Nothing Day in North America and abroad. Television "uncommercials" and radio spots will air, billboards will be purchased and posters will hit our city streets. When faced with the media, we plan to give Buy Nothing Day some edge by tying it in with the millenial economical issues to be brought up at the Seattle WTO which occurs on the very same weekend in November.

Vancouver - Buy Nothing Day Hits Robson Street: a subversive yet peaceful awareness-raising observance of Buy Nothing Day is planned for downtown Vancouver on the afternoon of November 26, 1999. Participants will filter into a highly-trafficked shopping district and grab the attention of passers-by with several spontaneous streetside performances (juggling, stilt-walking, puppets) while plainclothes supporters distribute information regarding Buy Nothing Day. In addition to a large base of individuals, we have the committed support of: cycling activists Critical Mass; subversive free meal distributors, Food Not Bombs; barter exchange organizers, Vancouver LETS.

Contact:

Join the Culture Jammers Network by sending an e-mail to or visit http://www.adbusters.org/network

Waterloo - Paul Baines, BND co-coordinator at WPIRG on Mon, 22 N ov 1999: ,,Our BND is full of videos on economics, advertising, body image, and overconsumption. We have workshops on free software, advertising as storyteller, simple living or voluntary simplicity, and global economics.

We have events like free food from a group called Food Not Bombs, theatre by a group called Action Theatre, a paint your own poster sale, hand drumming, a food cooperative display, a parade across campus, and a surprise visit at the biggest mall in town with our non-commercial message.

Plus, we wrote and formated 4 pages for our student newspaper. plus a 1/2 radio program at the university station, plus a WTO van send off for 20 students to Seattle, plus press releases, plus a WTO info booth, plus banners around campus.

That's it. have a great Buy Nothing Day! and every day after that.

WPIRG (Waterloo Public Interest Research Group) Phone: (519) 888 4882
Email:

Toronto - Brian Burch on Tue, 23 Nov 1999: ,,In Toronto, you can wrap up Buy Nothing Day with an eveing of storytelling, song and a 'no- money swap.' Sponsored by Ten Days for Global Justice and Oxfam. Nov. 26, 6 to 9 pm, in the City Room of Metro Hall, 55 John Street at King. For more information, call Doug Blackburn at 416 413 9903.

E-mail Brian Burch:

COLORADO

November 21st - 27th: 'Why Shop? Week'

Why Shop?Week was organized by women's studies students in the Farrand Academic Program at the University of Colorado at Boulder. They designed this event in order to educate students and the community how sweatshop labor, inhumane treatment of workers, and overconsumption of resources in the U.S. impacts women globally. Students urge shoppers to practice ethical comsumption and demand corporate accountability for labor exploitation. To kick off Why Shop? Week, students on November 21st will stage a mock beauty pagent called Ms. Assembly Line in Boulder, Co.

Website spot.colorado.edu/~shortk/whyshop.html Contact: Dr. Kayann Short, Tel: 303-492-1267.

CZECH REBUBLIC

Earth First Prague (Hubert) wrote on Wed, 24 Nov 1999: ,,Hello there will be action on saturday before one of Pragues supermarket TESCO, we will have some banners and infoshop there. Also Food not Bombs collective will give food for homelles. Will send you report after action.''

Contact: Zeme predevsim! (Earth First! Prague), PO-BOX 237, 16041 Praha 6, CZECH REBUBLIC, Europe. E-mail: Web: http://www.geocities.com/RainForest/Canopy/1651Web: http://www.ecn.cz/zemepredevsim(This pages are now under construction, will be done soon.)

DENMARK

November 26 - 27th: Koeb intet dag

Sofie Krogh Andersen wrote om 5 nov 1999: ,,For (I guess) the first time, Denmark is going to anticipate in the BND. We are a group called "Klods Hans Karavanen" who went together on an ecological caravan (by foot and on bicycles) this summer.

We decided to go on with our activities, and are now planning to extend the Byu Nothing Day to Denmark. BND we translated into "Koeb intet dag". On friday the 26th we will do a smaller seminar on consume, where different people will speek about LETS, political consumers, fair trade and a local ecological co- operative shop.

On saturday the 27th of November the official event will be held in Copenhagen. A group of about 30 people are planning a "recycle auction" where everyone can bring used stuff to the auction, and the auction leader will help to trade it against other used things brought in by other people. We are still working on a police permit for a larger spot in the heart of Copenhagens shoppingstreet.

Contact: Klods Hans Karavanen, Sofie Krogh Andersen, NOAHs sekretariat, Noerrebrogade 39, 1.t.v., DK-2200 Copenhagen N. Tlf.: + 45 35 36 12 12. Fax. + 45 35 36 12 17. Web: www.klodshanskaravanen.dk E-mail:

More from Denmark:

Danmarks Aktive Forbrugere (Jeppe Juul) on Thu, 25 Nov 1999: ,,We celebrate BND on the 26th. It is the first time, that we're organizing BND in Denmark. To our knowledge it's the first time ever. The reason we partcipate is to inspire the consumers in Denmark to think over there consumption; its amount, effect etc.

To concentrate this, we encourage danish consumers not to buy 5 specifik products. There all, listed at our homepage www.aktiveforbrugere.dk (click on the banner). It's only in danish.

We've sent out an e-mail chain-letter to our members with a message to send it on to their friends, to inform the consumers about BND and the 5 products.

Danmarks Aktive Forbrugere (Active Consumers - Denmark), E-mail:

FINLAND

Friday, November 26th: 'Ala osta mitaan -paiva'

Ala Osta Mitaan -paiva (co-ordinator Immi Kormi), Suomen luonnonsuojeluliitto, Kotkankatu 9, 00510 Helsinki. Fax: +358-9-2280 8200. Phone +358-41-511 6911 (Immi A-K E Kormi)

Internet: http://www.luontoliitto.fi/bnd

Contactperson: Immi Kormi. Email: or

Subscribe our e-mail-list:

Tampere - contact: 358-50-5748188

Department of Media and Communication, Arcada Polytechnic (Reidar Wasenius). Phone: +358-208-358 358 Fax: +358-207-358 358 E-mail: Website: http://www.arcada.fi/media

FLORIDA

Media Hitman on Sun, 21 Nov 1999: ,, This year, we are organizing a variety of BND activities across the state of Florida. BND activists will be flyering, staging credit card cut-ups, and raising awareness in Tampa, Miami, Gainesville, and Boca Raton.

We are energized by the knowledge that there are thousands of like-minded activists staging events around the world.

E-mail:

FRANCE

'La Journee sans Achats'

General contact: Casseurs de Pub (that's French for Adbusters), 11 place Croix-Paquet, F-69001 LYON. Email: Web: www.antipub.net Tel: (33) (0)4 78 39 93 32

Randy Ghent wrote on 17 Nov 1999: ,,This new group has published a one-off French version of Adbusters magazine, plus has done a Buy Nothing Day uncommercial for television, which is being censored by the French TV chains. I'm writing the whole story up for the next Adbusters. There's a Quicktime version of the uncommercial on the above web site. If anyone wants to run it on TV in their country, it's still possible to get a version (an original) without the French words, if people can act quickly and retape the voice in their language.''

Paris:The Commons, Le Frene, 8/10 rue Joseph Bara, 75006 Paris, France. E-mail: URL www.ecoplan.org Tel: +331.4326.1323 Videoconference +331.4441.6340 (1-4) 24 hour fax/voicemail hotline: In Europe +331 5301 2896 In North America +1 888 522 6419 (toll free)

The International Buy Nothing Day Network Check it out at http://fekb259.vwh.net/ibnd/

GERMANY

'Kauf Nix Tag'

Freiburg: Umwelt- und Projektwerkstatt, Baslerstrasse 103, 79100 Freiburg, Phone: (+) 49-761-554083 Fax: (+) 49-761-554084 Email:

GREAT-BRITAIN

Saturday, November 27th: 'No Shop Day'

General contact: Enough/Anticonsumerism campaign (Paul Fitzgerald), One World Centre, 6 Mount Street, Manchester M2 5NS, U.K. Phone: +44.161.226.6668. Fax: +44.161.226.6277. E-mail: Internet: www.enough.org.uk

Action handbook for local groups available and a special newsletter.

Another initiative in Britain:

Bon Mot, e-mail wrote on Sun, 24 Oct 1999:

November 26th 1999 is 'Buy Nothing Day'.

Announcing the launch of 'Buy Nothing Day UK' at http://www.buynothingday.co.uk

Visit the us and show your support.

Posters will be online soon - If you want to design a poster for BND UK please mail me for info.

Another contact in Britain:

PopeCrab (International Lobvster Party: Crustacean Agitation for Global Liberation) wrote on Sun, 21 Nov 19999: ,,We are promoting November 27, in conjunction with Bon Mot www.buynothingday.co.uk London on the day, but I am not sure what/where it is!'' E-mail:

HUNGARY

Saturday November 27: New vásárolj semmi! Fogyasztasszuneti Nap...

Events in Budapest: Vorosmarty ter, 27 Nov, 11 AM : NO SHOP, Consumer Free Zone, Street Theatre, Shopping Fever ("consumitis K") measuring test, leaflets, etc.

Contact: [email protected], ETK - ELTE Nature Conservation Club Web: http://www.etk.hu

ISRAEL

Israel has a BND as well.

Contact: Green Action, POB 4611 Tel-Aviv 65161, Israel. Tel/Fax: +972.3.516.2349. Web: http://www.greenaction.org.ilE-mail:

LATVIA

Diena bez iepirksanas

Ieva on Thu, 25 Nov 1999: ,,Mass media will receive press releases from at least two organisations including FoE Latvia asking people go to a countryside and enjoy winter or visit friends instead of shops. Actually work with mass media is one of the most important because it's not so easy to see the point of BND when the large majority is living under subsistance level and nobody is feeling responsible for global or South problems.

Posters will appear in different places, hopefully also on shops' windows and doors then saying "We don't sell anything today" or "We wanna get all your money. Leave it here!" A big poster will be put out of our windows (the 2nd floor) in the old city full with shops.

Our main target will be a central supermarket. While some persons will distribute leaflets and talk with shoppers near an entrance, others will try to create a mess and have fun inside. It's not prohibited to ride around with empty shopping trucks (how do you say it in English?), read books, kiss etc. in a shop showing alternatives for having nice Saturday.''

Contact: Diena bez iepirksanas, ZB, Audeju 7/9-209, Riga LV-1050, Latvia. Tel/fax: 371 7 22 13 14 Internet: http://www.zb-zeme.lvEmail:

MASSACHUSETTS

Boston Buy Nothing Day: Buy Less! Live More!

Contact: or BND Boston site: http://members.tripod.com/~AnaKronistik/buynothingday.html

Amanda Palmer on Mon, 22 Nov 1999: ,,Hello from Boston! We are organizing a parade and a rally for the 26th. We will be costumed, making music, handing out flyers etc.... Good luck to you guys!''

Cambridge

Rob Freeman on Sun, 21 Nov 1999: ,,I am participating in Buy Nothing Day in Cambridge, Massachusetts in the USA. I have noticed that Europe is much more active in the environment and human rights than we are here in the US.

I am participating in Buy Nothing Day because I don't like the way we do things here. I see people driving expensive cars everywhere while education is very poor. They are so wealthy yet cut out music lessons in the schools. That makes me angry. (...)''

E-mail:

MICHIGAN

Jennifer R. Hefferan on Sun, 21 Nov 1999: ,,I am planning an event in Ann Arbor, Michigan USA for Buy Nothing Day. We are going to the mall and will perform street theatre. When we get kicked out of the mall we'll go downtown and perform more street theatre, hand out flyers, and wheel around a Christmas tree decorated with really bad advertisements, as well as some other various activities.''

E-mail:

THE NETHERLANDS

Saturday, November 27th: 'Niet-Winkeldag'

General contact: Omslag, werkplaats voor Duurzame Ontwikkeling (Breaking Point, Workshop for Sustainable Development), Marta Resink and Dick Verheul, P.O. Box 163, 5270 AD Sint- Michielsgestel, The Netherlands. Phone: +73-5941622 or +30-2730100. E-mail: Internet: https://koopniets.nl

In The Netherlands Niet-Winkeldag will be celebrated for the fifth time. Last year there were activities in more then 20 cities. This year already mote than 25 groups in different cities have announced activities.

In many cities there will be stalls, where people can exchange their ever-received-but-never-used Saint-Nicolaas-presents. ('You don't have to buy anything new. You can use the same presents again and again...')

Again Omslag has published the Konsuminderkrant (Consume Less Newspaper). The circulation is 20.000 copies. The Konsuminderkrant will be available for free in all public libraries.

The Konsuminderkrant (in Dutch) can also be found on the internet: www.ddh.nl/1999/krant

NEW YORK

Melissa A. Durfee on Wed, 24 Nov 1999: ,,I live in Rockland County, New York, and have already started participating in BND. I made up my own double-sided brochure which I printed up and have been posting on bulletin boards all over town. I also wrote a poem (from Santa) which I will also make copies of to distribute from now until Christmas day.

My sister and I have been looking forward to BND all year! She made t-shirts this week and a pair of pig noses for us to wear when we go to the local mall on BND. We will be handing out gift vouchers and brochures as well as sticking them up in various places.

We came up with some street theater ideas but unfortunately we are very intimidated. BND is not very popular in the US and merchants (especially malls) are very hostile. We would feel more comfortable in a larger group but there don't seem to be many people in the area who know about BND.''

Melissa Durfee, Rockland County, New York. E-mail:

NEW-ZEALAND

Friday, November 26th: 'Buy Nothing Day'

General contact: Murray Sheard. Email:

Other contacts:

Manu Caddie, 63 Clifford St, Gisborne, New-Zealand. Phone: (06) 8686889. E-mail: Internet was http://crash.ihug.co.nz/~subsonic/crc/bnd.html

Auckland: Stuart Sontier. E-mail: Internet: http://shell.ihug.co.nz/~stu/buynothing/index.html

Activities: involving schools and putting together a schools kit. This kit consists of Project and essay ideas, a Shopaholics quiz, and frequently asked questions. Also we've included letters we've sent out to teachers and students.

Its all available for non-profit use, and if you want it in useful formats (MS word and publisher) this can be emailed. We're particlarly pleased with the Quiz and hoping it will make it into a youth focussed magazine in December, as part of an after-BND report. The schools kit is on the web: http://shell.ihug.co.nz/~stu/buynothing/

Christchurch: Geoff Ford. E-mail:

NORTHERN-IRELAND

'Buy Nothing Day'

General contact: Foyle Basin Council - Local Agenda 21 (Ireland), Peter Doran, 22 Bishop Street, Derry, Northern Ireland. Phone: +44 (0)1504 268403. E-mail: Internet: http://www.sustainable.ie/

NORWAY

'Kjopefri dag'

Carin Leffler on Thu, Nov 25, 1999: ,,BND in Norway will be celebrated on SATURDAY the 27th!''

General contact: The Future is in our Hands (Framttiden i vore hender), Carin Leffler Phone: +47-22.20.10.45. E-mail:

PANAMA

Dia de no comprar nada

Street theater, media appearances (hopefully), postering, leaflet distribution, barter market, music in Panama City.

Defensa Ambiental, an environmental group based in Panama City

E-mail:

POLAND

'Dzien bez zakupow'

General contact: Federacja Zielonych Grupa Kielecka (Green Federation Kielce Group), Margaret Jermak Ul. Zagorska 9/5, 25- 336 Kielce, Poland. Phone: (+)48 41 3448129. Fax: (+)48 41 3430342. E-mail:

QUEBEC

Nic McGinnsi on Sun, 21 Nov 1999: ,, ,,In Montreal two separate groups will be gathering, one at 5:30 at Philips Square, and another at 7:30 at McGill Metro. With a little luck the two will amalgamate into one large group. Activities will include street theatre and other costumed antics, pamphleteering and subversive Xmas carolling. Participants will be a motley crue of students, activists, and concerned citizenry. On several College and University campuses there will be special Buy Nothing Day seminars and a french TV show, known for it's caustic humour that pokes fun at mainstream news media, will be doing a feature on BND. It is called La Fin Du Monde Est A 7 Heures and airs on TQS, Thursday the 25th, at 7:00.''

E-mail:

SLOVAKIA

Tomas Bella on Mon, 22 Nov 1999: ,,If you want to help me with postering Bratislava, please contact me.''

E-mail: Tomas Bella,

SLOVENIA

'Dan brez nakupov'

Ljubljana - Elves (Tom d'Elf), Skrati Metelkova 6, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia. Email:

Tom d'Elf on Thu, 02 Sep 1999 : ,,We will probably not be organizing anything this year, but perhaps it's still a good idea to have our address on your page, in case someone from Slovenia stumbles across your web page and decides it'd be nice to have something like BND in Slovenia, too. We can provide our experiences and materials we have from previous actions.''

SPAIN

'El dia sin comprar'

Contact: Patricio Tresguerras Meineri E-mail:

TEXAS

'Buy Nothing Day'

Contact: Joel in Dallas is looking for more BND-activists! Email:

UNITED STATES

Friday, November 26th: 'Buy Nothing Day'

Divers contacts:

Centre for A New American Dream, Sean Sheehan / Anna White, 6930 Carroll Avenue, Suite 900, Takoma Park, MD 20912. Phone: (+)301-891-ENUF (3683). Fax: (+)802-860-1735. Sean "Santa" Sheehan 301-270-9111. Anna "Elf" White 202-986-1815. Email: Internet: http://www.newdream.org

>From their press release 22 nov 1999:

Santa Claus to Celebrate Buy Nothing Day Nov. 26 - Santa's "Sleigh" to visit Washington DC, Baltimore, Denver, and Seattle

North Pole-Santa Claus announced today that he will no longer tolerate shopping malls and corporations using his good name and image to promote the annual holiday consumerism frenzy that stresses families, puts people into debt, and harms the environment. On Friday November 26th Santa will join his impersonators at the commercial Sprawl of America, but instead of listening patiently to long wish lists for Pokémon paraphernalia, he and his trusty elves will offer oodles of groovy alternative gift ideas, "Gift of Time" certificates, credit card cut- up services, and general Buy Nothing Day cheer.''

Another contact:

Science & Technology Caucus of NGO's at the CSD, Irini Sarlis. Email:

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Please send corrections, additions and other news to:

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