(Pictured above: items by Flor Maria Gomez "Hands and Soul” E-mail:
zoulhandz@hotmail.com)
This year's AntiMall was held at East LA's Chavez Studio. As organizer Laura Palomares explained on Uprising last year (full interview here:
http://uprisingradio.org/home/?p=2200), the concept was inspired by her experiences with Zapatistas and the notion of an alternative, parallel economy. The AntiMall brings together many co-ops. “So the idea of El Puente is providing a space where you know you're buying something directly from the artisan, and that group of people are working on making things better for their community,” she explained to Sonali Kolhatkar. “So they--for example, the Zapatistas--are not waiting for the government to come in and fix what's going on in their community. They're going to make a demand, but at the same time they're working on creating their own autonomous communities. So the purpose of El Puente is to support those communities in their struggles and not support things like Walmart and Target in our neighborhoods but really invest back into social change .”
She added that many of the “artivist” vendors at the AntiMall “don't sell at other places. They really save their art pieces to sell at the AntiMall.”
The event changes locations to serve various people, and attract vendors, from different parts of LA. Past locations have included the South Central Farm, the El Sereno Community Garden, the Southern California Library, and La Culebra in Highland Park. (Coverage of last year's AntiMall at La Culebra can be found here:
http://la.indymedia.org/news/2007/12/212097.php and here:
http://la.indymedia.org/news/2007/12/212117.php.)
This author has been trying to minimalize his consumption, especially at this time of year, but felt good about buying Fair Trade items from Afghanistan, art by Native Americans, and food from the South Central Farmers. (The farmers now grow their food in Bakersfield, but they still consider South Central L.A. their home. The menu accommodated vegans and was reasonably priced.) Also, items sold at AntiMalls are not exclusive to holiday shopping. Numerous goods, like the custom cards, can be used for multiple purposes all year round.
