Anti-Consumerism and Action

Naomi Klein in 'Culture Jamming: Ads Under Attack' and 'Bad Mood Rising' mentions a few interesting activist groups and some history of the anti-consumerist globalization movement in North America. Here are just a few:


The Band: NEGATIVLAND

Negativland is an experimental music and sound collage band which originated in the San Francisco Bay Area in the late 1970s, releasing its first album in 1980. The band is most famous for coining the term ‘ Culture Jamming’ in JamCon '84, as an active rebellion against America’s super branded, and consumerist, culture. The term has been used in numerous pieces of literature and art, always to evoke the four emotions needed for social change: shock, shame, fear, and anger.

http://www.myspace.com/officialnegativland

http://www.negativland.com/

The Pranksters with a Message: ADBUSTERS

Adbusters Media Foundation is a not-for-profit, anti-consumerist organization founded in 1989 by Kalle Lasn and Bill Schmalz in Vancouncer, BC, Canada. The foundation describes itself as "a global network of artists, activists, writers, pranksters, students, educators and entrepreneurs who want to advance the new social activist movement of the information age."

https://www.adbusters.org/

The Radicals: RULES FOR RADICALS

1971, Saul Alinsky wrote an entertaining classic on grassroots organizing titled Rules for Radicals. Those who prefer cooperative tactics describe the book as out-of-date. Nevertheless, it provides some of the best advice on confrontational tactics.

http://vcn.bc.ca/citizens-handbook/rules.html

The Environmentalists: EARTHFIRST!

Earth First! Is an environmental group that emerged in the USA in the late 1970s, inspired by Rachel Carson’s ‘Silent Spring’. They are still active, greatly influence by anarchism and the affects of globalization the environment.

http://www.earthfirstjournal.org/

http://www.earthfirst.org/