Dissidence, advocacy, activism - do you stick it to the man?

[Trillian]

But I'm not doing nothing, I'm just not doing it the same way as you.

[~Saram~]

you can always choose to support the Australian company that makes organic formula and boycott Nestle. You can pop some post its on the Nestle encourgaing others to boycott Nestle too.

:yeahthat:

It's all about picking our battles. We eat McDonald because it's the only fast food that is relatively free of additives - I know their policies etc aren't the best but we have to do what works for us

When we use sposies I try and pick the natural baby care or compostable ones. It's just about making the most responsible choices that are available to us and a possibility for your family and circumstance

[Lulu]

I'm just not sure how something relatively harmless as leaving a couple of post its around equates to being a nutter foaming at the mouth?

The way I see it, you might pick up the tin, notice the POST IT and think either - geez how strange, mention it to your GF and have a convo. OR someone might think 'well what is so important about this stuff?' or 'is there another option - does my kids really need this' and have a little think about it. Totally acceptable imho.

[Phteven]

LOL, I'm happy to embrace my foamy nuttiness.
Many years ago my darling Mum told me that the mightiest oak was once a stubborn nut. I think there's something in that for all of us.

*twitches a bit*

[Lulu]

well frankly half the reason I have post its on hand is for the BASTARDS that park in the parents zone that are quite obviously company reps.....

*tics

[Phteven]

Now that's a good use of post-its.
I don't know why I didn't think of them before. I'm forever scrabbling around in my car for pieces of paper so I can leave notes.
I swear I'm never leaving home without post-its again.

[Lulu]

Actually I got the idea from my sister that (unusually for her) had a preprepared stack of notes ready for anyone that blocked her bike in. It had Mickey Mouse giving the finger and words along the lines of "lucky I brought a freakin CAN OPENER to get out of here".

Much funny *tic

[mrsmac]

Saram I love Maccas but OMG when I looked at their additives I was horrified, they still put 282 in their buns and preservatives on their fries.
I actually think Maccas does a lot for the community - a hell of a lot more than other fast food chains, Ronald McDonald house, sponsoring local sports and community groups, providing healthy choice menu items, training young people/offering scholarships etc and giving them great opportunites in their future employment.
Which policies don't you agree with ?

[Trillian]

I'm just not sure how something relatively harmless as leaving a couple of post its around equates to being a nutter foaming at the mouth?

Please show me the part of my post where I called you, or anyone else for that matter, that? I never did, I never referred to anyone on here or in this thread by my comments at all, but I did say I prefer to appear sane instead of a maniacal looney foaming at the mouth about the injustices of the world. Meaning that IMO those I have seen ranting and raving about it don't get listened to as much as someone who doens't do that. The only reference I made to other posts in this thread was by saying hiding books and posting notes was not my style.

[Phteven]

I think the McLibel case turned lots of people against McDonalds. Trying to stamp on the little guy never goes down well, nor does hiding evidence. It was a public relations disaster.
I think that thier refusal to accept any responsibility for the increased litter near their restaurants is a bit off too. If the locals complain because there are empty Maccas packages everywhere it's not too much to ask that at the least you acknowledge that there is a problem.
McDonalds is the world's largest user of beef and they also sell more toys than any other company on earth and most of those toys are pretty much disposable so there are concerns over their environmental impact.

[Macca79]

I use every chance I get to chat to expecting first time mums about cloth nappies and the benefits of natural birth. I don't do it from a pushy view point, just offer a few books and web sites that contain a bit more factual info then some OB's are willing to give, particularly when it comes to scare mongering and the medicalisation (sp?) of birth.

I too leave notes on the cars of people who park like **** and my attitude is if you don't like my note, don't park stupid so I can't get my son in or out and you won't get one. I also tell people if I think they are providing me with bad customer service and I send stuff back if I don't think it is a fair representation of what I have paid for.

More often then I don't say much but if asked I am more then happy to give my opinion, I just try to make it an informed one.

[Epacris]

Confectionery / Junk food displays at checkouts.

I let DS do whatever he likes with them. When he was littler, around 18 months old, he used to collect them and toddle around putting them in other people's baskets and trollies as they waited in line. Now he just rearranges them. He has never actually damaged or destroyed anything (he's far too well brought up ) but if he did start to destroy one I wouldn't stop him.

All the while I loudly exclaim:

"what a silly place to put those sorts of things" "right where little children can get to them" "right at their level" "isn't that just stupid"

People often try to explain to me that it's a trap, it's hilarious, I say "no, really, why would they want little children to eat rubbish like that, that's just terrible"

I've also told children, of other people, that were nagging their parents to buy them something "Oh they're not for sale, they're just a display, y'know like Christmas decorations, it's just to make this space a bit brighter and prettier, did you think they were for eating, hahaha, no darling, not for eating, YUCK!"

[Glamourcide]

So, I'm still in the early stages of educating myself on being more aware of ethical practices/products... so this is pathetic compared to some of your mighty efforts.
But - I bought my best friend a voucher for some nursing lingerie as a baby shower gift - my subtle way of encouraging her to breastfeed rather than get straight onto formula the way far too many women around here do (and trust me, no way have *all* of them run into difficulty BFing, unless there's something in the water supply preventing us from making milk?).
I didn't want to come across as pushy or judgmental by giving her the big spiel about how some midwives I've come across tend to discourage young first-time mums from BFing (because it frees up beds if mums go home after 2 days rather than sticking around to establish BFing properly, and one comment I had was along the lines of, 'Well you'll probably find it far too stressful anyway, what with all the other things you'll have to get the hang of'), or try to tell her how much money she'd save and blah blah blah - so I just gave her a voucher and told her to 'get something pretty for yourself - X and Y brands do some beautiful nursing lingerie so it's really handy if you're going to BF'.

[Rouge]

C'mon lovelies lets all smile. Sarcasm can be fun too... if you can't laugh at the world or yourself what can you do?

For me some of the BEST activism has leapt out at me through humour. Be it funny graffiti (I saw one recently where someone had taken a whole heap of street roadwork signs and made them into warnings for the world.), humours lyrics, funny blogs etc There are lots of different ways to get people to think, and without thinking people don't DO.

So laugh smile and be happy! And yes take activism seriously on the inside

[STARRYSKY]

excellent sentiments rogue

while working as a pharmacy assistant, I came across so many first time mums who had been sent in by their gps to buy infant formula, being the helpful friendly sales assistant I would ask them ALL about it and get chatting etc, then suss out if they really wanted to do that, give them the belly belly site to go to and a ABA card (which mind u, were all hidden behind our counters "pharmacy policy!") and encourage them to give breastfeeding one more go, I actually got into a bit of strife with my manager for not getting the sales, but hey, I felt better about myself!

p.s. I am also guilty of telling people who were going to buy cornstarch based powders eg: Gaia, how to make it themselves! also told LOTS of people to stay away from all the j&j crap!! I dont know how I ever sold anything!!

[Phteven]

I think if I came into your pharmacy and you told me how to make my own baby powder you might miss the sale that day but gain yourself a loyal customer. That's nothing that makes me want to return to shop more than a genuinely helpful shop assistant.

[STARRYSKY]

yes, well that sort of thing was ok when I worked for an independant pharmacy, but not one of the big chains, its ALL about the dollars

[Kazbah]

I have a few t-shirts I wear that get people talking (free betty being one of them!) and stickers / fridge magnets I put up at work.

Also my coffee cup - it's a BB one, but I use it for my coffee every day from the cafe, and they now charge you 20c less if you BYO cup (I'm about to ask them to change their sign to "COFFEE - $2.80. Disposable cup - 20c extra" instead of "get 20c off for your own cup"). Because it's a big cup, people look at it and realise it's more than the medium size coffee (for $3) and possibly bigger than the large coffee ($4.50) so they start to bring their own cup. Nobody who sees me going to get my coffee is game to be seen with a disposable cup in their hand! Oh yeah, and people ask what BB is too, and I tell them its about empowering parents and those who want to be parents etc about safe birthing and child raising ...

With food, well, at our table at the Melbourne Mega-meet (queens' birthday) I asked if people would mind not ordering grain-fed meat because it's ethically bad (given the amounts of antibiotics fed to the cows to actually keep them alive after changing their diet from pasture to grains - it's horrid).

I also sell my own eggs (ummm chook eggs!) at work with photos of my happy chooks on them ... a lot of people ask how many chooks I have and when I tell them that 4 chooks is more than enough to supply us with eggs, and sell a dozen / week which pays for their food - and also that they follow us round the backyard and are so relaxing to hear that people are asking me for advice on getting chooks!

What else ... BFing - I make a point to say when I see a newborn "oh well done on your son/daughter, I just love their little breastfeeding lips! You can always tell when they're on mumma's gold!" and if anyone expresses interest in my cloth addiction, I lend them some nappies to either try out or get an idea of (if they're preggers and don't have a child to try them on).

Oh, and I lend books. I've been known to buy multiple copies of books just so I can lend them out (I follow the maxim don't lend what you can't afford to lose) to people. Specially stuff like Peter Singer ethics books etc.

Oh yeah, and I petitioned my boss to buy fairtrade coffee instead of nestle instant evil.

Great ideas with the post-it notes!!!! A friend of mine (in a wheelchair) carries pre-printed notes and a tube of super-glue to stick on the windows of rude people in carparks!