Buy nothing day

$FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 26 2004 IS BUY NOTHING DAY

For 24 hours, millions of people around the world do not participate -- in the doomsday economy, the marketing mind-games, and the frantic consumer-binge that's become our culture. We pause. We make a small choice not to shop. We shrink our footprint and gain some calm. Together we say to Exxon, Nike, Coke and the rest: enough is enough. And we help build this movement to rethink our unsustainable course.

In its 13 years, BND has become a flashpoint, a day when people of all stripes come together in symbolic protest. Visit the new BND Action Pyramid for a sample of great ways to celebrate.

Need posters, clip-art, web banners, handbills, radio-clips or stickers? No problem. 2004 BND promotional goods are ready for download. We've put together a radical new tool to keep Jammers connected: JammerGroups, city-based email networks. Join now.

We've also got news and reports from previous BNDs in our archive. Be in touch as your plans come together, Happy jamming.

http://www.adbusters.org/metas/eco/bnd/#

South Africa's very own anti-terrorism bill

OK, so since yesterday we again have an anti-terrorism bill in South Africa. Oops, no, wait - it's the "Protection of Constitutional Democracy Against Terrorist and Related Activities Bill". Sounds much better, doesn't it? Actually, to be fair, it's not all bad news. Although the bill is a direct result of 'international pressure' in the wake of 9/11, it is nowhere near as sweeping and draconian as the equivalent pieces of legislation in places like the US and UK. But it does impose an obligation to report suspected terror-related activities. Let's hope it's not the thin edge of the wedge. More info at allafrica.com - here and here.

International Critical Psychology Conference 2005

The call for papers for the International Critical Psychology Conference 2005 in Durban, South Africa, is out:

Beyond the pale -"outside the boundaries of the acceptable" - this is a defining feature of Critical Psychology. A psychology of the excluded and marginalised, both those who are socially displaced and those whose work and thought remain unacceptable to mainstream psychology.

Of course the phrase hints at another mischievous meaning: beyond the white world - the overdeveloped West with its intellectual imperialism and monopoly on academic resources. Even Critical Psychology has been guilty of lapsing into elite conversations between those who from a global perspective are in fact highly privileged, narrow in their domestic concerns, and almost as restricted in their theories and methods as those they so righteously denounce.

The conference runs from 28 June to 1 July 2005 and the deadline for submitting an abstract is 7 January 2005. More details at the Critical Psychology Conference website.

The truth will cost you

I've posted a rant, Whose truth is it anyway?, on my other blog about how the Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of South Africa isn't freely available. Why ever not? There's stuff about this on Brandon Hamber's blog too.