‘No Amazon, No Walmart.’ Protest calling for ‘economic blackout’ has some celebrity support
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- The grass-roots effort calls for a boycott of spending, except for essentials such as food and medicine.
- The campaign has the support of celebrities like John Leguizamo, Bette Midler and Stephen King.
A grassroots group is calling for a 24-hour “economic blackout,” and urging people not to shop at major retailers Friday as a form of protest against corporations, politicians and banks — and the social media-driven campaign has gained traction among several celebrities.
The one-day economic protest asks people across the country to make no purchases online or in stores across the country, and to buy only essentials like food, medicine and emergency supplies in small local brick-and-mortar businesses.
“No Amazon, No Walmart, No Best Buy,” the group, the People’s Union, states on its website. “For one day we show them who really holds the power.”
The group, founded by activist John Schwarz, makes no affiliation with a political party on its website, but states its focus is to fight corruption in government and corporations.
One post from Schwarz promoting the protest has garnered nearly 200,000 likes on Instagram.
“Mega corporations have driven up prices, underpaid their workers, and outsourced jobs while raking in record profits,” the site reads. “Politicians ‘both left and right’ have accepted corporate bribes, passed laws that serve billionaires, and ignored the needs of the people they claim to represent. The system has been designed to keep us powerless, but that ends now.”
It is not clear how the group will determine if the boycott succeeded or had any effect on the bottom line for the nation’s retailers.
Walmart, Ford and John Deere have scaled back their DEI efforts under conservative pressure, but Costco is resisting.
The call to halt any shopping for one day is the first campaign by the group, which states it plans to organize more actions against specific companies.
“To those who stand in solidarity, tomorrow we make history,” Schwarz said in an Instagram video posted Thursday. “Hold the line. If you go outside and see people shopping, do not be discouraged. If you see stores are open and busy, and business as usual, do not be shaken.”
The Friday economic protest has already won the backing of some public figures, who have also encouraged their fans and followers to take part in the shopping blackout.
“This is how we exercise our Latino power,” actor and comedian John Leguizamo wrote on his Facebook page Wednesday. In his post, Leguizamo portrayed the protest as an act against the current Trump administration.
Last week, singer and actress Bette Midler also shared an image encouraging the blackout on her Instagram account,
“Don’t shop!” she wrote in the post. “And if you have to, please turn to a local small business!”
Author Stephen King also showed support for the protest.
“Don’t buy stuff on February 28th,” he wrote on the social media site, Threads. “Resist.”
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