The definitive gift for the season, Sudecon Decontamination Wipes (which drastically improve recovery time from exposure to pepper spray, CN and CS gasses) was sold out last time I looked, so the Holiday Occupier will have to get creative with gift ideas.
Here are my Top Four Last Minute Occupy-the-Holiday suggestions:
1. For double duty gifting, purchase gift certificates from local small businesses - supporting the business is a gift in itself. Think services such as massage, auto detailing, manicure and spa services, consulting services of various kinds, a class in salsa, cooking or painting. Purchase gift certificates to local retail stores such as your community bookstore (including used book stores), mom and pop stores like quilt shops, music stores, etc. Purchase foodie gift certificates to locally owned restaurants, delis or health food stores.
2. Purchase music CDs or downloads from artists who support the Occupy movement, like Makana, who, with some trepidation, wore an "Occupy with Aloha" T-shirt as he sang his political protest song, "We Are The Many" at a Honolulu dinner attended by President Obama and leaders of 18 other nations. Buy from an artists' own site or from CB Baby where they make more on their music than other outlets. For a list of musicians, see www.occupymusicians.com
3. Support the arts if you feel that they enrich your life. Take a loved one to a cultural event as your gift, while you support local community theater and concerts. Or purchase an item at one of the many "small-arts/crafts-for-sale-for-the-holidays" events. Give a gift of art or craft supplies: arts and crafts activities relieve stress and enhance creativity, and we need both to move the Occupy Movement forward. It's usually art and artists that save the world, so we need to cultivate more of them. Einstein famously said, "We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them," and that is the perfect reason to encourage creativity.
4. For every item of Union and American-made cold weather gear you buy, Firedoglake will donate an identical item to an Occupier in need. It's the perfect gift for the activist friend or family member - and an easy way to support the Occupy movement at the same time. You can even "Occupy the North Pole" by donating your entire cart to an occupation. (Already, 100% of the money raised so far by the Occupy Supply fund has gone towards purchasing and shipping over 9,000 items to occupations across the country to help them get through the winter.) http://shop.occupy-supply.com/storefront.aspx
'Tis the season to Occupy, Fa la la la la, la la la la.
RESOURCES
-Sudecon Decontamination Wipes www.defensedevices.com/suddecwip.html (accessed Dec 12 2011)
-Get a free download of "We Are the Many" from Makana at http://makanamusic.com/
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