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'We are more than buyers' - Cambridge Mayday leaflet

manos | 01.05.2004 18:30 | Cambridge

This year's Cambridge mayday - international worker's day - celebrations took place at the Grafton Centre, on Saturday 1st May, 1pm. Here is the text of a leaflet distributed at the event.

'The shopping centre transforms humans into consumers.'
Its environment is not built for enjoyable living, or to promote a community. But simply for individuals buying and selling. Chain stores and multinationals are dwarfing local shops. They try to convince us to buy our happiness. All else, relating to the burden on the environment or the lack of necessity for things bought, is forgotten. Their flashing lights and advertisement campaigns cannot make us forget:

'We are more than buyers.'

'The shopping centre transforms humans into workers.'
At the centre of the consumerist show: working people. People working to buy and working people that sell, so that non working people get richer. While running the show, working people in the shopping centre have the roughest of deals: low pay, no job security, no control. Poor pay, dismissal fears and managerial control will not stop us form crying loud:

'We are more than workers.'

The shopping centre is a private space that only admits individuals who are ready to play a determined role: that have left their political and collective consciousness at the door. On mayday we will go in it and party, unionise, organise, raise issues, raise questions, take action, take control. For just one day we will say:

'We are still Human.'

manos