Trade Free Zone Declared In Cambridge!
Ye Olde Shoppe Assystante | 28.11.2004 21:47 | Cambridge
The site of the Trade Free Zone
Ye Olde Free Shoppe.
The signs were there for all to see...
NO Price Sale!
Activists being active.
For Xmas...
The (very) Light Temporary Railway System.
Under Starter's Orders...
Teddy sings for his supper...
...but, is anyone listening?
Teddy Gets Arrested and Imprisoned! (Needed a Busker's License)
HamsterCam (tm)
TrolleyCam (tm)
Swanning Around...
Not much was shifted from the Free Shop this time, probably due to the fact that no one wanted to linger long in the rain (except for foolhardy activists and tat traders like ourselves)!
However,a few passersby did stop to enquire what this minor interruption in the space-time continuum was all about, one person very wrong-headedly calling it a 'Free Trade Zone' - on which we had to correct them and declare it was actually a TRADE FREE Zone!!
Some little notelets were put up, stating what people wanted to do with their Christmas (see picture) - although my own contribution ("Ignore Christmas") didn't make it to the line before we all decided to pack up, due to our being utterly frozen and sodden.
As you will also see, a minor temporary modification to the region's infrastructure was made for the period we were there, in the form of a light railway system, harking back to the time when there actually was a Tram running along Kings Parade (not in my lifetime though)!
On my journey home, I spotted a Swan conversing with pedestrians by the river.
On the whole, a very damp time was had by all!
Ye Olde Shoppe Assystante
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Radical Grattitude
29.11.2004 00:53
photo credit: Fred Askew Photography
Good afternoon, brothers and sisters. We felt the Buy Nothing Day Spirit on
Friday -- inside the Times Square jungle of logos. We celebrated with
Greene Dragon, posted 9 Theses Against Corporate rule on the McDonalds,
then the NYPD arrested Reverend Billy for exorcising a Starbucks cash
register. I'll get into that, including a call for photos and tapes for use
in our court date, but first a round of thanks.
Many thanks to Greene Dragon, as this event was a true collaboration with
them. Second, thanks to The Change You Want To See for creating the 9
Theses scroll and Reverend Billy lookalike costumes, shown in the appended
picture. Those two elements took the action to the realm of myth.
Next, thanks to those who performed as Reverend Billy Dopplegangers: Sister
Beth, Brother Quilty, Sister Madeline, Sister Monica, and Sister Laura --
Sister Laura was arrested with Billy and sang the First Amendment inside
the 54th Street Precinct House. I am told the cops and staff present for
the performance were humming it all night long, despite themselves. May it
haunt their dreams.
Great thanks to all who shot video and took pictures, but we're not done
with you yet! We need any footage and pictures you have of Billy's arrest.
The police charged him with resisting arrest, which is patently ridiculous.
With your help we will beat this rap at his January court date.
Also, Lauren Grasch and John Caronza were arrested, and video/photo
documentation or eyewitness accounts you can provide would be helpful to
their cases.
To summarize: Buy Nothing Day was wonderful (5 cash register exorcisms by
my count, and one very nervous Yahoo-sponsored Santa), Billy was arrested
and released and is now in Europe for a teaching residency. Email me if you
can help with legal.
Thanks to everyone who participated in the action, and don't forget our
Stop Shopping Christmas revival on December 15th at St. Mark's Church!
revbilly & friends
Nothing "belated" about it at all!
07.12.2004 16:24
STOP NYC Inc.
Homepage:
http://www.buynothingchristmas.org/