Buy Nothing Day--a visit to the malled southern lands
By Erin
Williams
We who work to change the way things are, we who strive for social, environmental, or political modification, recognize the danger in losing our sense of humor. On a daily basis, as a means by which to do our duty well, we imbue ourselves in depressing data. This is what drives us; if the data weren't depressing, we wouldn't try to alter it.So, as saddening as most of this data is, and with the insight of years working toward change, a local group was formed with a simple goal in mind. Under a church and over potluck food, the Guerrilla Action Group (GAG) meets to laugh, to teach others to care, and to help us all smile while we show our concern for the world.
As the name implies, GAG is a group of action, and its first was the observance and celebration of National Buy Nothing Day which falls on the day after Thanksgiving. It began eight years ago on the west coast by a group called Adbusters and is a "24 hour moratorium on consumer spending."The day after Thanksgiving was chosen because of its notorious nature as traditionally being the busiest shopping day in the U.S. The sheer amount of money spent on just this one day is reflective of the consumerist culture that is so prevalent in the U.S., a culture which enables the evils done to people in other countries and the environment.
Before starting anything in the way of local action, we researched Buy Nothing Day (mostly through the Adbusters website). During this time we found many fueling facts and statistics which we then organized into a brochure for the public. Some members of the GAG group wrote letters to the Record Eagle and to the Northern Express, as a means to reach a broad number people through the local media.
We wanted to educate with humor; we wanted consumers to be able to laugh at themselves (as we've learned to do with our own consumerism) while learning that what they do affects us all, without sounding like we were accusing them of anything.
With those points in mind, the group decided on a short, funny skit in which a patient is infected with a "classic case of ...OVER CONSUMPTION!" as diagnosed by our stethoscope sporting doctor. A back up chorus of sign toting "GAGgers" yelled at appointed times during the production to punctuate some of the main points.
Where would someone catch this "over consumption" infection? The mall of course! Hence, after one last meeting at the church where we gathered our energy and cleared our minds, we found ourselves at the door to the Grand Traverse Mall. There were fifteen of us all together, so it took some doing to look inconspicuous as we stepped through into the realm of the frenzied pseudo-reality inside. It was the busiest shopping day in America, and we wanted to let everyone know it was Buy Nothing Day.
We knew there were security guards somewhere in that cloud of people, but as we walked to our predetermined stage, we were spurred on by the surreal atmosphere of glittering lights, thousands of voices talking at once about thousands of different things, and the volume of "stuff" in the windows of stores and "stuff" in the arms of mostly tired and anxious looking people. We knew what we were doing was important, and that the people there (and elsewhere on the Earth) needed it.
We performed, and the audience loved us. They applauded, they wanted an encore, they wanted more information, and most important, they laughed. For some I'm sure it was the first time they'd laughed all day, and that opened them up to what we had to say. So we marched on to the next stage in the mall, to act once again. We were laughing and smiling, getting ready to raise the curtain for another audience when all at once, we were reminded of the illegal nature of our action when we saw a few non-fans (security personnel) frowning their ways toward us.
After we were escorted out, we moved on to Wal-Mart for a one time only special performance near the check out lines. We literally stopped traffic, as people were lined up near the entrance, unable to move any further into the store. After we had completed our skit for this new audience, we were once again "escorted" out, laughing and chatting. People were looking out the window after us. Maybe they were thinking something like, "Those weirdos!!" but I like to think that some looked around themselves and thought , "Those people were right!!" and left Wal-Mart without a backward glance.
GAG, following in the footsteps of other groups like Adbusters and The Ruckus Society, will continue to break the paradigm of protest by exploring new forms of action. We're beginning to look into campaign finance reform, sweatshop labor, and of course there's always the genetically modified foods issue. There is talk of performing on tctv2, and there's the Earth Day 2000 festivities to be held this year at Shielding Tree Nature Center.
No matter what is in store next, we'll never run out of things to work on (though it could be said to be our ultimate goal). Through it all, this group will be forever jubilant and energized to do what we do because we'll have smiles on our faces and laughter in our hearts.
There is always room for more motivated people in the GAG group, and all are welcome to attend meetings. If you're not local, start your own group. You would be surprised how many people care about the same things you care about. People just need to find a venue to express those cares, and we've found more people can express themselves through laughter than any other way.
