Hailing from Austin, a nationwide coalition that includes recording artists
Negativland, the estate of Terry Southern, and others is declaring
November 23 to be "Bag Day," and asking that at noon on that day, people
all over the U.S. protest the homogenizing and destructive effects of
corporate chains, by browsing in Barnes & Noble bookstores--with paper
bags on their heads.

RTMARK is channeling $1200 in anonymous donations to aid with promotion
of Bag Day. RTMARK has helped sponsor two other mass-action protests,
both tremendously successful: last April's Phone In Sick Day, which was
deemed responsible for the "sickout" of 80% of the Irish police force,
and September's Zapatista FloodNet, which the Pentagon called "immoral"
and attempted unsuccessfully to repel, and which the FBI called an
example of "worldwide electronic insurrection" (another FloodNet action,
also sponsored by RTMARK, is scheduled for November 22; see below). 

The choice of Barnes & Noble as Bag Day's primary target is due in part
to a lawsuit filed in March by the American Booksellers Association
along with two dozen independently-owned bookstores. The lawsuit
contends that the enormously successful chain, whose legal worth has
nearly doubled in the past year, has "engaged in a pattern and practice
of soliciting, inducing, and receiving secret, discriminatory, and
illegal terms from publishers and distributors," and that much of the
chain's expansion "can only be profitable if the chains receive illegal
deals and existing independent booksellers are driven out of the
marketplace." 

The broader purpose of Bag Day is to call attention to similar behavior
by other corporate chains that results in the destruction of small businesses, 
and with them the individuality and character of whole neighborhoods.
The bag is also meant to be evocative of the Old West bandit's stereotypical
facial covering; November 23 is Billy the Kid's putative birthday, and
bag-wearers will be known as "billies" to commemorate this figure who
primarily attacked corporate entities that had stepped out of line.

The idea for this national protest was conceived and launched by an
Austin-based activist group.
In recent weeks, many other groups and individuals have joined in to help
promote the event, including recording artists Negativland, the estate
of Terry Southern, Alt-X/Black Ice, the AK Press, the Church of the
SubGenius, and others.

Email Contacts: 
          RTMARK
          American Booksellers Assocation>/A>
               
          Friends United
In Australia:
          UndesirablePropagationUnit