Monday , 4 November 2024

Protesting with Dollars

Maybe you don’t agree with OWS, maybe you really just don’t like the major Big Box stores, so here is a way you can stand in solidarity without sleeping in tents: go local.

The Associated Press reports that OWS activists are urging consumers to use their hard earned dollars to support local merchants.

What a radical idea… not really, most of us can remember a time when main streets were crammed full of mom-and-pop shops where you could buy almost anything you needed. Then the Big Box stores moved in and instead of walking down the street to get what we need we’re driving around town.

You might argue it’s cheaper to go to the Big Box stores, but is it really, when you have to pay $4+ a gallon of gas to drive to a bigger city or to drive to the outskirts of your town?

This urging by OWS is at the heart of their movement. Quit supporting a corporation and vote against them by supporting your neighbor with your money.

Not only will you be supporting your neighbor, you will be supporting yourself, because that money stays in your town and isn’t shipped overseas or to another state. Imagine, feeding and watering your community instead of increasing the stranglehold corporations have on our small towns and cities.. What a radical idea.

About mattbaker

Matthew Baker is a veteran of the United States Navy and was stationed aboard the USS Ronald Reagan from 2002 to 2006. He holds a Doctorate in Education from the University of Oklahoma. Baker has worked as a reporter and photographer for The Purcell Register in Purcell, Ok, and is currently teaching English and Journalism to high school students in Norman, OK.

Check Also

Listen: The Mental Impact of War Reporting

In this podcast produced by Sheeva Azma, Chalin Askew interviews former war journalist Andrew MacGregor …

#SFTC Statement on Ukrainian Crisis

We here at #SFTC decry war in any form and therefore in response to the …

Reckoning of the Hacker Martyr

It’s been over a week since the announcement that Julian Assange will be extradited to …

Why Net Zero is Blah Blah Blah

“I’d like to see the government get out of war altogether and leave the whole …

Exclusive: USS Ronald Reagan UAP Encounter

This article is a departure from our usual content. Most of the founders of #SFTC …

Defund VA Police

Activist veteran organizations need to look at VA Police. More than half of minority vets …

Vanessa Guillen: MST Martyr?

Vanessa Guillen was bludgeoned with a hammer, on base, in the armory, her remains were removed in a box. Several people saw, now deceased due to suicide, Aaron Robinson struggling with the box the night Vanessa disappeared. Guillen was a private and Robinson was a specialist. They both worked in the armory but in the army that small rank difference means a lot, and many, (if not most) exploit that.

Juneteenth, Warren Court & Trans Lives

Warren’s leadership and influence over the other judges lead to a subversion of the Jim Crow South. The zeitgeist of minority rights against majority oppression was institutionalized irreversibly by the Warren Court.

Prison Abolition in the Age of Coronavirus

In the Prison Abolition Movement, it is a well-known fact that Police have a shared history with Slave Catching. There was a need to capture runaway slaves in metropolitan areas before that there was no need for police. Most of the lynchings of Jim Crow South were well attended and represented by police and how enforcement is distributed today is reflection of that history. Too many police and prison guards are former military to ignore the link to the prison industrial complex.

Radicalisation

On the history of radicalization in the Western context. It can be argued that Saul …

Fake News

In 2012 I wrote an entry about Julian Assange and Russia Today (RT). At the …

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.