The Church of Stop Shopping

Ani AntonyanAdriana WynJesse Mendez

Kaimeshya JohnsonLeslie Carrera

Liliana RomeroRoss Aroche

Sharon Moreno

Bill Talen

Born on May 25, 1950 in Minnesota

Born into a Dutch-American family

Was an educated actor at

Franconia College

Married to Savitri Durkee

Who is Reverend Billy and Where

Did He Come From?

Bill Talen was a struggling actor who moved to San

Francisco

He performed in San Francisco theater venues, where he

earned a reputation as both a performer and a producer.

Life on the Water

The Solo Mio Festival

Writers Who Act

He later created a character for himself called Reverend

Billy, a street performer and televangelist.

He moved from San Francisco to New York City, in the early 1990’s.

Became a respected performer based on his Times Square antics,

where he and a group of people, The Church of Stop Shopping,

preached against the trappings of consumerism.

He exhorted consumers to abandon the products of large corporation

and mass media

Disney

Starbucks

Was arrested about 75 times

On March 1, 2009, ran for Mayor of New York City

What Social Problems was he

interested in solving?

Capitalism

While the majority of people are wage laborers, they own little or no capital.

Reverend Billy is Marxist

He emphasizes that idea the social life is based up conflict of interest.

Conflict is between the bourgeoisie, those who own and control the production, and the proletariat, those who simply sell the labor power in the market place.

Reverend Billy wants people to know that the products they

purchase come from somewhere. People made the things we buy

off of shelves at stores.

Big corporations pay workers overseas about a nickel a day, while

the owners and managers of these corporations get paid millions

more.

Reverend Billy let it be known that this was not right he went to a big

company store "Disney" and started to preach and inform others

what is really going on.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=PUdFnZ2YLcU

Reverend Billy led the church of stop shopping

He wanted to open peoples eyes

He gave facts to people in the streets

He has written 4 books so far in his career and has been successful in passing a few bills here and there.

Poe building which we seen in the video.

Arrested 75+ times in his career, he does not give up & continues to fight most people do after dealing with the law once.

What did they do and what

actions did they take?

Traveled to Washington, D.C. March 2007 in an action against the war in

Iraq, "Don't Buy Bush's War," organized by Code Pink Women for Peace

Roamed halls of Congress preaching and singing their anti-war message

June 29, 2007 arrested for harassment

in Union Square Manhattan.

(Repeating first amendment to police)

On July 2, 2007 came back to the scene

which he was arrested,

with a choir & sang a hymn version of the

amendment.

Here is the Mission reverend Billy has on his website:

“The Church of Stop Shopping is a New York City based radical

performance community

50 performing members and a congregation in the thousands.

They are wild anti-consumerist gospel shouters, earth loving

urban activists who have worked with communities on 4

continents defending land, life and imagination from reckless

development and the extractive imperatives of global capital.

They employ multiple tactics and creative strategies, including

cash register exorcisms, retail interventions, cell phone operas

combined with grass roots organizing and media activism. They

are entertainers and artists, performing regularly throughout The

US and Europe.”

July 7 & 8 of 2007 Billy hosted an international conference in

Iceland

Protest heavy industry in Iceland and around the world.

Golden toads have gone

extinct due to climate change

and pollution.

JPMorgan Chase financed $2.17 billion in loan and underwriting transactions with the coal industry in 2012

Taking protest to bank because they are root of problem

Chase is a top financer of climate change

Passed out flyers to bank customers

Reverend Talen says Mickey Mouse is

the Anti Christ

Entered Disney Store with church

choir

singing

Put Minnie and Mickey on crosses

Disney is the largest corporation in the world in terms of revenue

Protested at Starbucks with the church choir

Pressures Starbucks to endorse coffee from Ethiopia

Chanted “Push Back, Starbucks!”

Talen prohibited from entering any Starbucks

What was the outcome?

Starbucks

Reverend Billy went to court to trademark

Ethiopia coffee, which succeeded.

It made Ethopia have the right on

ancient coffee name: Sidamo,

Harar, and Yirgacheffe.

Ownership of those trademarks

help farmers in coffee market to

build enough money to feed their

families.

Billy is bringing awareness that Chase banks are supporters of

fossil fuel that increase global warning every year.

Extinct the Golden Toads because of weather change.

Getting one year in jail just for free speaking.