'Culture jammers' protest holiday shopping
rrhe activists outside a Portland mall celebrated
'Buy Nothing Day,' a 24-hour fast from consumerism
BY TYPH TUCKER
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
PORTLAND — On the biggest
shopping day of the year, a small
group of mostly youthful activists
stood outside a local mall Friday urg
ing shoppers to take part in a 24-hour
moratorium on consumer spending.
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While thousands of Portlanders
celebrated the spirit of the season by
watching a parade and browsing
downtown stores in Oregon’s busi
ness capital, a dozen and a half self
proclaimed “culture jammers” were
celebrating “Buy Nothing Day,” hop
ing to throw a wrench into what
they say is society’s blind habit of
consumerism.
To the tune of “Jingle Bells,” they
sang, “Buy some more, buy some
more, you don’t have enough.”
“It’s a consumer fast. You basically
make a pledge with yourself to not
buy anything for 24 hours,” said 62
year-old Kalle Lasn, editor in chief of
the Vancouver, British Columbia
based Adbusters Magazine, who
founded Buy Nothing Day in 1992.
The protest made little or no dent
in the shopping frenzy that swept
the Portland area and the rest of the
nation.
“It’s crazy here,” said a spokes
woman Kristy Kummer, for the
Woodburn Company Stores outlet
mall in Woodburn. “Some of our
stores have been open since 4:45
(a.m.). It’s been very good.”
Shoppers crowded into Powell’s
City of Books, one of the nation’s
largest independent bookstores,
which houses over 1 million books.
“It is packed wall-to-wall with
people having a wonderful time,”
said Meredith Schreiber, manager of
Powell’s main Portland branch.
The shopping frenzy was reported
across the country, with consumers
lining up before dawn, despite freez
ing temperatures in some cities.
The National Retail Federation es
timated that up to 130 million con
sumers — roughly 44 percent of
Americans — would go shopping
over Thanksgiving weekend. The
spree begins with “Black Friday,”
the day after Thanksgiving, so
named because it often marks the
turn from red to black ink, or debt to
profit, for many retailers.
At the protest in Portland, as a
brass quartet piped out “Joy to the
World,” picketers marched outside
the city’s largest mall, holding up
signs urging shoppers to take a break.
“We realize that everyone is a
consumer but we are giving them
some alternatives,” said 15-year-old
McKenzie Debuk, of Portland.
Inside the mall, buying continued,
unfazed by the scene outside.
IN BRIEF
Earthquake hits Japan,
at least eight injured
TOKYO — A powerful earthquake
with a preliminary magnitude of 7.1
struck Japan’s northern island of
Hokkaido early this morning, swaying
buildings, throwing objects off shelves
and triggering a small tsunami wave
that reached the shore.
The 3:32 a.m. quake injured at least
eight people, but there were no imme
diate reports of damage.
Japan’s Meteorological Agency
quickly issued a tsunami warning for
the eastern shores of Hokkaido’s Pacif
ic coastal area. Tsunami are dangerous
waves triggered by seismic activity.
But agency official Masahiro Ya
mamoto later told a televised news
conference that the agency had lifted
its warning, saying it had detected a 4
inch tsunami and expected only small
changes in the ocean’s surface.
The quake was centered off Hokkai
do’s east coast, about 550 miles north
west of Tokyo, 30 miles below the sea
surface. Citizens throughout northern
Japan felt the rocking, including in
Hokkaido’s largest city, Sapporo, and
Kushiro, on the island’s eastern shore.
A 4.6-magnitude aftershock fol
lowed about 30 minutes later.
National broadcaster NHK showed
footage of desks rumbling in offices
and convenience-store goods thrown
from shelves by the force of the quake.
Most of those injured were in the
cities of Kushiro, Nemuro and Bekkai
cho. An 80-year-old woman living in
Nemuro was thrown to the floor and
later had to be treated for broken ribs,
and an 85-year-old suffered cuts to his
face after he was struck by falling ob
jects, NHK reported. The others in
juries weren’t serious, NHK said.
Hundreds of homes in Hokkaido
temporarily lost power and natural gas
services, NHK reported.
— The Associated Press
Earthquake and
tsunami hit Japan
A powerful earthquake with a
preliminary magnitude of 7.1
struck Japan’s northern island of
Hokkaido early Monday and
triggered a tsunami that lashed
the shore. There were no
immediate reports of damage.
CHINA RUSSIA
7.1 magnitude
earthquake
N KOREA „ '
Sea o f
.V'-JaP“"
fk KOREA, ***>*"
L - x- .. 9 Tokyo
Ocean
300 mi
0 300 km
SOURCE: ESRI
AP
Stitch: Personalized sifts to delight children
Continued from page 1
kit, arts and crafts kits and Klutz
books, a brand of activity books
th 'it irar*li 1H0 trite
will be a good present for Shinekwa
because she’s Buddhist, Cathcart
said. At least she was Buddhist over
the summer; Cathcart admits she’s
Cathcart said she
thinks the children will
be thrilled to get her
gifts because they are
personalized.
“They’ll get better
guts; people in nere are
being very generous,” she said.
One of those kids, Shinekwa, will
be receiving a book of Zen. The book
TAKING ACTION
For more information on donating
gifts for LGBTQA Codirector Crystal
Cathead's gift drive or to join ‘Stitch
and Bitch,’ contact Cathead at
346-3360.
noi sure sue sun is.
Many of the gifts
will come from the
‘Stitch and Bitch’
group, which meets
for about two hours,
at 8 p.m. on Mon
days. lonignt s
meeting will be the third meeting
for the group and the last meeting
before the gifts are mailed on
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Wednesday.
But the meeting won’t be the last
for the group. Participants have had
so much fun, they’ve decided to keep
the group after the holiday season.
Ryan said it will become a drop
in gathering where people can so
cialize or learn how to knit.
“As for coming here late at night, it’s
a way to hook up with friends after a
long day,” Miller said. “It’s a way to
take a break. That way we don’t have
to be studying all of the time. ”
jaredpaben@dailyememld.com