On Saturday December 16 a group of people in Cambridge held a March for Consumerism. They set off outside the Grafton Centre shopping mall carrying placards with slogans such as “Spend”, “Buy more stuff”, and “Climate change is someone else’s problem”.
The protesters received many quizzical glances and even struck up a few conversations with people walking down Burleigh Street and Fitzroy Street. A police officer stopped to talk to the protesters but seemed to be happy for them to continue their march as long as they didn’t go in the mall. The protesters also gave out a leaflet which pointed out the links between unnecessary consumerism, the exploitation of workers, and environmental problems such as climate change.
Websites listed on the leaflet were:
Exploitation of workers: www.nosweat.org.uk
Climate change: www.stopclimatechaos.org
Consumerism: www.enough.org.uk