WOMBLES: Days of Disobedience [leaflet 2 txt]

If you would like to help in this action please come to the wednesday meetings [see www.wombles.org.uk].
Here is also a short wish list:

Freeshop: collect clothes [preferably nice ones!], Books. CD's anythink
which you feel will be good on a freeshop, bring them to the wednesday
meetings or on the 18th Decemeber, Union Tavern for Argentinean nite.

Agit-Prop: Think of ways of labelling Oxford Street i.e. "Shoplifting area",
or "Autoreductions in progress" or other such things.

Actions: Oxford Street is a large area, think of actions which could be
done to disrupt the consumer-commodity relationship. Mcdonalds Workers
Resistance are discussing a Global call for the day in support see www.mwr.org.uk for more info.

Here's the text of the Wombles 2nd leaflet about the D20/21 Global Days of Disobedience.

We’re all consumers now....
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.

Coca-cola invented christmas....
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.

Giving the kids what they want....
Oxford St is Europe’s largest shopping district. Millions & millions of pounds pass between its palaces & glittering arcades while the damaged & starving lay abandoned & shivering in its doorways. Sat 21st Dec 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.

The kids giving it back....
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 £2044 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.

D21 - la lucha es una sola....
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...

What’s going on....
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 St featuring:
A FREE SHOP - Come & get stuff for free. Books/cd’s/toys/clothes. Bring stuff down you want to give away.
A MOBILE KITCHEN - Giving away Womble veggie burgers &  wonderous edible delights
MUSIC - with free dancing lessons. Learn to tango Argentinean style.
Bring old pots & pans to bang (like the cacerolazo of Argentina), create your own DIY samba band.
Guerrilla santa’s will be on hand to show you how to make the most of your ‘disposable income’.
Come join the fun
Lots to be had by everyone

‘HISTORY IS WHAT WE’RE GIVEN WHEN WE’VE GOT NOTHING LEFT TO LOSE’
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 Jordan, 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

WED 18th DEC
Argentinean Night
Film & talk about the uprising, food
Union Tavern,
Camberwell New Rd, SE5
free/donations

FRI 20th DEC
Night of Rage
Affinity group actions & individual acts of defiance against
those institutions that enforce control & our compliance

SAT 21st DEC
Day of Disobedience
Mass santa action in Oxford St.
Meet Oxford Circus, Midday onwards

www.wombles.org.uk
the enemies of capitalism