Skip to content or view mobile version

Home | Mobile | Editorial | Mission | Privacy | About | Contact | Help | Security | Support

A network of individuals, independent and alternative media activists and organisations, offering grassroots, non-corporate, non-commercial coverage of important social and political issues.

Birmingham's Contribution to Buy Nothing Day 2006

BND embedded media | 02.12.2006 00:58 | Health | Birmingham

A great success with protest Santas, FreeShop, repetitive beats, Guantanamo Bay Campaign, and Food Not Bombs coming together attracting and creating a vibrant street event.

Freeshop1
Freeshop1

Freeshop2
Freeshop2


Buy Nothing Day has been celebrated in Birmingham for a few years now, initially by Birmingham Friends of the Earth's anti-consumer info-stalls and Santa Claus demonstrations. Last year, in addition, autonomous events were staged: in-store pranks and games, Food Not Bombs, and a Free Shop.

This year the anti-consumerist protest Santas were back, as were Food Not Bombs, who serve free food in town fortnightly. The Guantanamo Bay campaign was present raising awareness, a fantastic portable sound system turned up, and the Free Shop returned. All these groups came together to make the event what it was, attracting a strong crowd and creating a busy, vibrant street party.

Why Free Shops?

It has long been recognised that capitalism is over-productive of goods, and that our consumer culture produces a very wasteful society.
A free shop is a shop where we exchange goods without a pricing system: unwanted items are donated and wanted items taken away.
'Junk belongs to us, the people. It does not belong to councils, shires, governments or contractors'. Freeshops promote direct recycling and re-use of goods, locally, and in a way that answers immediate need.
Freeshops 'have their roots in the anarchist movement' and are well established in Northern Europe and in the USA. There are always temporary freeshops too, and a monthly freeshop has been running in Norwich since 2004. Internet freeshops have given new life to the movement through the online 'FreeCycle' community [see  http://groups.yahoo.com/group/birmingham_freecycle].
Occasionally, FreeShops can be stolen. This happened to a freeshop in Whitechapel in 2002. Such incidents fortunately are rare; because no money changes hands and no one makes an unfair profit, freeshops don't encourage criminal activity, unlike those other kinds of shops.
Any of us can start a freeshop. This reporter would like to see it become a regular event, with people swapping goods in town as a more sustainable challenge to the consumer culture of Birmingham City Centre.

An organiser commented on last Saturday's event

"Today has been a huge success. Almost all of the stock from the shop
has been taken away by the shoppers of Birmingham. Along with this
they've hopefully taken away a new way of looking at consumer habits in
this country. People visiting the stall have been very enthusiastic
about what we're doing; some individuals were very enthusiastic about
getting involved themselves so there may be more than one Free Shop at
the next Buy Nothing Day. Everything which we gave away today has been
saved from being sent to the local incinerator and all of the stock was
hauled into the city centre in a small bicycle convoy. Having music at
the event really got people interested and made the afternoon feel like
an event worth celebrating".

Food Not Bombs returned after a 2 month break to serve reclaimed food to the hungry and campaign against poverty, rubbish food, homelessness and militarism. The group strengthened it's commmitment to using non-aluminium cookware, featured innovative new recipes, an improved information shop, and was greatly energised by new people. Three Food Not Bombs first-timers took part, with one commenting that FNB was the 'one of the most positive political experiences' she had had in years of campaigning experience. 'The group's ability to communicate and organise made for a great team experience,' she said. 'We all were so positive and supported each other. It felt like a proper team effort which was fantastic and I want people to know about that'. As usual the food was enthusiastically consumed and information on local and global issues distributed. The collective ended the day with a social and met again the following Tuesday for a review meeting and to plan future actions.

Food Not Bombs will be back Saturday 9th and Sunday 10th December (as part of the vigil for Human Rights Day), and there is a meeting to plan this on Tuesday 5th; social events are also in the works. Email  brum_fnb@riseup.net for more information.

For more on the freeshop movement check  http://colorado.indymedia.org/newswire/display/12028/index.php
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_store

All in all it was an exciting event that brought a vibrant and political street culture to Birmingham, and showed how different groups can collaborate to strengthen the movement's range and appeal - here's to many more of these kinds of events.

BND embedded media
- Homepage: http://www.buynothingday.co.uk

Additions

Photos From the Food Not Bombs Collective

06.12.2006 10:58

we come in peace
we come in peace

masala master
masala master

Two scenes from the Food Not Bombs embedded photography unit. The first image shows the allotment being worked by the FnB co-operative which, having already provided potatos to supplement the reclaimed food we serve, is now being cleared, dug and prepared before the frosts set in. The amount of growing space has been increased, the soil is excellent, the number of volunteers has doubled (there are now 7 active in the space) and we look set for for good planting season. Get seed swapping now!

The second image captures a moment from the cooking process for last Saturdays FnB, which usually takes place from 9am. We would like to express our gratitude for the use of this kitchen.

FnB photographers


Upcoming Coverage
View and post events
Upcoming Events UK
24th October, London: 2015 London Anarchist Bookfair
2nd - 8th November: Wrexham, Wales, UK & Everywhere: Week of Action Against the North Wales Prison & the Prison Industrial Complex. Cymraeg: Wythnos o Weithredu yn Erbyn Carchar Gogledd Cymru

Ongoing UK
Every Tuesday 6pm-8pm, Yorkshire: Demo/vigil at NSA/NRO Menwith Hill US Spy Base More info: CAAB.

Every Tuesday, UK & worldwide: Counter Terror Tuesdays. Call the US Embassy nearest to you to protest Obama's Terror Tuesdays. More info here

Every day, London: Vigil for Julian Assange outside Ecuadorian Embassy

Parliament Sq Protest: see topic page
Ongoing Global
Rossport, Ireland: see topic page
Israel-Palestine: Israel Indymedia | Palestine Indymedia
Oaxaca: Chiapas Indymedia
Regions
All Regions
Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World
Other Local IMCs
Bristol/South West
Nottingham
Scotland
Social Media
You can follow @ukindymedia on indy.im and Twitter. We are working on a Twitter policy. We do not use Facebook, and advise you not to either.
Support Us
We need help paying the bills for hosting this site, please consider supporting us financially.
Other Media Projects
Schnews
Dissident Island Radio
Corporate Watch
Media Lens
VisionOnTV
Earth First! Action Update
Earth First! Action Reports
Topics
All Topics
Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista
Major Reports
NATO 2014
G8 2013
Workfare
2011 Census Resistance
Occupy Everywhere
August Riots
Dale Farm
J30 Strike
Flotilla to Gaza
Mayday 2010
Tar Sands
G20 London Summit
University Occupations for Gaza
Guantanamo
Indymedia Server Seizure
COP15 Climate Summit 2009
Carmel Agrexco
G8 Japan 2008
SHAC
Stop Sequani
Stop RWB
Climate Camp 2008
Oaxaca Uprising
Rossport Solidarity
Smash EDO
SOCPA
Past Major Reports
Encrypted Page
You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.
If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

Global IMC Network


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech