manchester got clued up bout consumerism!

many people think buy nothing day is weird..after all anti consumerism should be for life not just for bnd.. but rather than order shoppers to stop what they're doing and go home to weld their purses shut until tomorrow the do summat crew simply encouraged people to question consumerism and whether people really needed all the things they bought...

we made a zine that told people why we are concerned about over consuption and also gave tips on how to get stuff for free in manchester and further afield (such as shoplifting.. hitching.. squatting etc)

we decided that we'd have a free market and give stuff away for free so that people wouldnt have to buy it.. and tell them how we got it so that they might be able to do it aswell...

some people went skipping for goodies the night before..and pulled in a massive harvest: 3 binbags crammed to bursting of cakes and breads. not to mention a football and a bag of compost!

some baked huge vegan cakes.. some got clothes by shoplifting them or raiding wardrobes and tat piles.. some potted plants (tens of aloe vera, chilli and spider plants with special 'how to look after me' cards)..

we had hoards of stuff..

when we arrived at the urbis gardens we quickly set everything up.. the clothes hanging neatly on the clothes rail, the cakes displayed on our table and crisps, toys and allsorts all around. Then we made like East End market stall holders and told people to help themselves.. hundreds of people swarmed and loved it, really interested in why we were doing it and loved the zines..we ran out of the hundred zines after around 15 mins and the skater kids were begging us for more...

koolio..we were all so surprised at how well it went.. families, old couples, kids and youths all came and had some cake or took some clothes and a flyer or zine..and within about an hour and a half everything including the clothes rail had gone...

we'd made some game cards too.. basically a list of games to play in consumer spaces, for example hide and seek in selfridges and stuck in the mud in diesel. The idea was to reclaim consumer space to do something worthwhile in them instead: like have fun in them! The young people at the free market were really into the idea and a group went off to have a go...

then the samba band turned up and played a few numbers outside the triangle next to a sign reading 'its buy nothing day so stop consuming and start dancing!' a group of youths did exactly that and grabbed some shakey things and did a dance routine!

the samba band took on the idea of using consumer space for summat fun and played in the triangle then selfridges and the arndale centre before rudely being asked to leave by burly security guards..

it was a mucho fun day...

photos will be coming soon!