Friday November 29, 2024 was a very dark day for ecology.
Black Friday, established at the end of the 20e century, attracts more customers before the Christmas holidays. This day, as well as the week before, is now a celebration of the destructive overproduction and overconsumption of our capitalist system.
Staged by monstrous promotions and supported by invasive advertising, Black Friday pushes consumers to buy millions of new items, even as the climate and social crisis crosses critical thresholds.
Extinction Rebellion s’engage.
Extinction Rebellion Dijon, an ecological activist collective, is committed to the preservation of the planet and its inhabitants. For this, we have decided, this Saturday, November 30, 2024, to denounce Black Friday by targeting Amazon parcel reception points, a symbol of frenzied consumption, of often futile products, delivered within 24 hours. In Dijon, the majority of these lockers could be stylized to recall the damage caused by our purchases on this platform, accentuated during Black Friday. At the same time, Attac Dijon mobilized today in the city center to raise awareness among passers-by.
This action resonates throughout France because several other Extinction Rebellion groups have also redecorated the Amazon lockers in their city to highlight our society's addiction to this type of consumption, continually fed by capitalist multinationals, including Amazon is a pillar, whose immense commercial interests silence all rationality in the face of the devastation caused by Black Friday.
Black Friday, a factor of ecological crisis…
We know that the frenzy caused by the fear of missing out “ the opportunity of the century » leads to the purchase of the most polluting products. Indeed, the most popular items during Black Friday are those from the fashion, household appliances and electronics industries and we know that Amazon uses Black Friday to cut its prices. [1]. However, these products require the largest quantities of raw materials, vital to human survival, such as drinking water… For example, and other electronic devices. Many of these products are often replaced or thrown away after a few years.
According to a study, 50 million tonnes of electronic waste are produced each year worldwide [2]and this situation worsens with marketing events like Black Friday, largely powered by Amazon.
Transport is just one of many examples of significant pollution, exacerbated by Black Friday. We can also cite Amazon, whose “Amazon storage activity would have generated 55.8 million tonnes of greenhouse gases in 2018, the equivalent of Portugal's emissions” [3].
We can also recall that Amazon's storage activity alone would have generated 55.8 million tonnes of greenhouse gases in 2018, the equivalent of Portugal's emissions. [4].
At a time when millions of people are victims of climate change, from drought to flood, storms and fires, and are losing everything they have built, even their lives… Can we really continue to support these multinationals which maintain a murderous capitalist system, like Amazon and therefore to maintain Black Friday, which is its main showcase ?
…Which exacerbates financial difficulties, both for merchants and consumers.
Large brands, such as Amazon, Temu, Aliexpress, Shein… dominate the market and often crush small merchants who do not have the means to compete with massive discounts, which harms their profitability and very often, their sustainability.
This situation endangers thousands of local jobs, leading to a loss of economic diversity while increasing online purchases from foreign companies, whose ethical, social and ecological practices are catastrophic and have long been denounced.
In this period of inflation when many are struggling to make ends meet, Black Friday is a factor of debt, particularly because of payments in installments and consumer credit. Amazon does everything to ensure that their customers buy without thinking, in large quantities, and often items they did not need. The latest wireless Xbox controller, this electric grill for steak and paninis at only €30, are they really necessary ? Amazon will convince you !
In addition, working conditions in Amazon warehouses, but also those of delivery workers, have been repeatedly criticized for being arduous. Employees are often put under pressure and completely unregulated schedules (working on Sundays) to achieve productivity goals, to the detriment of their well-being. Thus, the search for good deals is accompanied by increased exploitation of labor in France.
Finally, every year, Amazon, like other multinationals, uses financial arrangements to pay ever less tax. Because of this tax evasion, tens of billions of euros are missing from the financing of hospitals, schools, nurseries, public transport and the necessary ecological bifurcation to respond to climate change. While Amazon does not hesitate to finance jobs and infrastructure (roads, etc.) with large amounts of public aid.
Through its actions throughout France, Extinction Rebellion continues to denounce the ecocidal phenomenon that is Black Friday, for example thanks to the removal and extinction of pubs in Angers or even the gluing and blocking of lockers in Burgundy Franche-Comté.
It is vital to commit to promoting alternative, local commerce that is respectful of the environment and the beings who inhabit it.
Extinction Rebellion Dijon and Attac Dijon
