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Buy Nothing Day 1999:
Action reports from various Dutch cities

This report is based upon telephone-calls with local organizers, at the evening of Buy Nothing Day.

Writen by Marta Resink en Dick Verheul, Omslag, Workshop for Sustainable Development / The Netherlands. Final version, Dec 24, 1999.

Allmost all local BND-groups handed-out copies of the Consume Less-paper ('Konsuminderkrant'). This is a 12 page newspaper, full of (background) information on Buy Nothing Day, critical articles on various related subjects, and practical suggestions for consumers, youngsters, adults, parents and teachers. The Consume Less-paper was published by Omslag, to support Buy Nothing Day (circulation: 20.000). For those of you who can read Dutch: the text of the Consume Less paper is also available through this website.

AMERSFOORT - Saint-Nicolas and Black Peter (= typical Dutch tradition/childrens feast with lots of presents) actively took part in the local Buy Nothing Day-action. Saint-Nicolas, exhausted and stressed of all the shopping, gratefully used the opportinity to sit and rest in the cosy 'open air living-room', which was placed there specially for that purpose. And he was not the only one who did so! From his lazy couche 'Sinterklaas' appealed to the gathered crowd (many children!) to ask only for sustainable en sound presents. Many shoppers took a break; there was also free coffee.
Also the stall, where people could give in and/or exchange their ever-received-but-never-used presents attracked many 'customers'.
,,The reactions from the public were in general very positive and we had a great day'', says Kees Huijbregts, co-organizor of the event, which was an initiative of the Local Mondial Platform, Friends of the Earth, Emmaus and LETS. Emmaus (recycle-store and living-community) disposed the furniture. Many people knew about BND and they knew about our stall, thanks to publicity beforehand in some local door- to-door newspapers and two radio-interviews.
During the action three photografers showed up, as well as a reporter from the local newspaper. Next year there weill be en even bigger BND-event in Amersfoort.

AMSTERDAM - The one-woman action at Dam Square focussed on weapon- trade, child pornography, drugs and other evil kinds of trade, from which big money is made. Money that will be spend on consumption... A heavy and confronting action. The background-story was visualised through a television-set, with inside: baby-dolls, army-tanks and tin soldiers, injection-needles and two pages with Stock Exchange reports from a newspaper. Prominent the in scene was the word 'GROW!', written in blood. On top of the tv was a rotating light with a skull, and now and then a siren started jelling. ,,That helped to attrack the people, so that I could ask them to stand still for a moment by the television-screen'', said Elise Leijten: ,,Indeed it is a rather heavy presentation, which needed some explanation. I was prepared to that, and I had some interesting talks with people, I'm used to perform actions on 'difficult' items (f.e. nuclear weapons) and this was my contribution to Buy Nothing Day''. Some foreign tourists wanted to know all about it. There were leaflets avalable and people who wanted to know more about Buy Nothing Day received a Consume Less paper. Pictures were made (available through ANP-network), a local tv-station filmed the scene and Elise gave a short interview on the local radio afterwards.

ARNHEM - In the city-centre there was a stage, where during the day all kinds of performances took place: song-singers, bands, writers en poets, a Drama Team and a 'star-watcher'. The Consume-Less-choir sang 'adapted' Saint Nicolas-songs. On the square there were info-stalls of LETS, Frieds of the Earth and the Ecoteam-supportgroup. At the organizors-stall (Working Group Sustainable Arnhem) all kinds of information was avaivable about critical, ethical and sustainable consumption. The info was also published in a special made small booklet which was handed out free, including a voucher for a non- materialistic present and a list of 'ethical' shops in Arnhem. The stalls were decorated with paper chains made out of advertisement- folders.
A woman walked around, inviting people to have a look inside her 'peeping-box' (packed as a wonderfull present), to see what could be behind nice presents (Inside were pictures of child-labour, factory farming, etc). Many people wanted to have a look.
Jack Stoop, co-organizor said: ,,It was a very successfull day. It was great fun. Most reactions from the public were positive, although also many people - of course - showed no interest at all. Many of them had already heard someting about Buy Nothing Day, but not everyone understood the meaning of it. We had many short talks with them. We handed out information-leaflets and copies of the Consume Less-paper were given away selectively.
The day started with an nasty incident: a completely stressed-out shopkeeper (cloths) made a lot of hullabaloo, assuming that the stage and the whole event were illegal. The words 'Buy Nothing' effected to him like a red flag to a bull. The organizors however could show an official permission from the city-hall to a alarmed police-officer... Afterwards the organisors will try to get in contact with the local shoppers-union.
Beforehand there had been enough publicity: an article in the provincial newspaper and two interviews at the local radio. Also the Ecoteam-group gave an interview about BND on the local radio and even the weekly pastoral radio-speech was about Buy Nothing! Reporters from a regional and a local newspaper showed up.

BILTHOVEN - The local Friends of the Earth-group had arranged a beautifull open-air living-room inside the shopping-centre. The scene was completed with banners and slogans. There were notice-boards showing consume-less tips. After the rain had stopped the picture became very much alive. It was busy there! Many people had already read about Buy Nothing Day in the newspaper and/or a local door-to- door magazine. The approach of the audience was kind, which resulted in mainly approving reactions. The stall were ever-received-but-never used presents could be exchanged was not so popular; only a few people made use of this opportunity. 100 Consume Less-papers were spread, together with other informative leaflets. One of the (13!) organizors had an interview beforehand on the local radio. It was the first time that BND was celebrated in Bilthoven. Next year they'll do it again; also the local Emmaus-community will be invited then to participate in a more active way.

DELFT - The 'Unhurry Couche' (or 'Slow Down Couche'), which was dragged up and down the citycentre of Delft, caused a lot of merriment. 15 No-Shoppers created a big event on the main marketsquare. The performance of tear-jearkers-choir 'The Vitriola's caused many heartbreaks. Many presents were exchanged at the special stall, which was bigger then the year before. Meanwhile passers-by could play the WTO-game, a kind a piramid-shaped 'game of goose'. Also a social-democrat alderman tested his knowledge about world- economics. ,,I was surprised to hear how much the passers-by seemed to know about this subjec'', said Jaap van Leeuwen. Also the chairman of the local shoppers-federation passed by; he called the action 'a very nice initiative'.
De poster-designers in Delft had been very creative. Some of their slogans: 'In future we should only talk about economic growth, when it counts for each world-citizen', 'Indian-wishdom: Dont; use more than you need', 'Think more, consume less', 'Buying-power or Buying- weakness' and 'Buy Now, Live Later'.
For next year they plann to do better pre-publicity, 'cause many passers-by, to their own regret, didn't bring an exchange-present with them. An artist from Delft annoumced, that he will join BND next year. Media-attention came from the local hospital-radioservice and two door-to-door newspapers.During the action a photographer from the local newspaper showed up.

DEN BOSCH ('s HERTOGENBOSCH) 1) - About ten young activists, all members of DWARS (= youngsters related to the GreenLeft political party) had a stall and a cosy seat, were the gave away goods for free. Says Jan Sikon: ,,Not everyone understood the meaning of this and it wasn't easy to get rid of everything. If might have been easier if we would have sold the stuff for money. Some people didn't trust us, they were afraid for a snake in the grass''. Over all Jan calls the action 'supergood'. At certain times there were over 15 people at the same time.
There was good media-attention beforehand (two newspapers and a studio-interview at the regional radiostation). A national tv-station and a national broadcast-company had desperately been trying to get in touch with the activists beforehand, but no-one answered the phone, and by the time Jan checked his answering-machine, it was too late already. A Pitty.
The good action-atmosphere was spoiled several times by a policeman talking about an official licencie for the stall... But DWARS- youngsters find licencies non-sense. Each time the policeman showed up, summoning them to 'move within half an hour' they all nodded politely. And stayed. The threat that they would all be arrested ('a police-van is already on his way') appeared to be just intimidation.

DEN BOSCH ('s HERTOGENBOSCH) 2) - Frans Leonard, member of the Local Exchange and Trading System 's-Hertogenbosch, reported: ,,In the city-centre the local LETS-circle and DWARS-Den Bosch stood brotherly next to eachother. The LETS-system had a real stall with folders and goods- to-exchange, which - to our big surprise - had been given in by all kinds of people who had read the local newspapers properly. DWARS installed themselves on a couche and gave away goods. This caused a lot of confusion and hilarity. At the LETS stall we told the people that thay could not buy anything, just exchange. Disappointed 'customers' were advised first to take a free present from DWARS, so that they would have something to exchange at our LETS-stall.
It was good to show the madness of the ruling economic system, by acting even more crazy. Much hilarity! From the stall Karin yelled: 'Consume Less sir/madam, does this mean anything to you?' I'm on the dole, so I will have to', one man answered. Others expressed their sympathy, however most passers-by threw a quick glance at the scene and went on shopping. The action was nice to do, it was worth while. To my opinion the BND-initiative is becoming more and more well- known, in the right way: up from below!''.

DEN HAAG (THE HAGUE) - The local organizors were pleasantly surprised when on Buy Nothing Day-morning two co-operators of the local Emmaus-community showed up with a fully furnished carrier- tricycle: on the carrier there was a platform with a luxury chair, a cosy table, with a cloth and a vase with flowers. The tableau was feastly decorated with colourfull balloons and some big size Buy Nothing Day posters. Judith Lorand, who had actually planned to do some streettheatre performing a stressed-out consumer, decided to play a different role: grease-painted with blushing red cheeks and dressed up with a lovely hat, she took a seat in the chair. For hours and hours she was driven through the innercity of The Haque, just as if she were the queen. (btw: the Dutch queen's residence is in The Hague!). Said Judith: ,,All the time I was sitting there, smiling and waving at the passers-by, who sponaniously started smiling and waving back at me. It was fantastic, amazing! I had the day of my life, and we realy reached an awfull lot of people''.
Not only Judith, also the citizens of The Hague were pleasantly surprised by this remarkable tour, which was guided by other activists, handing out leaflets and boxes with Happiness (inside was a small bulb of a four-leave clover!). Many people spontaniously asked for more information; many of them had already read about Buy Nothing Day in a newespaper, or just heart it on the national radio. They activists made many pictures themselves, and so did others!
During the whole day a special Buy Nothing Day information-table and a poster-wall were situated in the main-public library. The table was beautifully arranged by a professional bookshop-keeper (who is also a member of The Hage-LETS). The Consume Less-newspaper was available, together with lot of other 'sustainable' info. (The Consume Less newspaper gives an overview of many books, related to the subject of (over)consumption. Most of these books, from the library-collection, were shown on the table). The quite surrounding of the library gave a good opportunity for several good and serious discussions with the visitors.
Beforehand there had been an article about BND in the local newspaper, and an interview on the local radio. Next year there will surely be another Buy Nothing Day-action; LETS-The Hague wants to take the lead for the action in 2000.

EINDHOVEN - A game of shovel-board, reading a book, playing games, all kinds of activities, exept shopping, took place at the Piazza, the main shoppingcentre of Eindhoven. About 15 activists, all members of the GreenLeft (political) party and the local Peace Bureau participated in the events. The open air living-room, completed with standard-lamps, was situated in front of a decor of hugh Buy Nothing Day-posters. GreenLeft had decided not to promote their political name too strongly, however all four GL-members of the city-council were present, actively not-shopping. The furniture came from the local Emmaus-community. Many passers-by reacted surprised and were wondering what it all meant, says Mieke Boskman ,,and that was an excellent inducement for a small talk. We had such talks with about 100 passers-by. Meanwhile the children made drawings on the pavement with chalk.
Beforehand the regional newspaper had published about Buy Nothing Day and there had been a long item about different BND-activities in the province of Noord-Brabant on the provincial radiostation.

GELDROP - Over 120 people visited the presents-exchange-stall in the haert of the village Geldrop. All kinds of goods were given in: vases, lamps, cups, games, toys; there was a very active exchange. Many goods found a new owner, but at the end of the day the organisors decided to give away the stuff, because it was too much to take home. ,,We reached a lot of 'new' people, who we would never have reached with our regular environmental-stalls and activities''. Nellie Middendorp says: ,,It was a nice day! We also gave away free soup, home-made from organic vegetables which were donated to us by a local organic garden. The soup tasted excellent, and many people came, especially at the end of the afternoon. At the stall there were gift-exemption vouchers, packed in a nice envelop, we had many small talks and we handed out information-leaflets and Comsume Less-papers. The 'sustainable' Saint-Nicolas poem, specially written in Buy Nothing-style, was very popular. We gave away many copies. Unfortunalety the activists forgot to take pictures of their event.
Beforehand there had been two different articles in the local door- to-door newspaper, in which also two small adds were placed. Also there was an article about BND in the regional newspaper, plus an interview at the local radio, which was re-broadcasted several times. During the action a reporter from the Regional Radio Broadcast took a live-interview; the same reporter made a recording for the Dutch World Broadcast.

GOUDA - Five No-Shoppers roamed the shopping-streets of Gouda, meanwhile pushing two shopping-carts: one overloaded full, and the other filled up with sustainable products. The 'wrong' cart attracked much attention; the 'correct' one much less. ,,Next year we will only use two 'wrong' carts'' says Frits van der Laan of Friends of the Earth-Gouda. Boards explained the meaning of this all: 'Work harder, Work longer, Earn more, Comsume more-more-more'. The bickering women, loudly summing up all the things they still wanted to buy, caught many eyes, and so did the gentlemen who was walking behind them with an oversized credit-card, moaring that he was the one that is going to pay for that all. All passers-by watched the scene. They received a pamflet, a gifts-exemption-voucher or a Consume Less-paper.
Members of the press didn't show up, just a reporter from the cable- newspaper. Frits notes that this 'mobile' action was much better than last year's gifts-exchange stall, placed in a backstreet. The 'eagering women' were rather hoarse by the end of the day.

HEERLEN - The activists had hired a carrier-tricycle with outfoldable side-flaps, at the cycle-shed at the local railway station: an excellent stall for exchanging redundant gifts! Although not many people came to exchange things, the stall caught everyone's eyes. Behind the stall there was a big banner (2,70 m), saying: Earth provides enough for everybody's need, not for everybody's greed'. On both sides of the banner there were parts of the cartoon 'How do you mean Fair Sharing?', showing a wealthy, fat man on the tipped scale of a balance, and on the other hand/side: a group of squeezed human beings. Okay, a rather stereotypical, but much explaning picture, which seemed to need no further commend. There was a second big banner, showing the rat-race. A sympathising artist had hand-painted the banner from a small print in the action-booklet (!)
At the stall there was one amazing exchange: a gentlemen from Britain gave in a beautifull old photo-camera and exchanged it for a very simple clock. He was very satisfied! One other person quickly went home to gather all his redundant stuff. There were small talks with over 200 passers-by, some of whom had already heard on the radio that it was Buy Bothing Day. Many others stood still and observed the scene, read the texts and walked on with stiffened faces. ,,It's marvelous to watch how people try to conceal their embarressment'', said Leo de Groot.
Also small boxes filled with 'satisfaction' were handed out to passers-by. There were enough Consume Less-papers and at least four people gave themselves up to participate in future actions.
Beforehand there had been publicity in the local door-to-door newspaper and posters had been sticked. Next year the local organisors want to take more time to prepare the action; they also would like to involve the local Fair Trade-shop in the BND-campaign.
A reporter and a photographer of the provincial newspaper were present. Next weekend the big banners will be re-used at the opening- event of the Fair Tradeshop at their new location.

HELLEVOETSLUIS - The municipal rubbish-dump could provide a large variety of furniture to arrange a beautifull 'living-room' inside the main shopping-centre. Some people thought it was a second-hand market-place and wanted to buy the furniture. The ten participating No Shoppers talked with hundreds of passers-by, and meanwhile a hugh mobile-phone and television-set were walking around. The activists could be recognized by their 'Lets's Recycle'-t-shirts. ,,Many shoppers said that they had heard about Buy Nothing Day'', says Pieter Kriekaard. The local newspaper had published about it beforehand, and during the action a photographer from the local cable-newspaper took some shots.
The Dutch BND action-handbook gives as a suggestion: explain the meaning of BND and of your actions beforehand nice and friendly to shopkeepers in the neighbourhood. In Hellevoetsluis they did! ... And the shopkeepers could (wanted?) completely NOT understand the meaning of it all and many of them became really furious. During the first hour of their action a couple of No-Shoppers were full-time busy trying to calm down the overstressed shop-owners and resisting the very intimidating security-gards, who wanted to get the activists out of the shopping-mall as soon as possible, but in any case to make them stop spreading leaflets. The police was called, to get rid of the security-guys. A police-officer explained to these guys that in The Netherlands there is freedom of speech, which means that everybody is allowed to hand out information, except racist-info. A despaird security-gard couldn't understand this at all, mumbling that is was getting time to emigrate to another planet.
It was a pity that this tiresome and nasty start marked the rest of the day. The whole BND-event, except from this, was a great succes.

HILVERSUM - The rain had stopped just in time. However the ten young ('not-organised') activists who had prepared a Buy Nothing Day event in the city-centre of Hilversum found their 'ideal' spot occupied by members of a religious sect, who were singing song. So the No- Shoppers looked for an other place to perform their spectacle, with an information-carrier-tricycle, a shopping-free zone, jugglers, street-interviews, sandwich-boards and the No Shopping Blues. ,,The Consume Less-questionnaire (as suggested in the BND action-booklet) worked out very well'', says Margreet Baak. ,,People in the street are used to consumers-questionnaires, and most of them were willing to answer our questions, not even noticing that we were asking their opinion for a Consume Less-inquiry. They spontaniously gave their answers to our questions: Do you like shopping? Is shopping a hobby of yours, or are you only going out for shopping if you really need something? Do you think that advertisement influences your shopping- behaviour? Do you ever realise where the products you are buying come from, and are you aware of the circumstances under which they were produced? Final question: Do you know that today is Buy Nothing Day?' The results of this inquiry will be presented to the media.
All available Consume Less-papers were handed-out; the activists had made and handed out pamflets with consume-less tips.
On Buy Nothing-morning Margreet Blaak was a studio-quest in a popular radio-programme, which was broadcasted nationwide. Before and during the action several local media gave attention to this BND- action, and a photographer from a regional newspaper made pictures.
The local library took the initiative to create a 'Buy Nothing Day' information-corner, with many related books and a whole pile of Consume Less-papers. (btw: Hilversum is the Dutch National TV en Radio broadcast-city).

HOUTEN - Oh, oh, what a start! Everything seemed to go wrong: the stall-hiring-company forgot to place a stall, so there was no space for settig up the well-prepared and broadly announced gift-exchange stall. And the rain came pouring down... Ultimately a friendly cheese-seller offered the organisors to use his mobile stall, which was placed in front of a Gall and Gall-store (after being send away by the owner of a computer-store, who feared that his shop-window would attrack less people because there were so many nice looking presents at the exchange-stall in front of his window). However, after having taken all these obstacles, it became very nice, says Betsy Geytenbeek, member of the Interchurch Environment Movement Houten. ,,There seemed to be no need for our initial fear for many negative reactions from the audiance after having organized a car-free Sunday recently. We were prepared for reaction like 'First we shouldn't drive our cars, and now you want us to stop shopping', but they didn't come! The reactions to our 'redundant gifts-exchange stall' were very positive. Beforehand a large regional newspaper had announced the stall, so many people knew about it. We had a lot of attention, thought there were far more presents handed in than taken away. The free boxes with 'happiness' and the small bottles filled with 'satisfaction' were readily given out. We didn't run out of our Consume Less-papers, but that was mainly because we had such a late start. It was a pity to hear afterwards, that quite some people had not succeeded to find our stall, because we stood at an other location than was announced in the newspaper.

LEIDEN - The organisors of BND in Leiden had decided to do a promotion-action for sustainable products. No-Shoppers were present at two different places: in front of the 'Give Away-Shop' (no joke! this shop already exists for more than a year, open each Saturday and run by volunteers/activists. You can bring in and take away everything you need, for free!). In front of this shop there was free soup. At the local Fair Trade-shop there were free Max Havelaar chocolate-letters (these letters are a part of the Dutch Saint- Nicolas-tradition). Also organic mandarin oranges were given away (donated by a local organic provider), and there was 100% vegetable home-made pumpkin-soup. All 250 Consume Less-papers were spread, as well as folders with addresses of 'sustainable' shops in Leiden.
Co-organisor (and member of the city-council) Margje Vlasveld says: ,,Many people seemed to have heard about Buy Nothing Day, either through radio, tv or newspapers. The BND-announcement on the public national radio was well-heard, but there were also many people who recognized me from national TV, where I recently talked about consuming en consuming-less. The whole day, we've been talking with the wandering and shopping people in the innercity. I spent my time realy very usefull. Also the mayor of Leiden and his wife passed-by. While enjoying a cup op pumpkin-soup we talked with them, of course also about Buy Nothing Day!. Although far not everybody joins BND, the public interest is strongly growing. Year by year more people know about this day, and the number of sympatisors is growing", says Margje Vlasveld. And she knows what's she talking about, for she is participating actively in the Buy Nothing Day, this year already for the fourth successive year.
Media-attention: a photographer and a reporter from the reginal door-to-door newspaper were present, and also a journalist from the local newspaper.
Some highschools in Leiden have ordered a pile of Consume Less- papers from Omslag, for teaching-purposes.

MONTFOORT - On the occasion of Buy Nothing Day, writer/publisher and marketing-'gourou' Hans Ferree organized a bric-a-brac market at his Art and Velvet Gallery 'De Stierenstal'. He sold his own redundant things, purchases of which went to non profit, social initiatives (amongst which the promotion of Buy Nothing Day). The buyers could fix their own prices and the destination of their money. The event was repeated the next day. A few hundred people came to Ferree's house and Hans gave several interviews to local and national media. It was a private BND-solidarity-action. Afterwards Hans Ferree tells: I'm tired but satisfied. It was a big success. Allmost all Consume Less Papers have been taken away by visitors who had never heard about the phenomenon Buy Nothing Day before. Reporters from KRO National radio, World Broadcast and several regional newspapers dropped by. And all kinds of environmental clubs, childrens farms and other sympathatic organisations will receive their financial share next week. In fact there ar still too many paintings in my gallery, so the initiative can be repeated''.

NIJMEGEN 1) Three young activists, members of Young Environment Active (JMA) performed Amazing Discovery Shows, selling Nothing, Air and Love. The passers-by directly understood the meaning of it, they recognized the parody on the night-tv commercials, however they couldn't allways link them to Buy Nothing Day. Very many shoppers saw the acts, though some of them were afraid to stop and stare, fearing they could be involved in the theatre. The reactions in general were interested and positive, says Martijn Bakker. Retrospectively we should have done the action with more people, 'cause now the same people had to perform the acts, hand out leaflets and talk to the press.
National public radio, a national commercial tv-station (SBS) and the regional newspaper recorded the action. A few hundred leaflets were handed out as well as 50 Consume Less Papers. The preparation seemed to work out well.

NIJMEGEN 2) - Recycle-shop Overall was closed all day. The closure had been announced already weeks beforehand through banners and leaflets. Nevertheless many buyers found the door closed. They got an explanation from some cooperates. About 80 percent could understand the action and found it positive. Other Overall-workers had dumped a large pile of second hand clothes on a square in the city centre, to draw attention on the overproduction in the clothesmarket. The textile recyclebranche from here to Eastern Europe, Africa and other less wealthy countries is satiated, so that very many second hand clothes disappear in combustion ovens. Passers-by could rummage in the pile and take away the clothes for nothing. A lot of people took the opportunity! Banners and signs explained the meaning with slogans. Marly Crijns of Overall: ,,It was a good action, also nice to do, for in this way we could ask attention for a concrete problem: the clothes redisues. We also stalled out some strange curiousities from our shopcollection, like an electric backscratcher and an electric naildryer. We put them, together with other nonsense products, in a plastic children's bath: a consume-lake ('Consumeer', a Dutch quibble). There was a stretcher, on which people could turn a man inside out with questions. The action attracked a lot of viewers, we actually haven't heard anything negative. Of course many people just walked by, however many of them also asked for the meaning of it''.
National commercial tv SBS6 broadcasted the action in their eveningnews. A lot of pictures were made.

NIJMEGEN 3) - Members of the students union AKKU had arranged a living room in the citycentre, where shoppers could take a rest from their shopping fatigues. There was hardly any interest for the gifts-exchange stall, due to the lack of publicity beforehand, so no-one knew about it. But the street theatre was really great! It was performed by two 'types'. Guus Geurts of AKKU says: ,,They looked fantastic! A very stylish woman dressed in a tigercoat and with a hugh wig, was running through the crowd screaming and yelling: 'I want more. I need to buy more! People, please buy more, buying makes you happy!'. A few steps away there was another type: a man, also dressed up with a striking wig and strange glasses, provided with a constantly beeping mobile phone. The two catched a lot of attention and no one could miss them in the crowd. It was great to see''. The two activists liked their roles so much that they continously went on with their show for a couple of hours.
About 75 Consume Less Papers were handed out. A reporter from the national radio dropped by and recorded an interview with the activists in a toy-shop, where the reactions of the shoppers supported the meaning of BND (Yes, of course I buy much to much, but what other choice do I have?'). The interview was a part of a very positive, larger sphere-report which was broadcasted on the national radio that afternoon.

ROERMOND - The first Buy Nothing Day ever held in Roermond was fantastic! The whole day it was very busy at the gifts-exchange- stall; people were activelly exchanging things. Meanwhile a rat-race was peformed in the shopping streets: four 'rats' were rushing through the crowd busy communicating through their mobile phones. They pushed overloaded shopping-carts and one of them was even busy at work on his laptop computer. Some passers-by reacted shocked, however most of them had to laugh about the scenes. Members of Friends of the Earth were spreading gifts-exemption-vouchers and 'Yes / No'-stickers to stick on your letterbox (to avoid unaddressed marketing mail!). They also gave away little boxes filled with 'happiness', with a nice verb inside ('Happiness is free' en 'In small things you'll find the greatest joy'). On the main square there were stalls of the local LETS-system and the local recycle-centre where information was available; there was nothing for sale. Frieda Reijners of the 'Platform Surviving Together' (a cooperation of 16 local peace-, environment-, church- and developmentsgroups) says: ,,Beforehand we've had many and tremendously good publicity in all papers and on the radio. That's why almost everybody knew about our action and why we were doing it. In fact we have only had positive reactions; very many people knew about Buy Nothing Day and supported it (they said...). These last years we've organised many public eventts in Roermond, but never before we received such enthousiastic and positive respond; especially from women. We really have reached a lot of people; at our stalls it was ten times busier than at other events''.
Four 'new' people came forward who want to join our BND-action next year. During the action allmost all regional newspapers showed up: TV-Limburg has filmed extensively, which resulted in a very positive opening-item in the tv-news (repeated three times).
The action also resulted in an invitation to cooperate in a special tv-programme on Consumption, which will be broadcasted on December 20th.

ROOSENDAAL - The first BND in Roosendaal was a big success, despite the short time for preparation. The gifts-exchange-stall was placed in front of the organic foodstore and attracked a lot of attention. Though there was no fanatic exchange, more presents were handed in than taken away. A member of the local LETS-scheme had made vegetarian vegetable soupe, which was very popular and tasted excellent. Patrick van Uffelen had spent the night before painting a hugh banner: 'Buy Critically, Consume Less). Furthermore there were kingsize Buy Nothing Day posters and leaflets were handed out explaining the meaning of BND. Says Patrick: ,,It went all extremely well. The Fair Trade shop was leafleting about fair trade and the Max Havelaar-trademark. We actually received only positive responds, I haven't heard anything negative''.
The regional morning newspaper had published an article about BND that day, with a big picture showing the BND-poster and the Consume Less Paper. Many passers-by recognized Patrick and his colleque Marion from their picture in the paper. An enthousiastic story about the coming BND-action, written by a sympatising reporter of the local newspaper, was refused by the 'cencorship of the editor'.
Pictures were made by the regional newspaper and a local activists paper. Next year there will certainly be another BND-activity. By then also the Fair Trade Shop, a local activist-group, the LETS- scheme, the recycle-shop and a second-hand bookshop want to join.

ROTTERDAM - The Rotterdam action consisted of an exchange-stall, a rat-race-act in a shopping-mall and a stall with examples of immaterial gifts and vouchers for non-material presents. Twelve members of Friends of the Earth took part. Thousands of people have seen the actions and in general they understood the meaning of it.
Willemien Troelstra estimates that about half of the passers-by had already heard about Buy Nothing Day: ,,The funny and 'critical' nuts that we handed out, made people smile. There was not so much 'trade' at the gifts-exchange-stall, maybe that kind of actions are better for smaller cities. Finally we started giving away the presents. A hint for a next time: ask a professional window dresser to display the presents nicely.
The action got media attention through several regional radio- stations, World Broadcast-tv, and a national newspaper. A hundred Consume Less Papers were handed out, which could have been more if they would have had more copies. There are some doubts about a BND- activities next year in Rotterdam, 'cause organising it takes a lot of time.'

SPIJKENISSE - The gifts-exchange-stall at the main square was a big success. The local environment-group had asked the recycle-shop for some presents to start with, and they were wrapped beautifully. Also the (5) people behind the stall didn't know what was inside. Thousands of passers-by saw the action and there were about 50 active 'exchangers', amongst whom a couple of smart young girls. (They went to a shop to buy some cheap sweets, wrapped as nice presents and came back to exchange them for something 'more expensive'). ,,We had great fun'', says Jaap Bouman afterwards. ,,The people understood the meaning of Buy Nothing Day. Shopowners who passed by greated us friendly''.
Beforehand the action had caught publicity through all local papers, so allmost everbody knew about it, and a photographer came along.

TILBURG - 'Give away prices' said a big orange-coloured sign in the 'street-livingroom' in the centre of Tilburg. The six no-shoppers were all members of the local 'With heart and soul-initiative. The furniture came from the local Emmaus, and the scene was revived by a street-songsinger with a guitar who had composed a special Consume Less song. ,Many people had already heard about BND'', tells Godelieve Engbersen ,,and almost everybody responded positive. Except for one man, who reacted angry that his social payment was not sufficient and that he really needed more''.

UTRECHT - As a coincidence EcoNaction (young environmentalist school-teams) had planned their trainingday in Utrecht, and they had programmed a theater workshop. In the afternoon a group youngsters went into the city-centre to practise their learnings. During their theatre workshop they had created a special type, a kind of 'gardening angel', wishing to help all human beings. ,,All activists found it rather creepy to do'', says Marije Rietman. ,,They had no attributes or any other materials, so they had to render their 'angel' with gestures, bodytalk and their unctuous voices. This worked out well at people who were standing in front of shoppingwindows. 'May I help you? Do you find it difficult to make a choice? But you don't have to make a choice, you can buy nothing' or 'You don't have time? Well, what a coincidence, I just have a handfull of time with me. Do you want some of it?'.
,,Inside, amongst ourselves, it all went fine, but outside it was far more difficult to do, because you are dependent from the reactions. And of course, people allways react in a different way than the one you are prepared to'', Marije says.
EcoNaction-coordinator Cerian van Gestel says: ,,Because this was a theatre training, we hadn't spend much time explaining the meaning of Buy Nothing Day. And that was a lack''.

WEERT - Marked: 'Consume less, and bite a bit of wood' (= Dutch saying) two young activists handed out 200 pieces of wood, with a small note attached to it explaining the meaning of BND. Consume Less Papers were handed out on request. Rudy Nordhausen (17) said: ,,It was nice to do, although there was not so much attention for our action. On the other hand we have had some nice reactions. Many people had already read about BND in the regional newspaper, some declared that they found it a 'good strive'. We only found one thrown-away leaflet on the street. Next year there we will do a BND-action again, hopefully with more activists'', Rudy said.

Omslag - Werkplaats voor Duurzame Ontwikkeling - [email protected]
Postbus 163, 5270 AD Sint-Michielsgestel - 073-5941622 / 030-2730100

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