24th November is Buy Nothing Day. But don't worry - you can still go swishing...

You may have heard that this Saturday is Buy Nothing Day; a worldwide moratorium on consumer spending organised by Adbusters. Now, I'm guessing that this won't stop Oxford Street being thoroughly rammed on Saturday, but for those who do want to participate in the war on consumerism, there are all kind of pranks and high jinks to take part in that will send a firm one finger salute to the retail industry.

These activities include 'whirl mart', where participants silently drive shopping trolleys around in a long, inexplicable conga line without ever actually buying anything and public, ceremonious 'credit card cut-ups'.

If the thought of 24 hours without acquiring stuff is just too much to handle, many people are organising 'swishing' parties: clothes swap events where no money changes hands. Futerra, a company that organises swishing parties will be laying on special events to keep shopaholics sane on Saturday, has a special 'swishing kit' to download, which will tell you how to get started.

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