Activism

Pleas and thank-yous

by Mike Miliard

As millions of Americans recover from their L-tryptophan-induced torpor and hit the malls with a vengeance on Friday, they might spare a thought for exactly what it is they're buying on the biggest shopping day of the year. There will be a lot people around to remind them. That's because, from the day after Thanksgiving until December 1, activists across the country will be leaflet-dropping and agitpropping, puppet-stringing and slogan-singing, parading and persuading, as part of the fifth annual YouthPeace Week.

Organized under the auspices of the War Resisters League, YouthPeace Week seeks to raise awareness about the meaning of Thanksgiving and the mad materialistic rush that follows it. Locally, the United American Indians of New England, with the help of a YouthPeace grant, will observe the 31st National Day of Mourning at Cools Hill in Plymouth. Nationwide, activist groups of all stripes (many of them, too, with grants) will be leafleting malls, organizing trade-ins for violent toys, and holding rallies to call attention to the conditions under which many of the products that Americans gobble up so voraciously are made. It's not often considered, for instance, that a sexy slip from Victoria's Secret was made by a prison inmate. Or that a Nike sweatshirt came from an Indonesian sweatshop.

"The American consumer should be aware of the products they're purchasing and the blood behind those products," says Asia Allah, national YouthPeace coordinator with the War Resisters League. "They don't just come from thin air. The people that made them are probably young, probably women, and most likely live in a country where there was a military force used to create these conditions." But how to be sure the product you're buying is guilt-free? Call the War Resisters League or anti-corporate groups like Global Watch, Allah says, and look into shopping at regional stores and purchasing union-made products. Be thankful for what you have. And do what you can to help others have the same.

For more information on YouthPeace Week, call (800) 975-9688 or visit http://www.warresisters.org/YP/iypw.html. For more information on the National Day of Mourning, call (781) 331-3690 or visit http://idt.net/~uaine19.