- 26 July 2010  : ”No Conso – Manifeste pour la Grève Générale de la Consommation” – (“No Conso – Manifesto for a Consumption General Strike”) – by Paul Ariès. (Fr)
Rating : ***

The book seemed promising, as Mr Ariès is an inspiration for many, and for Serge Latouche amongst others, but I got a bit deceived because it was VERY slow at getting to the core of the topic, and first, I had to sort out the vocabulary used by the author, as he introduced notions that I wasn’t familiar with, such as “consum-actors” (consom-acteurs in French) and a few others. The book analyses the origins of consumerism and gives advices about how to become a user again, instead of just a consumer.

Consumerism is a reaction to the industrial era and appeared in Europe and in the United States around the same time, though the history is a bit different for both continents, they ended up with similar results on each side :
- At first, in Europe, workers created syndicates to help one another, and they also made groupings, “Cooperatives”, where people would team together to live, buy and educate children via communities. These communities grew and got out of control, slowly. (or local authorities felt they were losing control and looked for stronger grips) Rules changed, adapted, laws were made, and the emphasis of many theorizers of these days, was put on the act of consuming itself. It was seen as a solution for the construction of a better world, and as the best way to boost the economy after the wars.

In the United States, it started and developed as means of protesting : buying became the way to act, and say no to the British government, which was oppressing the colonies through numerous taxes that were added to many imported goods. It saw the appearance of boycott : from tea to other British imports, and soon enough, this new reaction was seen as patriotism, as people bought local produce and manufactured items. The United States gained their independence from Britain, but this “buying idea” was not given up.
As this tactic had been quite successful, it was reused over time, again and again, with syndicated industries, as people wanted more solidarity through their needs and what they chose to buy. Labels started to appear, they guaranteed products  made under certain conditions ; by syndicated workers for example. Slowly, this way of thinking and buying got its way into women groups, associations and consumer groups became bigger.

An interesting part of the book analyzes so-called “ethical” labels such as Max Havelaar, AB (in France, for biological agriculture), Fairtrade… and looks at the meanings these labels have come to represent. We are being manipulated by the use of words, which give us the impression that we are good, smart consumers because we have the feeling we buy “political” value. Is Max Havelaar really fair trade when the producers have to pay a fee to “buy” the label ? Is a fruit fair trade if the worker is under-paid, in direct comparison to our salaries and social conditions ? Is a product truly biological when it comes from the other side of the Earth and had to be shipped ?
Many questions are raised with the aim of making us think deeper about the way we buy and consume. The best way to be eco, or to be wise, to be bio, or to be fair trade is to deeply think about every single condition linked to a product.

Mr Ariès’ aim is to make us think about what we have become, and what we can now do about it : do we want to become users, once again, or do we want to simply stay, as such, as consumers ?
Through series of examples, we are then given practical ideas about what can be done. When buying new items, we should ask ourselves “do I really need this ?”, “is this essential ?”, “how was this made ?”, “how was this shipped ?” and so forth. When we want to distinguish ourselves from plain consumers, we have to do the math about what we are about to buy and why.
The best way of escaping consumption is through sharing, through communities, through buying local goods and food and through the promotion of better values that consumerism simply took for granted and destroyed.

This book is not a “must read”, but it certainly brings light on plenty of useful facts and ideas. If you are looking to escape consumerism, you will see some mechanisms exposed in plain daylight.
I will try and find a more “practical” read for my next review.