Argentinean Film Night & talk about the uprising, plus food & bar. 7.30pm, Union Tavern, Camberwell New Rd, SE5
Free/donations
http://www.wombles.org.uk/actions/ragedisob.php
castellano - deutsch - russkij
Argentinean Film Night & talk about the uprising, plus food & bar. 7.30pm, Union Tavern, Camberwell New Rd, SE5
Free/donations
Affinity group actions & individual acts of defiance against those institutions that enforce control & our compliance
Day of Disobedience
Mass Santa action in Oxford Street.
Meet Oxford Circus, midday onwards
Proposals for these actions will also be on the agenda at our weekly Wednesday public meetings >>>
Every year we're force-fed the same bullshit, blackmailed, bullied into believing we must buy in order to feel happy. We are, en masse, defined by our ability to purchase. And each year we're left feeling empty, used, less human, more worthless. We are never made happy by the things we're told make us real.
Christmas is given its value by the commerce it generates. Consumer culture has long since abandoned any pretence that this time of year is anything other than a sustained campaign of greed & the fight for profit. Our faith in people is distorted by the obscenities that capital creates - we are told we are not popular enough (try more), not healthy enough (eat more), not desirable enough (drink more), not human enough (buy more). We kill ourselves constantly in the desire to feel whole. Not surprisingly there are more homeless people & more suicides at christmas than at any other period of the year.
Oxford Street is Europe's largest shopping district. Millions and millions of pounds pass between its palaces & glittering arcades while the damaged & starving lay abandoned & shivering in its doorways. Saturday 21st December is the retail establishment's most important day. They've spent the last 6 months preparing for it with almost military precision. They demand we buy, consume, sell our worth for the privilege of knowing our place. This year we intend it shouldn't happen.
Christmas is also a time when elves & pixies come out to play. As small, simple acts of everyday disobedience shoplifting has come to symbolise the changing nature of our times - a conscious desire not to comply, to accept our place, our roles, the social conditions that are forced upon us. Last year the retail industry lost a total of £2,044 million in theft, 1.76% of total turnover (an average of £42 per customer). This makes the UK the shoplifting capital of Europe. We are not isolated by our acts of refusal.
The WOMBLES in no way endorse or encourage activities that may get you into trouble with your mum. We do, however, fully endorse creative use of your own imagination.
More importantly it was Christmas time last year that the people of Argentina, enraged & desperate after years of oppression, engaged in a popular uprising, forcing out the corrupt government that had, with the aid of IMF/World Bank intervention, brought the country to financial collapse. After a year of almost constant crisis they are now beginning to wrestle themselves away from the chains of capitalism & discover the freedom necessary to explore & develop their own future. On sat Dec 21st we'll be taking to the streets as part of a global day of action in celebration of the courage & resilience of the people of Argentina who dared to act...
Exchanging money for goods is about power & control. Capitalism was built, & is sustained, by the imbalance that this power creates.
The WOMBLES, with others, will therefore be creating an autonomous space in the middle of Oxford Street featuring:
Other groups involved in the Global Day of Disobedience in solidarity with the Argentinean popular rebellion are:
DISOBBEDIENTI - ITALY
JNM - BELGIUM
YOMANGO - SPAIN
BLACK REVOLUTION - SWITZERLAND
as well as actions in Finland, US, Germany
It goes one at a time.
It starts when you care to act.
It starts when you do it again after they say "No".
It starts when you say 'we' & know who you mean; & each day you mean one more
www.december20.cjb.net | Argentina | actions 2002 | www.agp.org