Buy Nothing Day | Peace Couple

Occupy Long Island: Buy Nothing Day sign — Occupy Black Friday

Black Friday for some people means lining up for bargains at the doors of big corporations. Though, people who want our country to be more sustainable, and less dependent on war money, have often asked people to “Buy Nothing” on the day after Thanksgiving.

This year, there are several ways to celebrate the empowerment that is Buy-Nothing-Day:

-Make sure you do not buy anything on Friday, November 23, 2012

-On all the other shopping days leading to Christmas and Chanukah…shop local, union, Fair Trade, organic, natural, and/or sustainably when possible. [See our Peace Couple website for Kind Shopping ideas.]

-Join Occupy Wall Street in your area, as they protest at Walmart, in support of striking Walmart workers.

An anti-Black Friday shopping video at Youtube: here and below.

An excellent (archival) speech by Reverend Billy about Black Friday, Consumerism, and Buy Nothing Day: here.

An example of a local Occupy Black Friday Demo at Walmart: Continue reading Black Friday: Buy Nothing! Demand Peace! Support striking Wal-Mart workers! →

Well, here, we are, a shopping site, telling you not to shop. Though, it is only for one day a year. We feel pretty sure you could just wait and buy it tomorrow or the next day. And, low sales figures for Friday, November 25th, will make the big stores and the 1% rethink how they sell to consumers, and exploit labor. (And, low sales figures on this one day might also cause prices to lower in time for the winter holidays!)

Peace Couple promotes compassionate shopping. That means standing up for people forced to work late Thanksgiving, or all hours of the day on Friday, because the greedy corporations that employ them are trying to rake in more cash.

So, please consider buying nothing today. But, if you do buy something, please buy it from a small business and/or union business.

Here are some thoughts from the folks at Adbusters: Continue reading Buy Nothing Day: Black Friday 11/25/2011 →