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What is a Whirl-Mart?
The action is comprised of a group of anti-shoppers ranging in size from 1 to 50 members. The ritual consists of activists/actors arriving at a Wal-Mart, Toys-R-Us or another chain superstore at 12-noon on the first Saturday or Sunday of the month and proceeding to push empty shopping carts slowly and silently through the aisles. Eventually, all of the participants locate one another and form a single-file chain of anti-shoppers which weaves, wanders, and whirls throughout the store for about an hour. It is a collective reclamation of space that is otherwise only used for buying and selling. It is a symbolic display of the will to resist the capitalist ideology.
'Whirl-Mart' is an experiment that can be approached from several different angles. As a work of art, it examines and blurs the boundaries that have been established between performance art, protest, living sculpture, and direct action. As an action of resistance, it utilizes the power of silence in occupying private consumer-dominated space with a symbolic spectacle. As a ceremony, it is a counter-ritual to shopping that transforms the super-store and its wall-to-wall array of products into a surreal and colorful cathedral. And what the heck-- it's just darned fun!
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National & Worldwide
Whirl-Mart Ritual Resistance International Whirl-Mart HQ World Changing Models, Tools, and Ideas for Building a Bright Green Future Critical Mass Critical Mass is not an organization, it's an unorganized
coincidence. It's a movement ... of bicycles, in the streets. Rev Billy's Church of Stop Shopping Lots of great scripts from/for performance interventions
with a heavy focus on Starbucks. Commerce
Jamming Commerce Jamming source page. AdBusters A global network of those who want to advance the new social
activist movement of the information age. Commercial Alert wants to keep commercial culture within
its proper sphere, and to prevent it from exploiting children and subverting
the higher values of family, community, environmental integrity and
democracy. No Media Kings Jim Munroe's guide to doin' it for yourself Booksense.com Internet book search that sends your order to your nearest
independent bookstore. Starbucks Delocator Search that helps you locate locally owned alternatives to Starbucks
Media
The Independent Media Center is a network of collectively run media
outlets for the creation of radical, accurate, and passionate tellings of the truth Project of the Independent Media Institute, a nonprofit
organization dedicated to strengthening and supporting independent and
alternative journalism. The Electronic Frontier Foundation is the first to identify
threats to our basic rights online and to advocate on behalf of free expression
in the digital age. Declan
McCullagh's Politech Politech is the moderated mailing list of politics and technology.
Topics include privacy, free speech, the role of government and corporations,
antitrust, and more. MediaChannel.org The global network for democratic media.
PLUS the News Dissector's Weblog. CorpWatch.org counters corporate-led globalization through education,
network-building and activism.
For anyone who has ever felt that there is just too much advertising in
the world—just too many billboards, radio spots, television
commercials, Web popups, screensavers—we at Fosforus are beginning an
experiment called "Mental Green."
The idea? Create noncommercial, peaceful "mental greenbelts" within the
commercially developed "mediasphere." Yes, we are actually going to buy
media (very tiny bits of media, to be sure) to seed this idea. (Nothing
expensive. Think late-night radio and cable TV.)
The grand ambition? To accept donations and to buy media in many more
markets. And to provide you with the antibranded Mental Green materials
(aka "seeds") for your own use wherever you live. (In the meantime,
feel free to steal this idea.)
The business model? There is none. It is guaranteed to be a money-loser
from day one. But, at a certain point, one needs to not ask about a
business model and, instead, ask about a "societal model." In fact, we
recommend that many companies with terrific business models start
comprehending and reviewing their "societal model."
CHICAGO (CNN) - Kmart has found evidence of possible
wrongdoing in its ongoing internal investigation into accounting and
management practices of 23 former top managers and employees, the
company said.
In a statement filed with its reorganization plan in federal bankruptcy
court late Friday, Kmart said it is establishing a trust to handle
possible legal claims by creditors because of the actions of the former
managers, which they characterized as "grossly derelict."
Kmart plans to close 326 stores and one distribution center and fire as
many as 37,000 workers in the next two months. Last year, the company
closed 283 stores and cut more than 22,000 jobs. In its reorganization
plan filed in bankruptcy court, Kmart revealed that its plan relies
mainly on funding from two investors: hedge fund ESL Investments Inc.
and the Third Avenue Value Fund. The company said it expects to return
to profitability in 2004.
OAK BROOK, Ill. (AP) -- McDonald's Corp. announced the
first quarterly net loss in its history Thursday, a $343.8 million
deficit reflecting an assortment of charges and write-offs aimed at
helping it pull out of an unprecedented slump.
While McDonald's had warned of the loss last month, it took an
unexpectedly high $810 million in charges for the fourth quarter. That
news helped push its stock, which traded above $30 a share as recently
as last summer, under $15 for the first time since 1995.
The burger giant said it is closing 719 under-performing
restaurants -- primarily in the United States and Japan -- including
202 which were shuttered in the fourth quarter. But it is not giving up
on expansion, disclosing plans to open another 850 traditional
McDonald's restaurants, 380 of its smaller ``satellite'' facilities and
150 of its other brand restaurants in 2003.
As of Dec. 31, McDonald's operated 31,108 restaurants in 119 countries,
including 13,491 in the United States, 6,070 in Europe and 3,891 in
Japan. Of that total, 1,083 involve its partner brands: Boston Market,
Chipotle, Donatos, Fazoli's and Aroma Cafe.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - In a major victory for the fast food industry,
a federal judge on Wednesday dismissed a widely watched suit in which
McDonald's hamburgers and French fries were blamed for children's
obesity.
U.S. District Judge Robert Sweet said the plaintiffs, including a
14-year-old girl who is 4-foot-10 and 170 pounds, failed to show
McDonald's Corp. products presented a danger unknown to consumers. He
also cited concerns the case could ``spawn thousands of similar
'McLawsuits''' against all types of restaurants.
``If consumers know...the potential ill health effect of eating at
McDonald's, they cannot blame McDonald's if they, nonetheless, choose
to satiate their appetite with a surfeit of supersized McDonald's
products.''
The judge noted that Americans spend more than $110 billion on fast
food each year, and cited studies showing that on any given day in the
United States, almost one in four adults visits a fast-food restaurant.
Forgive me; I have sinned: today I ate at Wendy's.
This is my pennance:
This poor guy is putting himself through
college working at WalMart. He's got pretty mixed emotions on the store, management, and his co-workers.....:
I currently work at a mass merchandising corporate chain known as Wally
World. If you have not heard of Wally World then you are lying, because
you have. Besides the fact that I believe that I work for an evil
corporate empire, Wally World is actually a pretty good place to work,
despite a few setbacks from time to time. The reason I have posted a
web site about my job is because Wally World happens to be a mecca for
shoppers, and everyone is a shopper, especially stupid people. So
basically, about everyone and their uncle who bought the same damn lawn
mower at another Wally World for a cheaper price shops at Wally World.
Scroll down for some more links, a message board, and archives.
update from breathingplanet updated:
Across the UK a wave of in-store actions are happening, set to coincide with
the post Christmas consumer binge of the January Sales. To launch the event
Nottingham's Surface Gallery
hosted Over The Counter Culture a presentation
by performance artist AngeTaggart.
Set in the context of answering Bush's
call to shop for the nation following the attacks on the World Trade Centre
she presented work of UK and North American artists including
Rev Billy and the Church of Stop Shopping,
Space Hijackers,
Fanclub,
My Dads Strip Club,
Retag,
Whirl Mart and
NATO.
To compliment the talk, the following Sunday, a
group of ten Whirlers carried out a Whirl-Mart consumption awareness ritual.
They inserted themselves in the aisles of Nottinghams ASDA supermarket,
(part of the Walmart chain). The Incognito Whirlers, created a train of empty
trolleys and glided peacefully around the store for just under an hour in an
act of contemplational worship. Later a dedicated crowd of worshipers
returned to the store for some prayers to products. They joined hands to
pray to the fresh chickens, prostrated themselves to Whiskas cat food, and
had rousing group prayers for frozen pizza, children's clothes and Winalot
dog food. As the in store CCTV camera's began to rotate, their attention
turned to the cameras praising them and giving hearty thanks for watching
over the shoppers and keeping them safe.
I apologize for the specious "slave-labor" accusation
I leveleled at WalMart a while back.
Apparently, their factories in China pay workers almost half of the required
minimum wage of 31cents an hour, so they are not slaves at all. Mea Culpa.
Now, that's unfair of me.
Big Fat, Inc. does Marketing. Guerilla marketing:
In a nutshell, we do Real Life Product Placement. What that means is...
we infuse brands into the target's life without disrupting their everyday,
normal behavior. And, in the end, the target understands how to use the
brand, why they need it...and how it "fits" in their life.
They seem to be doing rather well at it. :::sigh::: Check out
this article from maisonneuve for some more context.
As a performer I'm fascinated; as a consumer I'm appalled.
Props to Alicia for the tip, who also points out: Big Fat's CEO's favorite websites "Surfing Manifesto: Don't show me the same crap I can get everywhere
else. I use the Net to make life easier and to keep my information in
one place."
It looks like NEPA-Whirl's whirl this month was one in a series of January Whirls world-wide.
Since 2001, the Whirl-Mart Ritual Resistance phenomenon has spread from
upstate New York across the United States and now across the Atlantic.
Consumption awareness rituals are being performed on every Sunday of January
by independent teams of Whirlers in the UK, Germany, and the US.
The dates locations for January Whirls are...
January 5 - Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania USA
January 12 - Nottingham UK | Brighton UK | Germany
January 19 - Glasgow UK
January 26 - New York City, USA
A little late in the season for me, but just in time for Orthodox Christmas!
(although I point out that any commodified-holiday is NOT orthodox!)
God bless you very wealthy men
God bless you very wealthy men,
Good news I have to tell:
The market*s up, you*re making more each time you buy and sell.
With layoffs more, your profits soar,
You*re living rather well.
O tidings of capital gains.
God bless you very wealthy men,
You never have to see
The people all around you who must live in misery.
You keep the poor far from your door,
You know no poverty.
O tidings of capital gains.
God bless you very wealthy men,
whatevever comes to pass,
You have no fear that you will be kicked out upon your ass.
I have a feeling that your ceiling is
Not made of glass.
O tidings of capital gains.
Kudos to Chloe, digital photographer extraordinaire, who risked life and limb to bring you
our galleries of NEPA-WHIRL pix. Snapped in situ at great risk to her personal freedom,
Ms. Chloe snapped (and coded) these galleries without being ejected by an associate. Bravo!
Here's a new game to play at Wal-Mart (or any of your favorite superstores). Check each item of clothing until you
find one that's made in your country of origin! Special points are awarded for hitting all the countries on a particular
continent, covering all letters of the alphabet (take your pick), all dictatorships, etc. See who can collect the
most countries!
I'm afraid I was unable to find an American-made product until I found a pillow in housewares, made in Georgia &
hapily imprinted with Coca-cola logos. Above we are examining a shirt made in Pakistan. (My favorite find from today's
NEPA-WHIRL was the brand "Earth Shoes--between your feet and the earth." Made in China. No photo available.)
MediaChannel.org
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