Patch #056Freegan
"Freegan", a portmanteau of "free" and "vegan", is derived from the observation that even a vegan lifestyle is not free of exploitation. A product's veganness does not guarantee that: Freeganism is a lifestyle based around the belief that almost all work and monetary exchanges within a capitalist economy contribute to myriad forms of exploitation - worker abuse, animal exploitation, hunger, ecological destruction, mass incarceration, war, inequitable distribution of resources, commodification of women - almost all issues addressed by social, ecological, and animal rights advocacy groups. * Workers were not exploited in the product's production; * Pesticides were not used in its growing; * Non-renewable resources (such as petroleum) were not used in production and shipping; * Rainforest was not cleared to generate plantation land; * Wildlife was not harmed in production; * Wasteful packaging was not used. For these reasons true freegans avoid both shoplifting and shopping as consumption, if at all possible. Freegans argue that people sincerely committed to living the "cruelty-free" lifestyle espoused by vegans must strive to abstain not only from eating, wearing, and using animal skins, secretions (e.g. milk and its by-products), flesh, and animal-tested products, but must strive to the greatest degree possible to remove themselves from participation in the capitalist economy altogether as workers and consumers. Similarly to veganism, freeganism is a philosophy of living, a range of living strategies, a community, a culture, and an ideal.
These screen-printed canvas patches have rough cut edges and come in a multitude of colors (we'll choose for you!).
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Comments & Reviews
I'll interject by saying every time you steal from a store, someone has to take the blame for it. I know several people who have worked in various retail outlets and lost their jobs due to people coming in and stealing shit and not being able to prevent it. To believe that you are fighting the system and doing good for everyone by stealing items is several whiffs away from being complete bullshit. That's only fulfilling your own self-interest to see yourself through the day. Dumpster diving? That's fine. Stealing from a store and causing a 38 year old single mother to lose her job as a manager? Yeah, way to fight oppression.
hi! just wanted to say this patch is great. it's on my favourite jacket.
you know this one time, these cops were like, "what are you doing there?' and i replied, "just going to look in the dumpster-i do it all the time!" and they were like, "you know the reason why companies don't want you doing that? it's not because you're getting food for free instead of buying it from them. it's because they care about your health. there are all sorts of bad things in the dumpster. you can contract diseases. there are rats and cats." i was like, "Mmmm.... yeah.... i definitely agree." and then just laughed.
Man cops can be so demented.
stealing just makes a their jobs slightly more difficult and does not change how they run their business if anything makes them feel that object is more desired.Stealing shouldn't be embraced because it could hurt a low income worker that gets the blame for it. My definition of freegan is someone who would never invest or support a company that goes against what they stand for but sees no purpose in letting something go to waste while they sit there hungry. its not letting money control how you eat.there is a bagel place down the street that has to throw out bagels each night i eat them and take them to the homeless.
Stealing isn't counterrevolutio.... Sure, they are going to reorder the product, but that costs them money. And decreasing their profits is a good thing. Do you also think animal liberation is the same thing as buying a bunch of fur coats? The key thing is to stop funding them.
But either way, stop feeling so fucking self important. Neither being freegan or shoplifting is going to stop the system. They are just token protests in that respect. Their real value is in freeing us from the work/consumption cycle, allowing us to reclaim our lives and put our time into truly subversive activities.
to chyea:
the diffrence is that the one in dumpster will not be re-ordered because it is waste. the super market lost it. It lost the price of it, noone bought it. so why re-order so many? they will order less quantity. they know what they throw. they don't really know what was stolen. for me, stealing is not quite the same as consuming. but it isn't waste also.. somewher between..
throw shit on every elititians' face :D
when stuff gets damaged in a store the company has to replace it. just like stealing. so even if you get that damaged item out of the dumpster it has the same impact as stealing. also when a fruit gets a blemish they have to order new fruit. just like when they order something to replace a stolen object. the only difference between stealing shit and dumpstering shit is that one is in the dumpster. so before you steal check the dumpster. if the item you need isnt in the dumpster ask yourself do i really need this item? if you do, steal it! and dont let no elitist freegans make ya feel bad.
OMG!!!! THIS IS EXACTLY HOW I THINK!!! i had no clue it had its own name and following!!!
i just always told people i was a consumer vegan
im so happy!!!!
I work at a trader joes. our boss is so anal about fruit, we spoil off about 200 bananas everyday, because the skin of them has blemishes.
Stealing is not freegan. When you steal, you are making the store order more products to sell, and you are also causing them to invest in security equipment. Freeganism is resistance to consumerism, and stealing still encourages production. Stealing may be free for you, but the Earth still pays.
Random Hero-
Ghonnorhea? How could one possibly contract ghonnorhea from dumpstered food? I get this image of someone rubbing their infected genitals on bruised fruit and then the dumpster diver doing the same in some sort of insane religious rite. Weird.
know what? I lived off of dumpster dived food for a long time, and I never ate better. Never got sick either. Apples with one bad spot are undesirable and thrown out, for example. Common sense goes a long way.
Hmmmm well Joe if you ever get salmenela or goneria please look me up because I have always been kinda weary of eating out of dumpsters and such... and I was wondering if there really was a health hazzard... or maybe I should just take my question to the message board...
Yes, we are.
Are Freegans allowed to steal shit? Just wondering because it says we won't buy your crap, implying they don't want the products that corporations are making, but stealing from them might be considered a good thing...?
Theft is consumption just like purchasing something and I couldn't condone theft as being any different than consumption. You are still generating more production and waste. To me freeganism was always about suberting production and waste by eating scraps and using things that would otherwise go to waste or not be used.