Really Really Free Market

The Really, Really Free Market (RRFM) movement is a horizontally organized collective of individuals who form a temporary market based on an alternative gift economy. The RRFM movement aims to counteract capitalism in a proactive way. It holds as a major goal to build a community based on sharing resources, caring for one another and improving the collective lives of all. Markets often vary in character, but they generally offer both goods and services. Participants bring unneeded items and food, as well as skills and talents such as entertainment or haircuts. A RRFM usually takes place in an open community space such as a public park or community commons.

The first known Really, Really Free Market took place in at a Food Not Bombs meal in Christchurch, New Zealand as a protest to a meeting on free trade. The Really Really Free Markets started to spread around Asia. Jakarta Food Not Bombs organized a Really Really Free Market on Buy Nothing Day. The first Really Really Free Market in the United States happened simultaneously in Miami, Florida, and Raleigh, North Carolina during the anti-globalization protests against the FTAA in 2003. The idea of a "Really, Really Free Market" emerged from a visioning ritual by members of the Pagan Cluster in Austin in preparation of the FTAA Summit in Miami, November 2003. Members of the Green Bloc picked up the idea and made it real. Participants from the SouthEast Anarchist Network (SeaNET) held demonstrations using the Really, Really Free Market to protest the G8 summit in 2004. . The idea quickly spread across the United States.

The movement has emerged in diverse places such as North Carolina (many cities); New York City; Reno, Nevada; Cottage Grove, Oregon; Minneapolis, Minnesota; Des Moines, Iowa;Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Lancaster, Pennsylvania; Austin, Texas; San Diego, California; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Grand Rapids, Michigan; Belfast, New York; Tallahassee, Florida; and Yellow Springs, Ohio as well as Capital Park in Detroit on the third Sunday of January, April, July and October. RRFMs occur in the San Francisco Bay Area as well. Kingsport, TN has a RRFM in Glen Bruce Park beside the Public Library from May to September. North Carolina has an especially vibrant RRFM movement, with markets appearing in cities such as Carrboro, Wilmington, Raleigh, Greensboro and Greenville.

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Wikipedia