Thoughts On Buying Nothing

Of course I'm late on making comments on a campaign that happened a few weeks ago. Of course, I am. I'm a student; can't expect much in terms of keeping up with me.

However, I did recieve an email last week from AdBusters' Culture Jammers Network about a wrap-up on Buy Nothing Day. In it, they express Buy Nothing Day as a success that garnered media attention, and asked for people's experiences related to that day. Though I am NOT sending it to their blog, I am here offering my thoughts.

Here's the thing; I love Adbusters and their often spot-on critiques of capitalist consumer-based degradation of culture. I appreciate their work, and will continue to support the magazine (ironically, when I can afford to again). However, I really can't get behind "Buy Nothing Day." It's too flawed a campaign.

I appreciate its sentiment. In theory, buying nothing should disrupt the capital flow of consumerism, hopefully highlighting a message of the need for a more sustainable economy that closes the gaps between the haves and the havenots. It should also pose a threat to the fat cats on top who play the capitalist strings to the tunes of their own greedy hearts. I agree, we need to spotlight consumer waste; we treat this planet like the pigs depicted in the ad for Buy Nothing rejected by MTV.

However...

The problem with this campaign is that it doesn't really address the structures of economy nor the pyramid scheme of power that is capitalism. Buy Nothing is far too simplistic an approach to thoroughly analyse the issues of consumer waste that define its economic concerns.

When I was invited to participate in "Buy Nothing Day" on my facebook, I was ambivalent about it. Initially, I said "maybe attending." Eventually, I declined all together. Buy Nothing Day is not a campaign I can support.

Let me illustrate the issues for you.

For one thing, when big capitalists lose money in their ventures, it is not their bank accounts that suffer, or any of the CEOs that lose their jobs. Rather, the first people affected by an economic slump are the people at the bottom, the people whose backs that money is made off. Let's look at the film "The Take" (Avi Lewis, Naomi Klein) for example. In it, we start with a prosperous Peron-era Argentina, enjoying the spoils of capitalism in all its consumer-happy glory, backed over the continuing years by IMF and World Bank, conditional of course to Argentina's adherence to their policies. Then fast-forward to Argentina's current economy. Here we see total collapse, wherein capitalism is forced to break its own rules. The economy can no longer sustain itself at the consumerist pace it was going. Of course it couldn't for other issues I am not even touching upon here, and the Buy Nothing campaign is right to highlight this. But again, going back to the documentary, let's see who suffers the fallout of such a collapse. The wealthy in Argentina suffered minimally, because they had invested in true capitalist fashion in offshore accounts keeping their money safe and free. Rather it was the middle and working classes that suffered, since they had no such backups, and had all their accounts frozen and made inaccessible. Factory owners shut down thier production sites without warning or severence pay, safeguarding their own money while devasting the country's economy. Working class Argentinians were forced to rethink their strategies and build a new type of power that was collective and horizontal in order to reclaim the deserted factories. Its not like when this capitalist collapse happened, that the rich were forced to give up their wealth and re-distribute it equally amongst everyone. And that's ultimately the problem with Buy Nothing. I'm not suggesting this campaign would have the fallout effect that Argentina suffered. What I am saying is that when capitalism fails and we are not careful about how it happens, its the bottom that gets knocked out, not the top. We have to be really thoughtful about the way we imagine a revolution of economy. And Buy Nothing doesn't address the structural distribution of capital resources.

Case in point: Why I Can't Participate.

I work in a restaurant. As a server, I am paid less then minimum wage because it is expected in this industry that my wages will be supplimented by tips (15% standard, thank you very much). I am also a part-time worker, due to not only being a student, but often also to overstaffing that seems to occur when restaurants decide to hire a lot of students. That means the amount of tips I can make is directly related to the amount of time I can work. If I am only able to work a couple of days a week as a result of these circumstances, and Buy Nothing Day falls on one of those days, to put it brashly, I am totally screwed. If no one comes into the restaurants, and buys nothing nor tips, it is I who suffers. If the restaurant is having a slow day, it is my shift that gets cut, at an already meagre wage. If my higher level managers have a short day, their pay is not compromised like mine is since they work on salary. And the CEOs of the company certainly don't see a hit, since they save money lost by cutting my labour. In the end, its a slow day for the people on top. For me, it means I have to wait til my next shift til I can buy groceries. I already live on the benevolence of the tipping system, which is often fickle. My chances of doing well are shortened by such campaigns to end consumerism. In an economy that is in fact so consumer driven, it is the people at the bottom of the chain like me who get cut first.

And it is people like me who Buy Nothing days hurts before it challenges the big business structures. Do you think Buy Nothing day makes any sort of real threat to the disgusting, unadulterated capitalists like Kevin O'Leary on Dragon's Den?

I'm sorry if I am coming across as being selfish here, but I do have to survive in this world. Too many of my days are already Buy Nothing days by economic default.

I think, too, that Buy Nothing Day does not ask its participants to question their own every-day spending habits enough. As the boy pointed out when we discussed this at home, most people who participate in buy nothing not only probably have enough things like food and transportation to get themselves through the day, they probably bought everything the day before, thus invalidating any claims that the actual event day is trying to make. It also means that it is mainly those who are already comfortable who can really do the significant part of protesting for this day.

We need a better campaign. I don't necessarily have a better answer; I just know we need to really do more thinking about how to dismantle this particular machine. Especially when we are up against cringe-worthy folks like Kevin O'Leary and company.

I don't think Adbuster's attempts are without its worth. I will continue to be intrigued and grateful for the alternatives this magazine/organization attempts to offer. Buy Nothing Christmas, with its return focus on the spirit of the holiday rather interests me. Though I might ask them to dump the Christmas part of it and remove its religious strings so that becomes a more open holiday idea for those of us who do not follow Christianity.

Everyone: Let's keep working on this.

From the Inbox: Upcoming Film Event (Toronto, On)

This just in, from my women's studies listserv:

Join us at the National Film Board Mediatheque for the Toronto premiere of Nomad's Land, followed by an intimate panel discussion Wednesday October 17 at 7PM!

When Claire Corriveau's husband joined the Air Force, she soon discovered her needs were subordinate to those of the Canadian Armed Forces. Her first film, Nomad's Land, is a powerful look at the hard existence of military wives, women who inherit a lifestyle that is often lonely and isolated, as they find themselves forced to move repeatedly, with little control over their lives.

Join us for this explosive documentary on Wednesday October 17 at 7PM with director Claire Corriveau, Dr. Margrit Eichler, Professor, University of Toronto, Department of Sociology and Equity Studies in Education, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto, Dr. Deborah Harrison, Adjunct Professor, Department of Sociology and Equity Studies in Education, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto, and Rebecca Christie, St Lawrence College.

WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 17
7PM
FREE ADMISSION

NFB MEDIATHEQUE
150 JOHN ST (at RICHMOND ST W)
TORONTO
416-973-3012
www.nfb.ca/mediatheque

Sounds like an interesting film, but alas once again my academic studies ironically thwart me from attending. I have a class at that time, and I can't skip it because I have a presentation to do for it that day. Boo.

Upcoming Event

Found this on the ARM page (Association for Research on Mothering, listed in Link-O-Rama), thought I'd pass this event on. I've read 'Top Girls' before and found it very thought-provoking. There are quite a few remarkable actors in this production, so it'll definitely be a worthy night out. This listing is taken directly from ARM's page.

Interested in attending a fabulous dinner party with the most scintillating female guests, both real and imaginary, discussing the choices women make with regards to motherhood? The Association for Research on Mothering (ARM)--www.yorku.ca/arm--invites you to join others at this special MOTHER OUTLAWS’DINNER and THEATRE EVENT:

A feminist revival of Caryl Churchill‘s TOP GIRLS
Tuesday, August 14, 2007 at 7:30 PM
Dinner before at 5:30 (see below)
Young Centre for the Performing Arts, Distillery District, 55 Mill Street
A Soul Pepper Production directed by Alisa Palmer

Featuring: Megan Follows, Kelli Fox, Dawn Greenhalgh, Ann-Marie MacDonald, Cara Pifko, Liisa Repo Martell, Robyn Stevan and Diana Donnelly.

Caryl Churchill is the most important female playwright of the British stage.

Top Girls, considered by many to be Churchill’s defining achievement, is both delightful comedy peppered with some of history’s most compelling women, and scorching political examination of the role of women in contemporary society.
Churchill brings together five figures from centuries past for a celebratory girls' night out. The guest list includes such disparate characters as Lady Nijo, a 13th-century Japanese courtesan; Patient Griselda, the obedient wife in Chaucer's "Clerk's Tale," and Pope Joan, a ninth-century cross-dresser. The link
among them all is a choice each has made concerning motherhood.

Book your tickets (prices range between $56/$41) to this event by directly contacting
the theatre at 416-866-8666 or http://www.youngcentre.ca

As befits a play that begins with a dinner party, dinner reservations are being
made for 5:30 pm at The Boiler House patio (next door to the Young Centre). For more information and to RSVP for the dinner, please contact Linn Baran at linnbaran@sympatico.ca

Bon Apetit!

From the Inbox: Upcoming Event (Toronto, Ontario)

This just in from my York email account:

"The Centre for Culture and Leisure #1 closes with Emelie Chhangur’s exhibition this Saturday July 21st at 5 pm.

Passing for White, Passing for Black (or something in between) divides the space of the Centre for Culture and Leisure #1 into an exhibition space and resource centre featuring three new videos by Toronto artist Emelie Chhangur and information on the Cultural Minister of Brazil, Giberto Gil.

Passing for White, Passing for Black (or something in between) will be open today 1-5 pm and tomorrow, noon - 5 pm.

The videos
PASSING FOR WHITE; PASSING FOR BLACK IN SÃO PAULO, 2007
00:03:04
Sound/colour

A first generation Canadian, who passes for black in her home country, finds herself passing for white in Brazil. In a performance for the camera, Chhangur perpetuates this position as she seeks to explore (albeit awkwardly) a suitable black cultural expression for this position (as a ‘white’ girl might try) by singing along with Bob Marley’s “Three Little Birds”. While Marley represents one of the first musicians to encourage black Americans (south, central, and north) to reconnect with their African roots, it is evident in this performance (out of tune singing and out of beat finger snapping) that Chhangur is neither black nor white, but brown; she can neither borrow from another culture nor be the representation of one for others.

DRIVING THROUGH THE RAINFOREST; ON THE WAY TO THE BEACH; OUT OF SÃO PAULO, 2007
00:10:05
Sound/Colour

Three friends, one Canadian on ‘vacation in Brazil’, a Brazilian Canadian, and a Native Brazilian, drive through the mountains and parts of the surrounding areas of one of the world’s most unique tropical rainforest landscapes on the way to the beach. Along the ride we learn as much about the surrounding physical landscape – the most polluted city in the world, the highways, and incinerators, smoke stacks and mountain tunnels – as we do the less obvious cultural landscape. Leisure becomes a lesson in which to learn about shared cultural tourism, teaching us more about ourselves than the cultures that shape us as individuals.

SÃO PAULO BUILDINGS AT DAWN, 2007
00:07:17
Sound/Colour
From a building on Avenida Paulista, the financial district of São Paulo, the camera captures the skyscape looking out toward the sun as it rises through the buildings in the early morning. Ziggy Stardust plays faintly in the background. When the sun comes up, the video ends; a new day begins.

The Resource Room
Built into the exhibition space is a second room that hosts a resource centre with information, music, and images of Brazil’s Cultural Minister and legendary musician Giberto Gil.

Information on Giberto Gill
The military leaders who ruled Brazil for two decades of Dictatorship considered Gilberto Gil's music subversive. He was sent to exile in 1968.
Today, as cultural minister, he is one of the country's most visible diplomats and cultural spending has increased over 50% since his term.
The 64-year-old musician, originally from Bahia, Salvador, Brazil has a career that spans four decades, covering rock, the beats of Bossa Nova and everything in between. His cover of “Three Little Birds” by Bob Marley introduced Brazil to Reggae.
Gil has often received inspiration from politics. He co-founded Tropicalia — an avant-garde movement that melded musical styles — with longtime collaborator Caetano Veloso in the 1960s.

Gil passes for artist and politician, transgressor and policy maker, black and white, and throughout his career, everything in between.

It is out of enormous respect that information on his work and life is included here. We hope Toronto is ready to rock and roll, Brazilian style!

~30~

For more information….

The Centre for Culture and Leisure No. 1
83 Elm Grove, Unit 102
Toronto, Ontario

Wednesday - Friday | 1pm-5pm
Saturday | 12pm -5pm"

Emelie Chhangur is an assistant curator at the Art Gallery of York University.

I'm stuck in essay-land this weekend, so if anyone gets a chance to check this out tomorrow, feel free to share your thoughts on her art, her subject matter and anything else that strikes your fancy at her show. It sounds like her videos are very thought-provoking.

Support local artists!