[wordup] Adbusters Response: Fighting the Good Fight

[Adam Shand]

I've been waiting for this to see what they had to say.  When the email's
first started going around work a couple days after the WTC deal I cringed
evertime someone told me to "head to the mall" to keep America going.

Adam.

From: Culture Jammers Network <jammers at lists.adbusters.org>

President Bush and other Western leaders are urging us to save our
faltering economies by hitting the mall. San Francisco mayor Willie
Brown's staff are distributing 15,000 posters featuring an American flag
with shopping-bag handles (see below). Consumption is being cast as
"fighting the good fight."

Let's get real. Yes it's a delicate moment. It's time to grieve, it's time
to reflect. But it's certainly *not* time to stifle discussion and reverse
progress on what, though it has been bumped from the news agenda, remains
the world's biggest long-term problem: the unsustainable consumer binge of
Western nations. In fact, now may be the time to take the sustainable
consumption debate to a new plane.

November 23 is Buy Nothing Day. This year, celebrants in more than 50
countries will opt not to spend any money for 24 hours, but instead to
enjoy pranks, parades, street parties, credit-card cutups - and some quiet
time with family and friends. Why don't you join us?

Our website http://adbusters.org/campaigns/bnd/ is a font of information
for BND enthusiasts. There you'll find posters, images, event ideas and
contact information for organizers in your area.

We want to know what you're planning. Be sure to keep us up-to-date on
your group's activities by emailing buynothingday at adbusters.org.  Contact
us there if you need more information or assistance.

Remember: On November 23, don't let anyone call your efforts trivial or
treasonous or unpatriotic. At a time like this, getting public attention
back on the big picture may be the most charitable thing any of us can do.

Thanks, and Happy Buy Nothing Day.

P.S. If you'd like to make your Buy Nothing Day activities a little
more edgy, contact Paul Dechene at <pauld at adbusters.org>.