"Saturday, June 6, Carrboro's monthly Really Really Free Market will take place at the Carrboro Town Commons from 2:30 to 4:00 pm. This marks five years of regular RRFMs in North Carolina.
North Carolina's first Really Really Free Market took place in Raleigh on June 12, 2004, immediately after the G8 summit in Georgia. It was preceded by a surprise direct action in which anonymous activists shut down access to Research Triangle Park, one of the most prominent corporate research parks in the US.
As reported in Rolling Thunder magazine,
"On the final day of the G8 summit, activists in North Carolina shut down an entire corporate business district with steel cables, smoke bombs, and banners decrying the G8 and corporate power in general, causing a massive traffic jam in the center of the state. Local newspapers and television gave this more coverage than they gave the protests in Georgia against the G8 summit, and local residents experienced it far more immediately. This took place only two days before a public outreach event, the 'Really Really Free Market,' in the state capital, at which people gathered to share resources and entertainment freely. As a result of the direct action that preceded it, the police and media both paid a great deal of attention to this event: the nightly news showed hundreds of people happily dancing, eating, and exchanging gifts, while police helicopters circled overhead and a hundred riot police waited nearby. Thus, this combination of tactics resulted in free publicity for the effectiveness of covert action, the munificence of community activism, and the heavy-handedness of the state... This can be seen as an effective integration of autonomous action into a wider strategy for building radical communities and gaining widespread attention."
The June 12 Really Really Free Market was one of the very first such events to occur nationwide following the original Really Really Free Market that took place in Miami during the protests against the 2003 FTAA ministerial.
The first Carrboro Really Really Free Market followed soon after in October 2004. The next three years saw a series of conflicts between the government of Carrboro and participants in the event, in which the government was eventually forced to change local laws to avoid a serious confrontation. Really Really Free Markets have occurred on a monthly basis in Carrboro since summer 2006, providing a local reference point for direct action, gift economics, and other anarchist values, and serving the material needs of hundreds, if not thousands, of participants.
Here is the announcement for this month's event:
Carrboro's Really Really Free Market
Saturday, June 6, 2:30 to 4:00 pm
Carrboro Town Commons
301 West Main Street, Carrboro, NC
First Saturday of every month
Bring something to share--take something you need!
Everyone is welcome at this monthly event at which people share goods, services, skills, performances, stories, crafts, food, games, music, clothing, furniture, plants, and other resources.
In a time of recession and economic crisis, events such as this one are especially important, as they demonstrate how communities can maintain themselves even when the capitalist system fails them. If you are unemployed, facing foreclosure, or struggling with debt, or if you care about others who may be facing these challenges, come participate in building this community infrastructure! We can all prosper with or without the economy, if we base our lives and interactions on cooperation rather than competition.
Better than a yard sale, the Really Really Free Market has no price tags: there is no buying, selling, or exchanging involved. At this market, everything is strictly free. This event is a celebration of the cooperation and gift-giving that make life possible beyond the constraints of market capitalism: it is an afternoon when social status has nothing to do with what you own, and when giving and receiving happen directly rather than being administered through an institution or organization. As at other Really Really Free Markets across the U.S. and around the world, we aim to create and participate in a world in which resources are held in common, the community meets the needs of the community, and "free" means just that: really, really free.
Nothing is required for participation, but think creatively about the skills you have and could teach, the useful or beautiful things you have and don't need, or the resources you might be able to bring and share.
Because there's enough for everyone
Because sharing is more fulfilling than owning
Because corporations would rather the landfills overflow than anyone get anything for free
Because a beautiful day outside together is better than anything money could buy
Because "free trade" is a contradiction in terms
Because no one should go without food, shelter, entertainment, and community
Because life should be a picnic, but it's up to us to make it one
BECAUSE THERE IS TOO SUCH THING AS A FREE LUNCH"
ORIGINAL SOURCE: Infoshop News
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