Penny Tossing

While enjoying a round table discussion of money and food over lunch with my friends (where else?), a comrade of mine gave me a wonderful idea. She and I were discussing that nasty feeling of pennies (you know, the smell) when she said that she threw hers away because she never found much use for them. This came after I had just watched a wonderful video on the anti-WTO riots (Seattle '99) and heard them talk momentarily of "economic sabotage."

So, soon enough, the idea of throwing pennies away grew on me. It was a small thing but it gave me many ideas on economic sabotage. While smashing out the windows of a McDonalds are a little big yet to a boy with no drivers liscense, the idea of doing little daily things seemed so much better and something that could really promote solidarity, at least in the mind of an individual who felt a little isolated in a small town (me).

I'm really not trying to suggest that throwing away pennies is a big act or even an act in itself, but just something to think about. Maybe what I'm really trying to get through with this is that little acts done by a lot of people really puts a mark. If people start ridding themselves of spare change and putting it into places where it won't be used, then I'm sure that will have to have some impact, somewhere down the line. Along with those things, I'd suggest:

• Taking forks and spoons from your local government funded schools and donating them to a homeless shelter or a collective (or, if your family is like many American families and is stretched thin economically, use them yourselves. After all, they were paid for by your taxes).
• Reclaiming food and/or land from corporate owned farms.
• Need to make some propaganda poster? Schools in my area are notoriously short on paper, so why not help rid them of their extra leaflets and take some out of their printers to make your next revolutionary statement? After all, remember who paid for them.
• Sidewalk chalk is a fun and cheap alternative to spray paint. So are sharpies. Find this richest neighborhood nearby and tell them how you feel!

So thos are tiny things,but on a rainy day, they help build a good spirit. Anyone one with further little ideas, shoot them at me.