STUFF!
A fond holiday wish of mine — in addition to hoping that people everywhere can celebrate gatherings with family and friends — is that on Friday, November 24, the annual Buy Nothing Day will grow in strength around the country and world.
Buy Nothing Day has been celebrated since the 1990s to demonstrate to ourselves that we can have good lives while consuming less and producing less waste. This year there’s an added spark: Make Amazon Pay has been created by Progressive International and many other international organizations to also happen on that day. An article in the British newspaper The Guardian is here.
In addition to Amazon, which is the second largest retailer in the world, Starbucks and Trader Joe’s are among the workplaces where many young activists are moving forward in solidarity and taking courageous steps so that they — and even younger generations — can have better working conditions, with livable wages and livable work schedules, as well as better worker safety and employee benefits.
I hope you consider celebrating Buy Nothing Day the day after Thanksgiving. On other days, consider shopping and dining at smaller, local businesses!
LIFE
On Thanksgiving this year I would like to express gratitude for a special group of people, and I’d love to share their work with you. In recent years these folks have all lost people who were very important in their lives and work. Those who were left behind — with the help of others, as I’m sure they would all say — have carried on! They model the “sustainability” we need in these times. It’s a very great gift and challenge to create something new that’s needed in this world, and also a great gift and challenge to keep it going!
You may have heard of some of these people and organizations, and some not. I hope you are able to check a few of the links included below. These folks share a wealth of information about peace, justice, health, and LIFE — information that our governments and the mainstream, corporate news do not give you.
Here’s a list, with those who are PRESENTE! and those who remain for us to celebrate on this Thanksgiving Day. Presente! is a term used in Latin America to affirm that those who have passed are still a part of the living, and remain in our hearts and minds.
PRESENTE!
(ABC order by first name)
ALICIA JRAPKO PRESENTE! Resumen LatinoAmericano reporting continues with BILL HACKWELL.
CHUCK KAUFMAN PRESENTE! Among those carrying on the work at Alliance for Global Justice are William Camacaro, Elane Spivak-Rodriguez, Maya Hernández, and others.
GLEN FORD PRESENTE! Black Agenda Report analysis and reporting continues with MARGARET KIMBERLEY.
KEVIN ZEESE PRESENTE! The work at Popular Resistance is carried on by MARGARET FLOWERS.