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Vancouver's upscale suburb of Kitsilano,
the Adbusters' brain trust has encouraged
conscientious citizens worldwide to
"relish [their] power as a consumer to
change the economic environment." In their
words, Buy Nothing Day "proves how
empowering it is to step out of the
consumption stream for even a day."

The geniuses at Adbusters have managed to
create the perfect feel-good, liberal,
middle-class activist non-happening. A day
when the more money you make, the more
influence you have (like every other day).
A day which, by definition, is insulting
to the millions of people worldwide who
are too poor or marginalized to be
considered "consumers."

It's supposed to be a 24-hour moratorium
on spending, but ends up being a
moralistic false-debate about whether or
not you should really buy that loaf of
bread today or ... wait for it ...
tomorrow!

Well, this year, while the Adbusters cult
enjoys yet another Buy Nothing Day,
accompanied by their fancy posters,
stickers, TV and radio advertisements and
slick webpages, a few self-described
anarcho-situationists from Montreal's East
End are inaugurating Steal Something Day.

Unlike Buy Nothing Day, when people are
asked to "participate by not
participating," Steal Something Day
demands that we "participate by
participating." Instead of downplaying or
ignoring the capitalists, CEOs, landlords,
small business tyrants, bosses, PR hacks,
yuppies, media lapdogs, corporate
bureaucrats, politicians and cops who are
primarily responsible for misery and
exploitation in this world, Steal
Something Day demands that we steal from
them, without discrimination.

The Adbusters' intellegentsia tell us that
they're neither "left nor right," and have
proclaimed a non-ideological crusade
against overconsumption. Steal Something
Day, on the other hand, identifies with
the historic and contemporary resistance
against the causes of capitalist
exploitation, not its symptoms. If you
think overconsumption is scary, wait until
you hear about capitalism and imperialism.


Unlike the misplaced Buy Nothing Day
notion of consumer empowerment, Steal
Something Day promotes empowerment by
urging us to collectively identify the
greedy bastards who are actually
responsible for promoting misery and
boredom in this world. Instead of ignoring
them, Steal Something Day encourages us to
make their lives as uncomfortable as
possible.

As we like to say in Montreal: diranger
les riches dans leurs niches!

And remember, we're talking about
stealing, not theft. Stealing is just.
Theft is exploitative. Stealing is when
you take a yuppie's BMW for a joyride, and
 into a parked Mercedes just for the
 of it. Theft is when you take candy
 a baby's mouth.

Stealing is the re-distribution of wealth
from rich to poor Theft is making profits
at the expense of the disadvantaged and
the natural environment. Stealing is an
unwritten a tax on the rich. Theft is
taxing the poor to subsidize the rich.
Stealing is nothing more than a tax on the
rich. There is solidarity in stealing, but
property is nothing but theft.

So, don't pay for that corporate
newspaper, but steal all of them from the
box. Get some friends together and go on a
"shoplifting "spree at the local chain
supermarket or upscale mall. With an even
larger mob, get together and steal from
the local chain book or record store.
Pilfer purses and wallets from easily
identified yuppies and business persons.
Skip out on rent. Get a credit card under
a fake name and don't pay. Keep what you
can use, and give away everything else in
the spirit of mutual aid that is the
hallmark of Steal Something Day.

Download our detourned poster , make
copies and stick it up wherever you can.
And don't forget, send your scamming and
stealing tips to us at lombrenoire at tao.ca.

See you next Steal Something Day which,
unlike Buy Nothing, happens every day of
the year.





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Disclaimer: all opinions are those of the
authors and this press release is
reproduced for information purposes only.
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