really really free market rocks the free world

Everyone found something to call theirs at the Really Really Free Market. Brian and Nicole display Brian's fabulous new-to-him powder blue blazer.

A statuette of Brahms. A purple leisure suit. A stylish Mariela folding bicycle. An oversized brasier. A silky powder blue blazer. Bike tires. An adventuring backpack. All of these things traded hands at last night’s Really Really Free Market without any money whatsoever, and many people got holiday gifts without ever having to look at a shopping mall.

“The holidays are a time when everyone is confronted with the ugly face of consumer capitalism,” said Drew Sherlock, one of the event’s organizers. “But people don’t see an alternative to the long lines and stampedes. We are providing that alternative with the free sharing of goods that can be used as gifts. No money, no barter, no trade – just our community taking care of each other.”

Radical carols sung had titles such as "The Twelve Days of Shopping."

Voices were raised in radical carols led by James Ploeser, a local organizer who had just returned from the Cancun climate summit. The twisted carols had titles such as “God Bless You Very Wealthy Men” and “The Twelve Days of Shopping,” with lyrics that called into question consumerism and capitalism.

Several pizzas were dropped off by an anonymous donor at some point in the night, joining candy and cookies. A classic folding Mariela bicycle was brought home by a local bike mechanic, and a Peugot beauty with a cracked derailer was brought home by a bike-loving activist. Books and bike parts, skirts and shirts, toasters and trinkets, cosmetics and cookbooks, dishes and dancing shoes, jackets and jangles all changed hands in a non-monetized atmosphere of open sharing. And the price couldn’t have been better.

Smiles abounded, and the question on everyone’s mind as they were leaving was, “When can we do this again?”

Friends showing off their Really Really Free Market booty!

Filed under: activism, consumerism, environmentalism, lacy's life, Washington DC

hey DC Council, tax the rich, don’t cut from the poor!

“No tax breaks for corporations! Tax the rich, don’t cut from the poor!”

This was my message upon disrupting Tuesday’s budget vote at the Washington DC Council (as shown in the video). As US Congress discussed their own tax cuts to the rich, Empower DC and other Washington DC advocacy organizations were calling for a one percent tax increase to the city’s rich, especially millionaires, rather than cutting vital social services to low-income Washingtonians.

Adams Morgan ANC Commissioner Chris Otten and I disrupted the vote by standing in front of Vince Gray, the Council chair, holding up a banner and saying our piece. Other brave activists stood up as well and stated their objections to the proposed cuts. Our disruption was noted in the Washington Post blog, as well as other local news outlets.

The DC Council wants to slash the budget for important services such as assistance for grandparents taking care of their grandchildren (there are many in this city), food subsidies for mothers taking care of their children, and valuable job training for residents. And this at a time when the city’s unemployment rate is nigh on 20%. A “millionaire’s tax” would raise enough revenue to pay for all of these services, but the DC Council is unwilling to tap this potentially vast source of revenue.

Filed under: activism, lacy's life, media, Washington DC