Contact Michael via e-mail.
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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Regional (NEPA)
Rally of One Peace can begin with YOU NEPA BLOG Blog by & about Northeastern Pennsylvania: issues, events, discussion, photos WatermelonPunch.com NEPA Whirl-Mart's web host xradiograph what Michael does when he's not "fightin' the man" SurfScranton.com 1,000+ regional links
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.
Roughly a year of research went into "Back to Prosperity," a
detailed review of economic development and growth in Pennsylvania. The
authors identified several matters holding the state back from its
peers and suggests a range of solutions, including the following:
PROBLEMS
In Pennsylvania
The state is barely growing and it is aging, though slow growth is still bringing fast sprawl.
Economic development spending is ample but poorly coordinated.
The loss of young talent is increasing, worsening work force problems as pay lags the national average.
Our number of governments is expensive and costs opportunities.
In Scranton/Wilkes-Barre/Hazleton
Development is consuming land at a rate far greater than the national average even as population growth remains stagnant.
A large number of governments complicates coordination, contributes to unbalanced sprawl and undercuts economic development.
Structural shifts continue to batter the region's economy, though important diversification is underway.
The proportion of residents holding college degrees is the lowest of all regions in Pennsylvania.
SOLUTIONS
Upgrade the state's planning capacity, creating a statewide vision for
economic competitiveness and then applying it across various programs.
Reform the work force training system, better aligning to long-term
needs. Focus on strengths of existing medical and higher education
sectors.
Probe the state's fragmented system of local governance, identifying
ways to promote regional collaboration and even the elimination of
governmental units.
Apply more tax-code incentives to redevelopment of existing communities.
Source: Brookings Institution Center on Urban and MetropolitanPolicy
MediaChannel.org
