Okay, enough with the Black Friday stuff. Thanksgiving is an American holiday and I hope everyone there is having a good time, although it's doubtful if the turkeys are too happy.
But I'm not buying this consumerist nonsense about hitting the shops in the UK today in search of bargains.
Here this Friday is nothing more than 27 days before Christmas. We're in the middle of a recession and with astronomical levels of unemployment, especially among young people, it's irresponsible to encourage people to go out and spend. Plenty of people are going to struggle to give their kids a decent Christmas without this jamboree being added to the calendar.
This all started in the UK with an ad campaign by Asda. Asda is owned by Walmart, one of the worst employers in the USA. Walmart is famous for low pay ($6.83 an hour for most employees), inadequate health care, anti-union policies (sometimes using illegal tactics), sexual discrimination and high staff turnover - 70% of its employees leave in the first year. Walmart routinely moves into small towns, drives all the opposition out of business and then closes its stores because they don't make a big enough profit, leaving the community worse off.
Today is one of the days Walmart pressurises its employees to work, keeping the stores open out of sheer greed. So boycott Black Friday. And while we're about it, can we please boycott the Easter Bunny and Trick or Treat at Hallowe'en?
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