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Buy Nothing Day was a radical concept when we first introduced it 20 years ago. It struck a blow against the very heart of our consumer culture. For the first decade of its existence it had a profound and sweeping effect, shining a light on the dark side of consumerism at a time when the world was largely oblivious to its insidious effects. Year after year it fired up the world’s imagination – inspiring its fair share of sympathy and solidarity, resistance and mockery. I remember people laughing their heads off at the sight of my BND button. But somehow, as the years wore on (and despite the fact that last year it was celebrated in 65 countries around the world), the day seems to be losing its edge. Now, as humanity faces crises of ecology, psychology and faith, the time has come to rethink the day, to reanimate it with new intensity, purpose and scale.
This year we’re calling for a wildcat general strike. On November 27/28 we’re asking tens of millions of people around the world to bring the capitalist consumption machine to a grinding – if only momentary – halt. We want you to shut off your lights, your televisions and other nonessential appliances. We want you to park your car, turn off your phones and log off your computer for the day. We’re calling for a Ramadan-like fast. From sunrise to sunset, we abstain en masse. Not only from shopping but from all the temptations of our five-planet lifestyles.
Instead we’ll feed our spirits and minds with a feast of subversive activities: pranks, shenanigans, credit card cut-ups, bicycle swarms, mall invasions and all manner of culture jams and creative détournements … and some of us will take things even further with sit-ins, demonstrations, passive resistance and acts of nonviolent defiance, anarchy and civil disobedience. If we can create a big enough ruckus on November 27/28, then we may be able to catalyze what the Situationists tried to set in motion half a century ago: a chain reaction of refusal against consumer capitalism … a sudden, unexpected moment of truth … the first ever global revolution.
@ the people saying "OMG THEY
@ the people saying "OMG THEY WANT TO END CAPITALISM"
I don't think I read the words "end capitalism" anywhere on this site. All I see is a group trying to educate people about lazy, wasteful spending. Advertising would have you believe that every dollar you spend gets you that closer to the "perfect" life you see in their ads. There are a lot of people out there that don't put a lot of thought into the things they buy as a result of this. Rather than creativity and compassion driving our consumer markets, sheer profit margins are running our lives. Talk about "consumer driven economies" to the vast numbers of unemployed people in states like California or New York. I'd be surprised if they didn't punch you in the face. Try telling them that "spending more is the key to bringing back the economy" when they can barely put food on the table because some bank, retail chain, or fast food company decided they needed to "tighten the belt" and "cut costs" by laying people off.
I really will never understand people that leap to the defense of the very companies and corporations that are solely interested in coming up with more efficient ways of getting your money out of your pocket. The problem is our mode of thinking, really, not "capitalism" itself. The problem being that advertising has convinced us that everything good in life costs money, and that if you don't have a lot of it, you aren't really living. People in general seem to take little pleasure - indeed, little interest - in all the simple pleasures you can enjoy for free or for very little. So, in trying to change that thinking, I don't think there's anything wrong with calling for a "Buy Nothing Day". Even if the only effect is to open a dialogue just like this one, I think the notion has succeeded.
I don't think it's the wisest
I don't think it's the wisest idea in the middle of the recovery from a terrible recession to encourage people not to spend money. Maybe you view it all as wasteful consumerism, but like it or not, it drives the economy. The junk that people buy puts food on the tables for many families. Think about all the people involved in the process from the factory workers to the drivers to the stock people to the cashiers, etc. It's not just faceless corporations. You can be high and mighty and say you'll be self sufficient, but there are a lot of people out there who don't have that option. It's not that consumption isn't a problem. It is. But there's a lot of things to consider before just deciding not to buy things, and some of those things may affect you adversely in ways you may not have thought about.
It is amazing that so many
It is amazing that so many greenies and those of us worried about the environment seem to not realise that nearly all the world's deterioration, which of course includes pollution, declining climate, diminishing fresh water, crime, hunger etc is because of chronic overpopulation. Treating the symptoms, instead of the cause (an overstocked world), will not do much to fix the challenge. In western medicine it simply lines the bank accounts of the pharmaceutical and many doctors and it will not save mankind from massive fatalities until the stocking rate of the world is about two billion, not seven or eight!
The Vatican has much for which to answer.
not just how many. also how
not just how many. also how much we use. overpopulation is key. but we must remember that consumption rates are of critical importance.
Flash Mob on this day is a
Flash Mob on this day is a good idea. What a sight would be several dozen people pushing empty shopping carts around and around and around............................................ and around. ENJOYING THEMSELVES.
BND should be bigger than
BND should be bigger than just not buying for one day. Every time you buy something, you vote. You vote for the quality of the meat you eat, how much a McDonald’s worker gets paid or how influential China is allowed to be in our country (they are now creating American Indian art sans the MADE IN CHINA sticker). Therefore, don’t go for cheap, go for culture. You shouldn’t put a price tag on your culture or anyone else’s.
Ideas for BND
1. Offer information to the community on how they can spend less and get involved in their local community. Don’t be too negative. Remember that hope is a better motivator than doom. Just ask Obama! HOPE HOPE HOPE. But, you also have to do something. So get them out there! You can find some really great ideas on community gatherings at simplelivingnetwork.net. I really like their THE CIRCLE OF SIMPLICITY podcasts (found by clicking on the SimpleRadio link on the website).
2. A local theater company, group of college actors or kick ass camp counselors can offer fun theater exercises/ice-breakers in the park or at a community center. It’s a great way to help businessmom and businessdad to loosen up and have a bit of fun. This will make them easier to talk to and then they can just be mom and dad. Hell, they may even turn into Joe and Mary again. Miracles do happen! If Joe and Mary do show up, have a few tissues at hand. It can often be emotional to find yourself after years of neglect. This is also a great time to hit them with idea #1. They will be more open to hear how they can help the world and themselves.
3. Check out Reverend Billy and The Church of Stop Shopping in NYC. They are still working on the details, but you can find them at www.revbilly.com.
4. If you can’t make it to NY, then follow in Billy’s footsteps and become Reverend Bob or Reverend Sarah in your own community. You can check out Billy’s political antics on his website and youtube.
5. Just be idle. Go to the park and watch the clouds, listen to the birds and chase the squirrels. Take an afternoon nap, slowly wake and scratch yourself in private places without the need to blush. Ahhhhh….to be natural! If you need a role model on how to be idle, just watch your cat or dog. They are experts! If you need a bit of activity later in the day, take the dog out for a walk or take a jog. If you see a neighbor, stop, say hello and chat for a while. You can also read at a leisurely pace on such a day. A great book full of ideas on how to be idle is HOW TO BE IDLE by Tom Hodgkinson. Check it out!
6. Check out the posted events on adbuster's webiste: https://www.adbusters.org/campaigns/bnd. You can also post your events there.
Does anyone else have ideas for BND?
This is ridiculous. Really. A
This is ridiculous. Really. A bicycle swarm? Did you buy that bicycle? Where from? Go see a local community group? Did they walk there, or teleport? Probably drove or took the bus, thus buying SOMETHING. Revbilly.com? That's kinda funny. What does the .com stand for? Communication? Compassion? Oh no, that's right, COMMERCE. The stuff he's protesting. Then you tell me to buy a book? Are you kidding? Do you LOOK at what you're saying?
It's nice that you want to end capitalism. I hope you understand that without capitalism, you wouldn't be telling people how to end it. No, you'd actually asleep right now, trying to figure out if you had enough food to survive through the cold seasons.
i thought the whole point was
i thought the whole point was to simply consume less, not end capitalism. surely if we consume less, some individuals might lose profits, but that's fine. capitalism will always be here but wasteful spending and consuming needn't be.
.com hardly refers to commerce anymore, and sites that use it aren't always concerned with profit. it's the most popular domain and a logical choice for anyone who wants traffic.
bicycles aren't that ridiculous.
Why not? BND may not ever be
Why not? BND may not ever be a huge step against this world of moneyocracy, but it definitly will help, making people, active or not, members or completely unaware of the movement, but if one even knows about the BND, will be more in touch with the cause and more apart the capitalism monster.
I think that the consept of
I think that the consept of buy nothing day is a good one, but the way in which it is being carried out is incorrect, the action of not nuying anything for one day is pointless, when the next day you turn around and continue to purchase products, if in your soul, you are truely agenst the world and how it runs, grow your own food, make your own cloths from cotton that you grow, dig a well for water, use solar pannels for your own energy, become completely independent. but dont do something for only one day.
Why is it so monumentous that
Why is it so monumentous that we have a single day purchase-free? participating in BND seems pretty trite. going one day is a fine way to exemplify how we suck less. we should be trying to not suck less but actively be good. by the way, you guy's arguing up there are exercising futility. i suggest that you simply put your energy to something more productive than getting angry with a meme. i find readership of adbusters is comprised of 'the angry' rather than 'the active'. tsk tsk you littles, you.
Your points are completely
Your points are completely correct, the fact that people believe that a single day will change how the worlds works is completely correct. but some would say that the fact that people are even thinking about it is a success. but that is an absolute falsety. just thinking about it is no success.
Don't act, just bitch. Heaven
Don't act, just bitch. Heaven hast forbidden you to be a leader.
Inimically better than the
Inimically better than the General Oildinero Strike Obomber plans around the same time! Maybe even prophylactic of the Barack Attack!!
growing your own food is the
growing your own food is the most radical thing you can do at this time. hoorah for permaculture!
Yeah they preach to the
Yeah they preach to the choir, but that is their only audience. What we the choir must do is go and tell as many people as possible. We must get out and spread the word ourselves. If YOU don't join in, and YOU don't get others to join in, then YOU are part of the problem. The problem is our unsustainable consumption based growth model economy.
"What many now call 'growth' will soon be seen as accelerated decay."
Dan Fiscus
"Anyone who thinks that an economy can be expanded forever, within the confines of a finite planet, is either a madman or an economist"
Economist Kenneth Boulding
"Capitalism is the extraordinary belief that the nastiest of men, for the nastiest of reasons, will somehow work for the benefit of us all."
Economist John Maynard Keynes
"Environmental injury is deficit spending. It’s a way of loading the cost of our generation’s prosperity on to the backs of our children."
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
This is already starting to
This is already starting to pan-out as the worst Christmas in American History. The big retail chains are posting gains on Wall Street only because they are not hiring as many seasonal workers as they did last year. The Christmas decorations started showing up on store shelves back in September. Ooooh! I can't wait to see the news on the first business day following the Thanksgiving holiday here in the U.S. It will be all down hill from there and then hopefully everyone will wake up.
"Buy Nothing Day was a
"Buy Nothing Day was a radical concept when we first introduced it 20 years ago."
It was actually invented by Ted Dave. But stealing other peoples' ideas/art is Adbusters' MO.
intellectual property is
intellectual property is theft
"amateurs borrow, genius
"amateurs borrow, genius steals "
I'm so brokeI can't buy
I'm so brokeI can't buy anything anyway. I wish I had a job so I could support my family. Down with capitalism!
I've participated in BND for
I've participated in BND for several years now, and it's just served to make me feel insignificant. Sure I get a nice moral internal win, but the fact is, they don't notice. I've been off their radar for too long, I just don't count and Adbusters is just preaching to the choir. As silly as it looks sometimes, I believe that it's time for direct action. A buddy and I want to try a whirl-mart type action this year, and force them to acknowledge us at least. Otherwise it feels like I'm just hiding.
So, how to organize then?
So, how to organize then? Let's start something on facebook, perhaps, within local networks to effectively get all the interested people together. I'm in Manhattan--anyone else?
BROOKLYN!!!!!!!!
BROOKLYN!!!!!!!!
I like it. November 27th is
I like it. November 27th is the biggest shopping day of the year and most Americans will have this day off. Therefore, not many of us should get fired. I think it is up to readers to inform our friends and families and make it a community event. Most people will be shopping for Christmas presents on November 27th. This is a great time to remind others that our earth NEEDS us to stop shopping so much. We need to remember the important things - life, health and community. Reverend Billy & The Church of Stop Shopping did a great job last year by getting us together in Union Square in NYC. We had a great time singing and dancing in the streets and got the word out to a lot of folk. We should not always rely on Adbusters to do everything. We need to remember why we picked up the magazine in the first place and do our part.
I don't understand guys, this
I don't understand guys, this is just like shabbat for Jews, surely you anti-Israel, left wing nut-fucks arn't converting to Judiasum?
Walter Benjamin, the German
Walter Benjamin, the German critical theorist and major influence on Adbusters' understanding of cultural production, was a Jew and integration many Jewish-Kabbalistic concepts into his notion of Marxist critical theory. So some Judaic references are not all that out of place. For instance the recent popularization of the concept of Tikkun as adapted by the French theoretical journal Tiqqun, from which The Coming Insurrection emerged.
Walter Benjamin, the German
Walter Benjamin, the German critical theorist and major influence on Adbusters' understanding of cultural production, was a Jew and integration many Jewish-Kabbalistic concepts into his notion of Marxist critical theory. So some Judaic references are not all that out of place. For instance the recent popularization of the concept of Tikkun as adapted by the French theoretical journal Tiqqun, from which The Coming Insurrection emerged.
So does this mean we are all
So does this mean we are all going to wait to see if anyone else does this before maybe doing it next year? Do we all now share this idea that these types of activities are meaningless and there is no point to resistance of any form?
Last Digital Detox Week
Last Digital Detox Week (April 21-26, 2009), Adbusters posted a new blog entry right during the middle of it. It was kind of a buzzkill to find out. This time around, don't scab your own strike okay?