Really Really Free Market

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Really Really Free Market organized by Autonomous Athens in Athens, GA on Mayday 2007.

The Really, Really Free Market (RRFM) movement is a horizontally organized collective of individuals who form a temporary market based on an alternative gift economy.[1] The RRFM movement aims to counteract capitalism in a proactive way. It holds as a major goal to build a community based on sharing resources, caring for one another and improving the collective lives of all. Markets often vary in character, but they generally offer both goods and services. Participants bring unneeded items and food, as well as skills and talents such as entertainment or haircuts. A RRFM usually takes place in an open community space such as a public park or community commons.

Origins and spread[edit]

Items laid out on a tarp at the Really Really Free Market at Dupont Circle in Washington, D.C.

The first known Really, Really Free Market took place in at a Food Not Bombs meal in Christchurch, New Zealand as a protest to a meeting on free trade. The Really Really Free Markets started to spread around Asia. Jakarta Food Not Bombs organized a Really Really Free Market on Buy Nothing Day. The first Really Really Free Market in the United States happened simultaneously in Miami, Florida, and Raleigh, North Carolina during the anti-globalization protests against the FTAA in 2003. The idea of a "Really, Really Free Market" emerged from a visioning ritual by members of the Pagan Cluster in Austin in preparation of the FTAA Summit in Miami, November 2003. Members of the Green Bloc picked up the idea and made it real. Participants from the SouthEast Anarchist Network (SeaNET)[2] held demonstrations using the Really, Really Free Market to protest the G8 summit in 2004. .[3] The idea quickly spread across the United States, Russia, and other countries such as Australia, England, Malaysia, Taiwan, South Africa, and Canada.[4]

In the United States[edit]

The movement has taken root in dozens of cities in the United States, with some holding one-time events, annual, bi-monthly, and even monthly markets. Cities include San Diego, CA; San Francisco, CA; Washington, DC; Miami, FL; Tallahassee, FL; Athens, GA; Bloomington, IL;[5] Rockford, IL; Indianapolis, IN; Des Moines, IA;[6] Louisville, KY; Detroit, MI; Grand Rapids, MI; Minneapolis, MN; Reno, NV; Albuquerque, NM;[7] Belfast, NY; New York, NY;[8] Carrboro, NC;[9] Charlotte, NC; Greensboro, NC; Greenville, NC; Raleigh, NC; Wilmington, NC; Cincinnati, OH; Dayton, OH; Yellow Springs, OH; Cottage Grove, OR; Lancaster, PA; Pittsburgh, PA; Kingsport, TN; Austin, TX; Richmond, VA; Shepherdstown, WV;[10] and Milwaukee, WI.

In Russia[edit]

Roll-up at the Absolutely Free Fair in Ivanovo, Russia on 4 August 2012.

The first Russian Really Really Free Market was organized in Moscow in 2008. The original name of RRFM was changed to "Freemarket" or "Absolutely Free Fair". Since that time the idea of RRFM has spread widely across the Russian Federation. Recently participants of the movement arrange regular meetings in Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Ivanovo, Yekaterinburg, Perm, Belgorod, Kirov, Kaliningrad, Nizhny Novgorod, Yaroslavl, Vologda, Volgograd, Tolyatti, Volzhsky, Petrozavodsk.

Due to the often harsh Russian climate the RRFMs usually take place indoors, but summer time meetings often occur in public parks, yards of apartment houses or city squares. In Ivanovo, for instance, the very first free fair was held in Yesenin Square on 19 June 2011, but as winter set in, the RRFM meetings were moved to the reference room of the Regional Public library.[11]

RRFMs in Russia are often accompanied by master classes in handiwork (mehendi, hair dressing, making stencils for textile printing, etc.), lectures on social and ecological problems and the collection of secondary raw materials and charity fundraising in aid animal shelters.

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ CrimethInc. "The Really Really Free Market: Instituting the Gift Economy". Rolling Thunder (4). Retrieved 2008-12-09. 
  2. ^ "SouthEast Anarchist Network". 
  3. ^ Simpich, Bill (June 7, 2004). "Really REALLY Free Market Report". San Francisco Bay Area Indymedia. 
  4. ^ Other RRFMs, The Really Really Free Market. Retrieved 2011.08.23
  5. ^ url=https://www.facebook.com/bnreallyreallyfree/?fref=ts"
  6. ^ "Des Moines RRFM'". 
  7. ^ "Albuquerque RRFM'". 
  8. ^ Moynihan, Colin (January 28, 2009). "East Village Market Where Everything Is Free Faces an Uncertain Future". New York Times. 
  9. ^ "Carrboro's 'Really, Really Free Market'". 
  10. ^ Fisher,Megan (May 01 2011)."http://www.journal-news.net"Shepherd Students Host Free Market"
  11. ^ [1], The Free Market in Ivanovo

External links[edit]

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