Reverend Billy Talen from the Church of Life After Shopping is challenging Michael Bloomberg and corporate influence over human affairs in the race for Mayor of New York City.
To help get the word out about Reverend Billy’s campaign, the campaign has produced a zine (also known as a comic). It is described as:
The zine is a fictional day in the life of Rev Billy, over four initial episodes between now and October 1st. During this long day he comes face to face with a city run by and as a corporation...he combats evictions, gentrification, box stores, chains, pollution, and a city losing its soul...until, with the help of a volunteer army, he gets to the heart of the financial corruption and... stay tuned!
Please Digg it!
Read more about Reverend Billy after the jump.
An intro to the Reverend:
Bill Talen, also known as Reverend Billy, is a community leader and performance artist who has worked for more than a decade to keep New York City’s diverse neighborhoods healthy, safe and vibrant. He has joined forces with communities and grassroots organizations across the world, promoting sustainability and economic justice, and defending public space, neighborhoods, self-determination and the right to earn an honest, independent living.
With the First Amendment as his only license, Talen has boldly opposed the creep of chain stores like Starbucks and Wal-Mart into New York City neighborhoods, the privatization of public parks, as well as repressive labor practices and anti-labor initiatives, discretionary police enforcement, racial profiling, the destruction of community gardens and the closure of low-income day care centers. In his own uniquely hilarious way, he has campaigned against gentrification, the displacement of long-time residents, small businesses and development that destroys vibrant communities.
From a recent interview about the Mayoral Race:
"It’s an unusual campaign. It’s quixotic, it’s surreal, it’s fascinating, we’re walking around inside this hundred million dollar video game! Mike Bloomberg’s face is just pouring through all the mail slots, it’s on all the screens in the bars and airports and the lobbies of all the buildings. He’s like the American version of Vladimir Putin or Mugabi or Saddam Hussein in his hey-day. He just wants that third term so badly, you know? He’s spending more than $300,000 a week on this campaign. He had to legally outmaneuver two popular votes, in which we decisively voted here that we did not want him to have a third term. He’s running against democracy itself. He is the chairman of a corporation called New York, Incorporated. We are his corporation here. He runs this city that way. Everything you look at: education, the parks, his attitudes about landlords and developers, it’s all predicated on the consumer notion that all human life must be monetized, all human life must be assigned a value and placed on the market. That’s what he believes. He’s an updated version of the old Ronald Reagan trickle-down economy, he’s a right-wing capitalist in disguise. He’s like Karl Rove in reverse: he’s got a couple of social red herrings he throws out there. Like he’s against smoking. Okay, very good. He’s against handguns. Okay, very good. He’s like Karl Rove in reverse, and even has Karl Rove people working for him. People that work for Mike Bloomberg become rich. He has aides that have become millionaires. He has two Falcon 900 jets that he flies around the world. He’s the richest man in New York.
"In contrast, we have over 850 volunteers. Our campaign headquarters is a converted art gallery in SoHo. We’re making movies and films, our own zine, a Reverend Billy newspaper. It’s a bunch of really energized people that would not have any place in Bloomberg world. We know that we may be creating text and imagery in public space that is a cry in the wilderness, that will ultimately be a victory in the future for a person who becomes the mayor. We’re at such a conservative point now, that it is surreal. Bloomberg has no opponents and he’s pouring these glossy brochures into everybody’s homes. So we know that we’re starting over, but this is a movement and we have to stand for something else."
http://www.fogcityjournal.com/...
Please Help Support the Campaign by Digging the above zine: http://digg.com/...
The Reverend's website: http://voterevbilly.org/