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Archive for November 21st, 2007

jonathan.jpgYou can find the website here.

You can find where it’s playing here.

From Fandango – Bill Talen is a New York-based activist and performance artist who since the late 1990’s has won notoriety for his character Rev. Billy. Rev. Billy is a wildly charismatic street preacher and self-appointed leader of the Church of Stop Shopping who began his career speaking out against the gentrification of New York City, the forced renovation of 42nd Street and his favorite symbol of the evils of international marketing, the Disney Store. Since then, Rev. Billy has expanded his targets to include a number of firms (including Starbucks Coffee and several fast food chains) who engage in unfair labor practices and exploit Third World resources for profit; he also performs with a full gospel choir and a four piece band as they spread the message of overcoming the consumer culture, speaking with your dollars and questioning what advertising and corporate spokespeople have to say. While Talen’s routines started out as comic street theater, he’s become recognized as an effective (if deliberately eccentric) advocate for economic justice, and filmmaker Rob VanAlkemade offers an in-depth look at the phenomenon of Rev. Billy in his documentary What Would Jesus Buy? Produced in part by Morgan Spurlock, What Would Jesus Buy? received its world premiere at the 2007 South by Southwest Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

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burger.jpg

This is from Tim Fullerton, at Oxfam
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November 20, 2007

Dear Jonathan,

Farmworkers who pick tomatoes for Burger King earn 40 to 50 cents for every 32-pound bucket of tomatoes they pick, a rate that has not risen significantly in nearly 30 years. Workers who labor from dawn to dusk must pick two tons of tomatoes to earn $50 in one day. Recently, McDonalds and others have agreed to higher wages for these workers, but Burger King has not.

Tell Burger King to improve farmworker wages.

McDonald’s and other fast-food chains, including Taco Bell and Pizza Hut, have committed to increasing wages and enforcing better working conditions in the fields. But Burger King—the second-largest hamburger chain in the world—has so far refused to work with farmworkers to improve wages for those who pick their tomatoes.

Please tell Burger King to join with McDonald’s and others in improving farmworker wages.

Thank you for supporting poor farmers both here and abroad.

Sincerely,

Tim Fullerton
Oxfam America

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