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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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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
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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.
WALTON, OH--Officials of the Wal-Mart
Corporation announced Thursday the opening of Walton Township, a
company designed and managed subdivision on the outskirts of Cleveland,
Ohio. Walton, the first of three Wal-Mart communities scheduled to open
this year, introduces residents to the company's new 'all you can live'
consumer goods subscription service. "Beyond its quality environment
and top-notch municipal services, Walton represents our first serious
foray into flat-fee provision of consumer products," explains Michael
Elmoere, Wal-Mart VP of Intra-Regional Logistics and First Regent of
Walton Township. "It's a 21st century horn-of-plenty, all for one
no-fuss monthly fee."
Taking
advantage of the company's superior purchasing power and its
much-vaunted just-in-time inventory management systems, Walton
guarantees its residents a literally bottomless supply of the staple
consumer goods with which Wal-Mart is commonly associated. "As much
Windex as you want," boasts Elmoere. "As many Cheetos and Glad garbage
bags. Imagine, every need satisfied." And the company is willing to
stand behind its promises, integrating a '100% availability guarantee'
covering more than 1,200 common household goods into Walton's town
charter. "If it's in the charter, and it's not available, we'll pay you
the cost of a replacement good, plus 10%. Guaranteed."
MediaChannel.org
