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Buy Nothing Day 1999:
This will happen in The Netherlands

November 23

Dear BND-campaigners around the world

The fifth Buy Nothing Day in The Netherlands will be celebrated more exuberant than ever before! So far, groups in at least 25 cities accross the country are preparing street-activities, to perform next Saturday's Internationale Niet-Winkeldag!
The Dutch Buy Nothing Day will focus on the consequences of (Western) overconsumption for people and the environment, the unequal sharing of welfare and well-being worldwide, and the influence of marketing and advertisement on our daily lifes. Buy Nothing Day will be celebrated as a Liberation Day from consumerism. The actions will be cheerfull, however they carry a serious and critical 'message': Enough is Enough!

Who does it

All local activities are organised by members and/or co-operations of different social/political organisations, such as environment- and development-groups, Local Agenda 21-groups, Local Exchange and Trading Systems (LETS), Emmaus-groups, critical consumers, Fair Tradeshops, churches and peacegroups, and some (green) political parties. Of course many 'not-organised' individuals will also take part. The participation of many young activists is notable, though activists of all ages will participate. Buy Nothing Day mainly takes place in the streets, amongst the shopping audience, with a large diversity of theatre, actions and information-transfer.
The Dutch Buy Nothing Day is coordinated by Omslag ('Turning Point'), Workshop for Sustainable Development. Omslag introduced BND in The Netherlands in 1995, and since then more and more individuals and organisations participate actively in this yearly campaign.

What will happen next Saturday?

Favorite this year are special stalls where 'ever-received-but-never- used' gifts can be given in and/or exchanged for a present given in by someone else. Stalls like this will appear in the inner-cities of Amersfoort, Delft, Geldrop, Heerlen, Nijmegen, Houten, Roosendaal (NB), Rotterdam, Spijkenisse, Tilburg and Den Bosch. In most cities the 'exchange-stall' will be 'accompanied' by music, some kind of theatre, people handing out leaflets, etc.
Special streettheatre will be performed in Amsterdam, Hellevoetsluis, Nijmegen, Roermond, Rotterdam, Utrecht and Hilversum. The performances will be very different. At the Amsterdam Dam-square there will be a stongly visual 'one-woman' act; in Roermond and Rotterdam a 'rat-race' will take place, on several places in the inner-city of Nijmegen there will be 'amazing discovery-shows', selling 'nothing', 'air' en 'love'. Here and there completely stressed consumers will emerge in the crowd.

In Bilthoven, Amersfoort, Eindhoven, Nijmegen and Den Bosch the shopping audience will be invited to take a shopping-break, in a cosy living-room arranged in the open air. In Geldrop, Hellevoetsluis and Leiden there will be free home-made (organic) soup. In Heerlen small 'boxes filled with satisfaction' will be handed out.
Shoppers in Arnhem, Rotterdam, Gouda, Geldrop, Heerlen or Eindhoven might receive a 'gift-exemption-voucher' or a cheque for a non-material gift. In Montfoort writer/publisher Hans Ferree (a 'marketing-gourou') organizes a bric-a-brac market in his home Art & Velvet gallery, selling his own overspills. The money goes to social projects.

Omslag supports the local activists with a national press-campaign, an action-booklet, posters, example-leaflets ans press-releases, and a weekly newsletter for local initiators to exchange news, suggestions, ideas and inspiration.

Special newspaper

To promote Buy Nothing Day, and to meet at the growing requests for background-information, Omslag has produced a special newspaper: the Konsuminderkrant ('Comsume Less-paper'). The Konsuminderkrant, with a circulation of 20.000, gives detailed information about the ins and outs of the international BND-campaign, facts and figures, critical articles about overconsumption, economy: grow or blossom?, consuming culture, equal worldwide sharing, the quality of life, ethical shopping and investments, practical suggestions for parents, youngsters and teachers, and of course many tips for a 'nicer life with less stuff'. The (free) Konsuminderkrant is distrubted through all public libraries in The Netherlands, and is also available in some Fair Tradeshops and other public places. The paper, in Dutch, can also be read online koopniets.nl/1999/krant
Local BND activists will use the Konsuminderkrant during their actions. Already some highschool-teachers have ordered Konsuminderkranten to use in their teachings.

More about the Dutch Buy Nothing Day

Omslag keeps a special BND-website, with extensive information about the meaning of Buy Nothing Day, a full list of BND-activities in The Netherlands (in Dutch), and an overwiew (in English) of what will happen in the rest of the world on this eighth International Buy Nothing Day.

Happy campaigning!

Omslag, Workshop for Sustainable Development,

The BND campaign-team,
Dick Verheul, Jack Stoop, Marta Resink

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