posting this for a friend

----Original Message Follows----
From: "Loretta Laurin" <loretta_laurin@hotmail.com>
To: vancouver@adbusters.org
Subject: [Vancouver] Buy Nothing Day and Fair Trade Week at SFU
Date: Wed, 08 Nov 2006 18:20:02 -0800

Hey Jammers!

I've been working with Oxfam SFU to create a fair trade week from Nov. 20th - Nov. 24 and I figured it might be of interest to you. All week, except Thursday, we'll be selling fair trade goods on campus (Simon Fraser University, in Convo Mall) We also have some fun awareness raising activities that, if you participate in, you can be entered to win a gift basket of fairtrade items (One basket per day). We also have a gift wrapping station and cups of fair trade coffee by donation. On friday there will also be a swap meet, where you can get rid of your old junk and/or pick up someone else's "junk" for free! I encourage all of you to come out.

On Thursday, of course, it is BUY NOTHING DAY! We're going to be giving out free samples of nothing on campus and encouraging students to sign our buy nothing pledge.


On top of that, I'm also planning to do some BND things off campus, and I would love it if any of you could join in and/or help organize it. It is going to be a shopping-death-flashmob at metrotown in the evening. (Probably at around 6:30)
The details still need to be sorted out, but the general idea is that we'd gather into a big court area in metrotown mall and stage a "death by shopping" scene, where everyone runs in screaming and looking like consumourism has beat them up (bar codes stamped on skin, clothes hangers stuck in shirts, chokeing on monopoly money, etc.) and then we all die dramaticly. (Oh the creative potential!)
There will also be a more activisty part of this before the flashmob, where we will go around advocating Buy Nothing Day to shoppers. (Handing out flyers, talking to people, asking shoppers if they're aware about the impacts of consumourism, etc.) The idea is that we'd come in from all entrances in small groups (depending on how many people are participating), raise awareness, and walk towards the flashmob spot and meet up all at the same time. (of course, by meet up, I mean make a scene)
However, I'm not quite solid in this plan because I don't know how horrible the security would be with regards to our actions, so we're always open to more ideas :)
If you're interested please let me know!

Cheers,
-Loretta