the "trash intervention" is an idea given to us by our friends at revbily.com
if anyone would like to participate in this action e-mail us: service@salvationinc.org
and we will plan to do it on a future date.
Trash Intervention
At least a dozen actors dress up likes executives and various kinds of
upwardly mobile careerists. Each has a briefcase, a gym bag, or a big
purse. They enter the Starbucks in ones and twos, not in a pack.
The action manager keeps an eye on everything.
Soon the Starbucks is full. No one has made a purchase at the counter.
At least one person is seated at every table, and others are standing by
the various counters – every flat surface has a nearby interventionist.
The action manager (director) pulls on her baseball cap or some such signal.
The participants begin to lift out of their briefcases and carrying bags
empty paper Starbucks cups which they had previously culled from the
trash. They do this slowly, without expression, looking at each item with
interest, placing the cup carefully on the table.
Soon the tables are crowded with Starbucks cups, and there is no more
room for anything else. Even the counters where the sugar and napkins
are situated have Starbucks cups covering every square inch.
Now the actors become still, sitting in their forest of upright trash, every
item sporting the Starbucks logo. At this moment the Starbucks
Coffeeshop becomes it’s objective self, a box-like room with dozens of
graphic decisions from café society history, with world music turned
muzak, and -- it is a shop that creates tons and tons of trash. All the
interventionists sit in this place and observe it.
THE STAGE IS SET
In a good action there comes a point where the action manager decides
that everything is "ripe." People have been sitting and standing in the
contradiction of their trash until it feels like a photograph pregnant with
meaning. The whole scene is ready to break open. The manager’s
signal is seen by the new wave of actors, waiting outside. We’re ready
for the play within the play,
We invite you to create this playing out of the drama. Here are two
scenarios that we have performed.
1) A dancer enters with an accompanying musician – I see a woman in
this starring role and will describe the performance this way – but many
variations are possible and I’d like to hear what you come up with. The
most effective dance is culturally famous – like a gypsy woman dancing
with skirts in her fists and a red petticoat, or a fiery flamenco goddess or
a elegant Degas-like ballerina or a step-dancer in clogs (a clogger) or a
tapdancer in a Marlene Dietrich tuxedo. If the Starbucks has room, you
can stage two or three dancers. Good to have a couple children or
assistants. The dancer throws her head back keening as she whips
her skirts back and forth, or spins on point. Instead of clapping, people
at the tables pick up one cup in each hand and wave them in the air in
circles. This is a mysterious economy in which the legal tender is
based on ritual gestures with trash. The performers dance frenetically,
encouraging more cup circles. Soon the entire Starbucks is full of
two-fisted cup circles. The delighted children point to the cup-circles
and do little spins. The performers finally leave, acting. as if they have
been well-paid. The actors at the table’s wave the cups until the
dancers are out of sight, talking of the performance admiringly,
occasionally picking up a cup and whipping it through a circle to help in
their fond description.
2) The snake dance. This is a good-time party play – it allows for an
unlimited number of participants. At the point that the room is, by the
lights of the action manager, ready, "ripe," the dancers come in from the
street, each loosely holding the waist of the person in front. They are
dancing to the beat of a drummer or a phrase that the repeat in a
rhythmic way. It is effective to make the repeated phrase rhythmic but
quiet, hushed, spooky. A phrase we used: "TRASH – RASH – ASH –
SHSHSH! TRASH – RASH – ASH – SHSHSH! TRASH – RASH – ASH –
SHSHSH!" Wind through the tables and then, suddenly, everyone grabs
their throats and gasps, they can’t breathe, they fall to floor. The actors
at the tables take the cups and make the air circles, enjoying the
melodrama and waving the cups at each other approvingly, as if that in
itself constitutes a complete communication. The dancers revive, too
much approbation, reconstitute their line, and trash rash ash shshsh
their asses out the door.
When your play-within-a-play is over, leave in an exact mirror image of
how you came. One by one put the cups away, into the briefcases and
purses. We must leave the Starbucks with no evidence that we were
there, but leave information sheets about Starbucks abuses on every
table.
The aftermath for an observer, a regular Starbucks customer who sat
sipping through this – would be that it was like a dream. People who
communicate through trash, somehow, were entertained by a fiery
dancer who is famous in their strange world. In the end, the startling
research about this company is staring up at them from the table, in the
eery quiet that follows the dance.
Related link: trashworship.org
*If an aggressive manager comes up and tells someone "I saw you
putting the cups there. You brought them in here in your briefcase." A
good response would be… a cheerful, chipper report. "Yes! Of course!
Let’s throw away the trash! But there was no place to put the cups
except into plastic bags and plastic is a petroleum product and
petroleum has smart bombs killing people on its behalf. And so I was
trying to save innocent children, wouldn’t you?"
Don’t confront any workers with anger or moral superiority. Never be
utopian, never recite "the way things should be." Drama saves us,
didacticism kills.
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howard schultz: fascist
starbucks CEO helps bankrole bush and sharon
Posted by Tyler at September 20, 2004 12:37 AMNo offense, but are you serious? How is this going to help anyone with anything? While you guys are putting on "plays within plays" and waving your cups around, which will accomplish NOTHING except to confuse, bewilder, and irritate people, George W. Bush is destroying this country and the entire planet. If you want to accomplish something, organize get-out-the-vote drives -- or raise money for a progressive candidate who has a shot at winning a Federal, state, or local race -- or write letters to the editor of every paper you can think of. Any one of these would accomplish vastly more than absurdist theater.
Drama does not save us. Fighting effective political battles does.
Nonny
Posted by: NonnyMouse at September 21, 2004 09:56 PMrasing money for progressive canidates?
i'd rather spend my pay check at wal-mart.
you don't seem to get it, mr. mouse. politicains will only "serve the people" when their backs are against the wall by a tide of direct action al' the million man march, or if "getting behind the workers" will somehow serve the corporate structure financially in the long run.
as i stated, the above script is from the church of stop shopping. not a real church, but a group of artist whose aim is to shift the paradigm of S.I.N. "Shopping In Numbness" to that of a sustainable local business economy.
starbucks is waging a war on small business all across the global. even in japan and europe they pay 5 times the going rate for real estate because they are RICH due to the MINDLESS consumtion of their products. not only that but they use milk containing MONSANTO rbgh, a chemical that causes CANCER. Not only that, but the freaking CEO, Shultz, contributes heavily to the bush campaign and sharon "the terrible" of isreal.
john keary is a fascist. yes he seems more sincere and caring then bush, but so does charles manson. his policies are nearly identical to bush's policies. whut? whut? what's the reason? because they, just like every other presidential hopeful (the one with a fighting chance), are corporate puppets. the revolution will not start at the top of the pyramid, but at the base, at the core, in the wallets of the working people.
stop buying corporate products! stop consuming in numbness! do something political - confuse and bewilder the patrons of a starbucks, because making them think about their actions is far more important than givng your money to scum bag politicals. these politicians are loyal to one thing only MONEY!
live the revolution of everyday life!!!
*voting for nadar is direct action due to the logic that it sends a message of dissent to the powers that be: "we are not fooled by your corporate canidates. we will use our votes on a canidate, we know will never win, because he speaks our concerns, and represents our ideals."
Posted by: tyler at September 22, 2004 10:43 AMThat's just the point -- the patrons of Starbucks aren't going to stop and think about the nature of Starbucks after witnessing a piece of abstract performance art. They'll be bewildered or confused, but ultimately it's going to have absolutely zero effect on Starbucks. ZERO.
And voting for Nader will only help hand Bush another four years to plunge the world into nightmare. The progressive movement has been successful in pushing the Democratic Party farther to the left -- there IS a difference between Bush and Kerry. Maybe not as big a difference as we would hope for, but a big enough difference to save lives.
Don't get me wrong -- I share many of your goals and I certainly don't mean to sound like a hardass. I just think that abstract theater isn't the most effective way to accomplish progressive goals. If it's done for fun and to blow off steam, with no expectation of any kind of results, that's one thing. But I don't see how it would have the slightest effect on Starbucks or anything else. Just my opinion.
Posted by: NonnyMouse at September 22, 2004 10:30 PMAlmost every product available has some sort of website or 800 number to call on the product's guarantee.
All you have to do is call the number or email the site and say you're not satisfied because you actually have morals (morales?). You could tell them that you won't buy the product and tell them why.
These calls are recorded and the emails do go somewhere. They await for us to call them and say, "hello, mister corporation! guess what? we all quit buying from you! gubbye!"
It seems like all you would be doing is giving a hard time to the people working at Starbucks trying to make an honest living. How would you like it if someone came into your workplace and disrupted everything like that? Well, maybe you would like it, but I certainly wouldn't. (And I don't even work for Starbucks)
If you really want to make a statement why not go to the coporate headquarters instead of bothering innocent people trying to get by day to day with what work they can find in this economy? You can also make a statement by not purchasing Starbucks products.
I have to admit, though, that if it wasn't for the annoying factor... it's a really funny idea fit for a skit (but for actors).
Posted by: Kristy at October 6, 2004 09:16 AMThis action does annoy the employees of the monster, you're right. It does not directly speak to the monster's growing and viscious head, instead, it speaks to the structure which keeps it running, swelling, and living.
It can be debated what may be more effective, or, if any of these methods are effective.
But it does put LIFE into the everyday, awakening the regularities which we tend to accept and ignore.
The same argument about just trying to make a living can be made against Donald Rumsfeld, who is personally responsible for torture, death, and the elimination of children. Of course the coffee maker at starbucks isn't as bad as Rummsy, but they do contribute to a machine which stands in the way of real life. In my opinion, a little civil disobedience, in a creative manner which may not benefit everyone at the moment, is ok. It creates the notion that is is alright to voice opposition to a corporate monster, and that you don't have to speak out by standing outside and protesting, or firebombing the place. It says that through creative outlets, those who are consumers, and providers of the system we find flawed, are free to question their everyday actions, and the especially call into question the outcome (both short and long term) of their actions as cogs in a destructive machine.
Creative elements should be incorporated into protests and voicing of opposition. Workers are victims too, and these tactics can be effective in awakening the inner victim!
When Abby Hoffman dropped money onto the floor of the NYSE, it made a statement. Sure, it may have annoyed some traders and other corporate elite, but it was a powerful action which called the whole notion of capitalism into question. These actions are important for numerous reasons, and it might not be the most effective method, but if we spend our time discussing the most effective way to spread a message, no time will remain for the action itself. Many actions, to many degrees, as it should be a multi-leveled battle we engage in.
Being creative in protests... I'm for it. Expanding people's mind beyond their every day life... I'm for that too. But...
I was thinking about this a little while during my walk to work. I really don't like Starbucks, what they stand for, the taste of their coffee, etc. but I know people who do. I know people who work there. I have a good friend who works in a Starbucks in Portland, OR as a matter of fact. She came to mind first when I read this article. I know for a fact that she doesn't mind working there. I think she kind of likes it, actually, or she wouldn't be there still. One good thing I have to say about the company (and prolly the only thing) is that they've given her excellent health benefits for her AND her "domestic partner" aka boyfriend who she is not yet married to. Not a lot of companies do that. In fact, everywhere else she's worked in to this point could give a fuck whether her "domestic partner" has benefits or not. But, like I said, that's the only good thing I'll say about the place.
You say that Starbucks is getting in the way of real life, but what is "real life"? Isn't everyone's idea of "real life" different? Just because this company gets in the way of your life, does it mean it gets in the way of the lives of others (in the same way)?
Do you really think that the average Starbucks patron is really going to look at this show and think "Gee, maybe I should rethink my feeding the capitalist monster that is Starbucks?" They're prolly going to think, "I should go to the Starbucks across the street where it's a little less annoying".
Oh, and long live Mr. Hoffman my long lost uncle or something.
Also, thank goodness I don't drink coffee.
Posted by: Kristy at October 6, 2004 09:15 PM