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Stockholm: 500 in WFC march and meeting. MAXIMUM media-coverage. Several tv-intervievs with Per and Linda. Succes!

Lund: 150+ in WFC. Major disturbance. Meting crasched/partly canceled in front of two tv-teams! Four lefties arrested.

Approx. 50 people of all kind attended and all with dignity and solemn pride in our cause. We used our hightech Cyalume lightsticks attached to our banners, coats and dogs and they glowed beautifully in the dark, like the spirit of D2 !.

The major TV-news program (NRK Dagsrevyen) follow the walk, and also hours of preparations before the event started :)) Other major media covered the event extensively as well.

Our award winner Christian Vennerød showed up in person and accepted the award, and held a brief, but moving acceptance speech. He is a a celebrity and millionaire, as he started a very successfull magazine for personal finance.

The police were out in big numbers and separated our peaceful walk from the rather loud and antagonistic counterdemonstration (100+ communists/anarchist/...)

We will make all footage available on the net soon, and links to coverage in newspapers et.al.

We walked with ribbons and banners and plenty of literature to hand out, with much laughter and merriment, and with a Business Herald reporter, a NZ Herald photographer and a Radio New Zealand reporter in tow. Plenty of column inches and airtime upcoming, I hope, for Auckland's inaugural WalkForCapitalism!

Gave out ribbons to over 150 shops, ferry ticket-offices, money exchanges, cafes, bars, restaurants, private 'art' galleries, and Victoria Park Market stall-holders - including Star Mart, Hewlett Packard, Microsoft, Compaq and of course ... the Immigrant Tavern. :-)

Almost all were very grateful to be thanked for being open, for being in business, and for making this a better city in which to live because of their presence. Some 'antis' emerged - apparently a few were waiting for us at the Microsoft building but got tired of waiting around in the rain - including the Team New Zealand Americas Cup team, who told Andrew they are "all pretty much socialists around here." Let's hope the NZ Herald picks up that quote. Arseholes!

Overall a great, if wet, day; but the rain didn't dampen spirits, just changed our plans - we ended up doing the after-match at the Immigrant Tavern instead of barbecuing at Victoria Park, and sank a few pints there to give thanks to the immigrants who built this country, and to the thirty brave souls who were amongst the first people in the world to WalkForCapitalism.

To all who participated - thank you. And to all of you in later time zones who are yet to walk: Have fun. :-)

We had our Walk for capitalism in Belgrade today, in the Parc Kalimegdan, at 12 o clock, wheather was cloudy and relatively cold, with coverage by two policemen and one agent in civil clothe, assisted by some douzaines of persons. Two journalists followed walk, one from news paper Politika ekspres and another from Fonet, photo agency .

Walk passed without any incident. Participants gave some publick speaches glorifing the capitalism virtues and mentioning Bernstein declaration. After the Walk in neigbouring cafe "Grcka kraljica" Capitalism award was delivered to Miroslav Kostic, (1940) journalist of Radio Belgrade and writer. In same time we answered the questions of two present journalists. The event is possible to see and get photos from Fonet Agency, -Info@fonet.co.yu . Tomorrow I will see which news papers and medias noticed this event. ( We have sent some communiques to the press aboute this event).

35 showed up... lots didn't show up mainly because of a Belgian politician asking liberals NOT to go to the walk

Good police protection - 4 vehicles and 4 motorcycles plus officers in civilian clothes

Distributed about 600 flyers - VERY positive reaction from the population, very few negative replies (example of positive: old lady thanking us for finally doing sthg to protect capitalism and walking with us for 5 minutes / example of negative: 2 ladies (read old farts) calling us "capitalist bastards"... while using the ATM machine with their Gold credit card...)

Used sidewalks as well as roads (hey those police officers were getting bored of us using the sidewalks ;-)

" In several cities, anti-capitalists are either the organizers, or are going to subvert the genuine march. The leftists are going to promote (in all seriousness) the benefits of capitalism, namely genocide, war, sweatshops, world debt, privatization, neo-liberalism, fundamentalism, imperialism, chauvinism, etc. check the site to see if there'll be one in your area."

The walk was filmed with a camera. The movie will be digitalized and posted on a FTP as well.

600 Flyers - about 100 Money Speech, 300 FAQs about capitalism and 200 other flyers.

Apparently, NONE of the flyers were put in a public trash can or were found on the floor!

Got several HIGHLY positive reactions from the public thanking us for defending capitalism. [quote: "It was about time"]

I am altogether pleased with the outcome of today’s Walk for Capitalism in Bath. On this cold but bright and sunny day, our small group of six had a great time walking through the city center, stopping off at shops and restaurants. Before we started walking, I read out the statement of the Co-ordinator for the Brussels walk, Rodolphe Lebrun (mentioning his name - assuming his permission, I hope that's all right Rodolphe) - changing only the word "Tomorrow" into "Today". I felt great!

At every stop thereafter I said a few ad lib words in support of capitalism. Days before, whenever I sat down to think of a few good words to say for every venue, I got writer’s block. So I decided to ad lib my way through Bath. Whenever I started talking, passers-by seemed bemused at first, but were friendly when they realised what our cause is. Anti-capitalists were nowhere to be seen or heard.

After we had draped the ribbon around a bush in front of our last stop a "Pizza Express", we went inside and celebrated capitalism by eating wonderful pizza and drinking equally wonderful Chianti (starting wiht a toast "to capitalism").

Later, I went privately with my little family over the new German- style Christmas Market on the Abbey Churchyard. I bought candyfloss for my daughter, carameled almonds and mulled wine for my wife and myself. As we stood listening to a brass band playing Christmas carols, the physical warmth of the wine filling me, thinking about "my" D2 just past, I felt elated in a way I have never done before in my life.

Thanks Prodos for this wonderful opportunity you have opened up for the world - and me!

We gathered this morning in front of White Tower in Thessaloniki and we walked though the most crowded streets to the most famous cafe-restaurant in Thessaloniki, "Dore", where all the libertarians of Thessaloniki are gathering. The award was delivered to Dionissios Katranitsas. The D2 day was extensively covered the previous days in the local newspapers (positive and negative) and we expect coverage of the event tomorrow.

We hade at great media cover and was about 55-100 people walking from time to time. The walk ended with some short speeaches from myself, Klas Hjort (internet secretary for the liberal studentorganisation "FMSF")and Christian Gergils (Swedish liberal legend who started up the liberal movement "Frihetsfronten" back in the 80:s). When we came to the place where we was supposed to have our short after-meeting with the speakers the place was surrounded with anti-capitalists who tried to distrub the meeting. But the speeaker Christian Gergils asked them some, for them, hard questions about free trade. And after that they left...

We had a police escort all the way and the situation was rather comical from time to time. Poor anti-capitalists :)

I belive that we got all the local media coverage that you can get in the small city of Växjö. Even some students from a media school where there and took photos. I belive that the marsch was very succesfull and I sure felt like a hero, like you other guys out in the world!

A New Zealand Herald article titled 'Walk Celebrates Money-Making' was at least one result of Sunday's Auckland Walk.

The Binghamton Walk for Capitalism began today with the reading of the Bernstein Declaration in the little Wall Street park by the Chenango River. In good anarcho-capitalist fashion, the originally planned 0.8-mile route was doubled to accommodate popular interest. About 30 people participated in various segments of the walk. The Capitalism Award was presented to Mr. Don Sisson of DRS Construction. Felt great! Wonderful idea. Wonderful celebration. Thank you, Prodos, and each of you who contributed to the beautiful energy of this day. Best regards to all.

[From:Kacper Mikke]

Over 200 peoples took part in Walk For Capitalism in Warsaw. We had good protection by Police. Some anarchists was trying to disturb our Walk, but police was on place. We made a one mile long walk from Copernicus monument to the Old Town "Market Square" which we named for this time "Free Market Sq". Chairman of Union Of Real Politics Janusz Korwin-Mikke had a speech where talking about makeing people free, cuting the taxes and going to the right way to - Capitalism! Next point was a Brenstein Declaration, and it was the end. We shouted our principles during the Walk: "Freedom, Work, Capitalism", "Capitalism is for All", "Law taxes - less poverty", "Capitalism is a Welfare".

In Poznan took part about 50 people whith a special guest... Santa Clouse which have troubles to buy toys for children in case of very high taxes, especially 22% of VAT (Value Added Tax).

I'm sure Scott and Mary Lou will give the details later but I had fun today -thank ya Prodos !

I have to go and spend some family time now - but I did throw up three photos I took - there were hundred more taken by others - sorry no time to even compress them properly so it is like 1/2 meg page for only 3 picts. Nothing back from Kingston or others in Canada yet yet - I'm sure there will be soon.

I already offered to post and link whatever is sent this way - just let me know where and a few words ....

Despite the best attempts of a few sillies to interrupt a good walk on a fine day for December.

Yes about 10 sillies with balaclava's over their face and the whole thing we there to try to stop us even talking let alone walk - pretty humorous except for the one counter - protestor who tried to sneak into the middle of the parade with a sign saying "kill the poor" - the counter protestors were already on the street to photograph him as one of us - you can guess why. The police took him always explaining about "hate crimes laws" (yes sounds a bit excessive - but this is what I overheard as it was happening beside me and it was a pretty scummy thing to try to do on his part - so few tears here).

> Anyone else see this. Please be prepared. > > " In several cities, anti-capitalists are either the organizers, or are going to subvert the genuine march. The leftists are going to promote (in all seriousness) the benefits of capitalism, namely genocide, war, sweatshops, world debt, privatization, neo-liberalism, fundamentalism, imperialism, chauvinism, etc. check the site to see if there'll be one in your area."

Yup, they tried that in Boston. I'll leave the details to the coordinator, Matthew Ferrara, to tell... but a whole crowd (mostly of anarchists) showed up to "co-opt" the Walk. They had signs like "Eat the poor," and yelled idiotic slogans the whole time. Yeah, the whole time - they basically surrounded us and followed us through the whole walk. Very annoying... but, the Walk was still a whole bunch of fun, and I look forward to doing it again next year.

By the way - I sent out emails to Newsmax, the Drudge Report, and WorldNetDaily this morning about the Walk For Capitalism. I just checked, and didn't see anything on any of the sites, but maybe something'll show up eventually...

I don't think we could have asked for a nicer day in December to have this walk. Approximately 10-15 individuals and one miniature horse showed up to support Capitalism. Among those in attendance was former candidate for governor of North Carolina, Barbara Howe and the libertarian commentator on "NC Spin" on channel 50 who received this years Raleigh Capitalism Award. Unfortunately I don't remember his name!

A videographer from channel 17 news walked with us for a while and I'm certain he got a good shot of my sign with AynRand.org written accross the top. I'm hoping this will be seen tonight on the channel 17 news at 6pm or 11pm tonight.

From a marketing perspective I'm disapointed that no marxists or anarchists showed up, since I'm sure that would have garnered more media attention. The other unfortunate thing about the walk is that downtown Raleigh is pretty dead on a Sunday, so there weren't many people to which to hand out the Bernstein declaration.

As advertised the walk started on the south side of the State Capital building and worked its way south to the BB&T building, with stops along the way where short speaches were given by the co-ordinator Bob Emory and a few others.

One individual that showed up expressed concern about using the word Capitalism because of the bad name it has received over the years. I think he missed the point of the walk however, because that is exactly the kind of idea this walk is intended to reverse.

For something that was put together within a week or two, this wasn't a bad start! With more preparation time, next years walk will be bigger and better!

I just got back from the Spokane Walk FOR Capitalism. It was great fun. While we expected a turnout of 20 or so, we ended up with only six. But we still had a great time, and a TV station showed up to interview us. I will try and get the piece on the Walk FOR Capitalism that they air tonight up on the website. When I do, I'll post a link. Tonight, we are all meeting at a local restaurant, where we will present the award winner with his certificate! (there will be more than six- some people had to work and thus couldn't make it to the walk, but will be there for the celebration dinner).

Prodos, thanks so much for spearheading this idea! It was great, we had a lot of fun, and I am looking foreward to next year. The rational voice project starts tommorrow, right? :-)

On this chilly and rainy day in Stockholm, Sweden, 400-500 people showed up to Walk for Capitalism. (I must say December is not the best month for walking outdoors in Sweden...)

The Walk was a complete success--everything went smoothly. Lots of media coverage, and no lefties in sight. According to a couple of independent sources, the lefties had been misinformed about the time for the Walk. There were 10-20 protesters arriving to the place of our meeting as we were packing our stuff and leaving. Ha! ;)

The Walk is because of the leftist sabotage in Lund the main domestic news today in Sweden. We're waiting impatiently for the newspaper headlines tomorrow morning!

400-500 people is a great result for this paradigm shift in libertarian political events in Sweden. So what about you guys--anybody up to competing with our numbers...?

We have got another material on web page of Polish TV (goverment TV - non private one!!! sic!) It's in polish of course but very positive for us (photos from Poznan and Lodz included):

The New Haven walk was small but spirited. We had between 12-15 people along the route. We started at the Yale Bookstore and then walked down New Haven's main shopping district. We stopped next to Starbucks and next to the Gap. Although it was only Yale students participating, it was a lot of fun. We held signs and chatted with people. We got a couple of counter-protesters who looked silly and didn't bother following us.

Some people thought we were a joke, but we explained to them that we were dead serious. Several Greens accosted us, but could not even coherently explain why it was so bad that Nike was giving jobs to starving children in Bangladesh. It was fun. We even convinced some people! No media was there, but the Yale Daily News might cover us in tomorrow's paper.

Thanks for everything Prodos and the other co-ordinators. This was great fun. Keep fighting the good fight!

Here in Las Vegas we had 6 in our group. Not a bad, because along the way we were photographed by the curious tourists. The response to our walk was very positive and we stopped and saluted the McDonalds across from the Monte Carlo Casino. We had a fun time, though my legs are a little sore now :)!

Second; about 100 ANTI CAPITALISTS - mostly youth hippies, trying to look grungy and dirty, showed up.... all from the local ELITE private schools and we DID notice their designer leather shoes and coats...!

Then, we began our walk, and the ANTICAPS began chanting weird stuff like "Eat Poor People" and whatever... but then WE started singing our national anthem and THEY joined in - because they did not know what to do!! Funny part: When we got nearer to some downtown stores, they began chanting "Buy More Goods" and it was so ironic - they did not know what they were really saying!!

We had no violence; in fact, the antiprotestors were such juveniles that at one point, we were crossing the street and one stepped out without looking and I shouted: Get back on the sidewalk! and they did! HAR HAR! It was funny!

Anyway, we got to the end of the Walk, and we decided to disband to go get coffee at a Starbucks and the antiCaps had to stand outside in the cold because they were too duplicitous to admit that they wanted hot coffee too - but they were trying to be anti-business! Ha! And many of the shoppers (we ended up at an outside free market called Faneuil Hall) were even laughing at them!

Finally, they just got discouraged and went home. And the rest of us hung out and had some great discussions!

As for press, we got some interviews, but probably from local liberal underground student rags... the real media would not even talk to us - there was a big Channel 5 event right at the beginning of our walk but they would not even bring over one camera... Nice....

PS: I have a personal story about the entire day I wrote - named "The Girl with the Cell Phone" - It's a true perspective about the day's events. If anyone is interested, you can get it at my Briefcase:

PS: The Boston Police were wonderful; they stopped traffic for us and did not give us one problem. A tribute to their commitment to the principle that we all have the right to walk and express our ideas!

The Amsterdam walk was a success! A few initial participants left the walk after the found out that they were outnumbered by, amongst others, the local Libertarian party. This difference in numbers in no way reflects the dedication of the other groups, they just lack experience, which we'll gladly share for next year.

It is a shame that some (two persons in total, I believe) chose not to join us on the walk. From their comments we are left with the impression that they were looking out for their party line and image, which is fine, but not what the walk was about. I think it's a bit sad that they felt they were damaging their image by being seen with fellow capitalists.

Other than that, the walk went fine. We had some attention from the press (and I looked goofy on camera) and I believe we managed to convincingly relay that capitalism is not about fat guys smoking big cigars (nothing wrong with that, mind, I enjoy a decent Brazillero) but about people from all walks of life making this a fun, enterprising and prosperous world.

People were surprised but also anthousiastic about seeing a walk *pro* capitalism. One man came up to us asking "Just to make sure, you folks are FOR capitalism?" when we said yes, he went "Yeah! Good! Go capitalism!" And he was dead serious.

The El Paso WalkForCapitalism is over, and there were no problems on the Walk. The weather was beautiful (no rain or wind or snow) and a positive response was received from EVERY business approached. It was fun explaining the ribbons and tying them. The official El Paso WalkForCapitalism mascot was a German shepherd/Rottweiler puppy named Athena, who struggled on her lead the entire time but who promises to be better next year. Now is the time to finish writing post-Walk press releases--after all, there are only 52 planning weeks left until the 2002 Walk!

Our walk was a success. We were 9 adults, 1 man-to-be (child) and 2 dogs (poodles). We had to 2 posters that read 'Individual Rights = Capitalism' and 'Capitalism = Freedom + Prosperity'. There was no counter action and no media present. We did get a write up 3 days before the walk and will be getting one this week in 'The West Australian'.

The response of the people along the walk was very prominently one of surprise. One child asked: what does that say mum? The mother answered: That says capitalism is freedom and prosperity.

2 days before the walk we handed blue ribbons and certificates to Nike, McDonald's and the ASX Perth. The certificates read: to honor your success and in gratitude and appreciation of the services provided. The supreme court got a blue ribbon as well, with the certificate: to honor the supreme court of Western Australia and the principles it stands for.

At the end of the walk we had a little ceremony, were a speech was held. If you would like to read it, please go to: http://members.iinet.net.au/~rcoats/perth/index.html and follow the speech link near the bottom of the page.

Well, it's the morning after, and time to reflect on the monumental day that has passed.

The Adelaide Walk for Capitalism was a success. Eight proud defenders of capitalism walked through the city of Adelaide, holding their banners high and distributing literature. Most of the comments from passers by were positive. Amusing comment of the day was from a friendly socialist, who remarked that the walk was the "most bizarre thing that he had ever seen.". I'm sure that there were others who thought the walk was odd, but I'd rather people knew me as the "crazy capitalist" than not be aware of the importance of capitalism at all.

We awarded double blue ribbon awards to six of South Australia's notably historical figures, supporters of industry, entrepreneurs, and traders. At the completion of our walk we had a BBQ lunch, which was enjoyed by all.

I'm sure that our efforts have made a difference. Hundreds, or even thousands, of people saw us marching and read our banners. Some may have been against us, some for us, but all of them have now seen that pro-capitalist supporters exist. We have fired the warning shot to those against us, and provided courage to those for us. Most important of all, we have built a small network of defenders of capitalism right here in Adelaide, Australia. With enough such networks, capitalism will regain it's lost voice, and may in the future gain the respect that it deserves.

A cluster of helium filled balloons, all sizes of American flags and a number of "positive" slogans gave us a festive flavor. Our shows of appreciation to business people along the route were well received. People driving by in cars honked their horns and we were given a number of "thumbs up."

There was no police presence, and fortunately no need of it. Three Libertarians came with signs that were inappropriate for a "celebration." They chose NOT to walk.

A little report from exhausted me. Our walk today was a great success. We met at the metro station at 2 pm and commenced our march with over 100 people. I expected more people from my estimates and those who had committed to come to it, but each and every person there was appreciated. Two anti-capitalist infiltrators caused no problems, because the Cato Institute's interns started up a debate with them which carried on through the whole march. Yay Cato interns!

We gave our award to Ego Brown, who gave a great speech about what it meant to him. And afterwards, our two bands played, and thankfully, we covered all our expenses. Unfortunately, no tv media and no news coverage, but one significant thing is that a National Public Radio reporter covered the entire event.

If the segment runs on NPR, they may have it available on their website, I'll keep you updated about that.

Anyway, cheers to all of you everywhere for carrying out successful marches; I am duly impressed and we've done a great thing. If you're in DC, Delhi or London in the next few months, send me an email so that I can meet you.
Capitalist love to all of you, kendra

The walk in Chicago was great. There were about 25 of us who spent about two hours walking, laughing, chatting, and tying ribbons. Our Project leader, Chance Yohman, stopped at a number of places to honor their capitalist successes. They ranged from fast food restaurants to retail department stores, to financial institutions. The Christmas displays on the streets and in the numerous department stores' windows added to the joyous festive feeling of the walk. We finished the walk at Chicago's famous lakefront. It was an excellent day.

At the end of the walk, Chance presented the Capatilist award to "...Ed Kaplan, entrepreneur, CEO of Zebra Technologies, and Trustee at the Illinois Institute of Technology. Mr. Kaplan deserves this award for his sacrifices involved in starting and expanding his company in the field of bar coding technology while creating numerous innovations in the field."-- http://www.walkforcapitalism.org/chicago/index.html . Congratulations, Ed, on a job well done. Keep up the good work.

After the presentation, Chance give a good speech on the merits of Capitalism. He then had us introduce ourselves to each other. We were writers, actresses, philosophers, workers, college students, and all admires of Ayn Rand, individual rights, and capitalism. Hooray for us, and bravo to all.

Thanks Chance for a truly great day, and thanks to everyone who participated and helped make it a wonderful experience. My wife and I are eagerly awaiting next year's walk.

[From: Simon Patkin, Hong Kong Coordinator]

Hong Kong Update.

We have 5 people turn up, a few good people pull out at the last moment for personal reasons and it was probably a bit early in the morning for some others.

However we also had 9 members of the media, 6 policemen and some assorted lurkers who walked but did not want to be noticed. We did get a lot of publicity the following day with some articles, not perfect, but we did manage to give a copy of Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal to a representative of the Hong Kong Chief Executive - and this was in at least one paper (still have to check the others and get my wife to help with the Chinese translations)

We also managed to get the message across that true capitalists were entrepreneurs who created wealth themselves, rather than mercantilists who run to the government for handouts and privileges to help grow their business.

The Atlanta walk was a great success; we had a beautiful day, and the walk took a little over two hours to complete. We handed out flyers, tied our blue ribbons, and peaceably proselytized our merry way from a Midtown Park to the State Capital building.

Special thanks are due to Paul Thoman, our last-minute coordinator. He did a fantastic job with what he had, and next year's march will be that much better for today's effort. Congrats to all who walked in Atlanta and around the world!

We had good media coverage here in Vancouver. Not just wide spread but favourable. This was helped at least in part by vocal anarchists that were present. It is unfortunate that some of the anarchists statements and comments as presented on TV, when compared to our own, seemed ... extreme? I understand that there are anarchists that subscribe to this list including some here in Vancouver. I have introduced myself to some of them at the event. Some were reasonable, just of differing opinions. I explained to one that we share the same issues, just disagree on how to achieve them.

My graphic comparison of economic freedom with economic prosperity was well received.

All and all, a good event. I have met many new acquaintances and friends today. To me that is the real measure of success.

After a three-and-a-half hour drive, the four Iowa City walkers (and their friend from Fermilab) are back from Chicago, safe and sound. I hope Chance will be posting a recap of the Chicago Walk later, but for the moment I wanted to draw your attention to a group of supporters that I wasn't at all expecting and was pleased to discover.

As we walked through the streets of downtown Chicago this morning, we encountered quite a few off-duty sailors of the United States Navy, probably on weekend passes. They were all quite busy in delightfully capitalistic ways -- shopping, heading to the Bears game today, etc. -- but without fail, all the sailors who saw our "Property Rights Not Privileges!" and "Capitalism Keeps the Lights On!" posters returned a friendly smile, a thumbs-up, a wave, or a comment of "Yeah, capitalism!"

It only stands to reason, of course. After all, these are men and women who have volunteered to work, and possibly risk their lives, in defense of America and the economic system which keeps her citizens free.

This also gives me ideas for next year. I am a soldier in the US Army Reserve, and as it happens, my unit has its monthly drill next weekend. I plan to tell as many members of my unit as I can about the Walk (which I'd only found out about at the last minute), and see if I can plant the seeds to hold a 2002 Walk in Davenport, Iowa.

As a side note -- another group who gave us unexpected smiles and applause were the many Japanese tourists enjoying the sights of downtown Chicago. That shouldn't have come as a surprise either, I guess. :)

Congratulations to all the Walkers -- we did what we set out to do! Now let's do it even better next year!

The Walk here in Porto Alegre, Brazil, was succesfull !!! We counted 300+ people participanting, everybody wearing dark or light blue tshirts. Lots of pictures will be in our site asap.

I walked in NYC today, and the cops asked us to remove the wooden sign posts we had on our signs. I happened to see a guy online that i knew in High School who was one of the anti-capitalists at the Boston celebration, and he (being a socialist with too much time on his hands) has run into that situation before, so he mentioned Cardboard carpet or fabric tubes for signs. Just a note to be filed away for next year.

We had about 30 "Good Guys" & an apparently well planned & well organized counter-protest by about 20 or so unbelievably OBNOXIOUS, loudmouthed socialists!

We assembled peacefully, adorning ourselves with miniature DBR's with American Flag pins as centers, rallied & waved our signs at interested passers-by while we waited for all comers to arrive. (Six really wonderful kids, from the Kansas University Students of Objectivism Club, who had driven over 300 miles to join us, had arrived Sat. evening. We had a great pre-Walk party Sat. night: ate pizza & brownies, listened to Capitalist lectures, discussed ideas, & made a bunch of really great signs.)

We began the Walk, as planned, at 1:00pm, with a brief speech, explaining why we were celebrating Capitalism & why Walking was an important & appropriare way to celebrate (adapted from Prodos "Why Walk" message). During an hour-long Walk, we stopped to present DBR Awards to over a dozen businesses & other grateful recipients ... at each stop, one of us made a brief speech about the business or recipient, why they were deserving of an award, & making tie-ins to pro-capitalist ideas.

Luckily we had a bullhorn ... the strategy of the socialists was mix in with us, act loud & obnoxious, & make people think they were part of the Walk, & to shout us down whenever we tried to make a presentation. They were a thoroughly disgusting & bad-smelly bunch of louts. The contrast between them & us was quite obvious, but we did point it out several times as we went, to avoid any confusion. They were persistent & trailed along with us the entire way.

They did back off about 50 feet when we presented DBR Awards to the local Police & Firefighters (who seemed very moved and appreciative) but the jerks continued to shout in the background, even during our requested moment of silence for the heroes, in acknowledgement of the Sept. 11 tragedies.) In the end, the anti-capitalists accomplished nothing but making mindless fools of themselves (which wasn't hard!) & drawing more attention to our Walk for us ... making it more of a real comunity event!

The 1st annual St. Louis WalkForCapitalism concluded in front of Blueberry Hill, a great restaurant/bar owned by the recipient of our International Capitalism Award, Joe Edwards. Joe was very pleased & graciously made a short speech of thanks. We finally shed the irrational screamers when we went inside for an after-Walk (non-free) lunch. A sizable police presence had gathered by then! We rested, ate, talked, planned a bit for next year, & drank a toast to Capitalism & to our successful Walk!

I'm too tired to provide more now, but we'll look forward to posting more details, the text of our DBR speeches, etc., & we'll scan pictures & put 'em on our website in the near future.

All in all, it was exhausting ... but ABSOLUTELY WONDERFUL!! Thanks to Prodos for the idea, & to all the other PLANet coordinators for the ongoing encouragement & help in the planning.

We walked in very hot and sunny Miami, FL. 13 people showed up, was expecting more but not too many more.

Started off with a speech of mine at Coral Gables City Hall, about how capitalism is the system that allows people to live by thinking because it frees them from the mind-deadening effects of being compelled to accept arbitrariness. Was very well received.

Then, we spent between one and two hours carrying pro-capitalism signs (we had about five signs) and passing out flyers in downtown Coral Gables to passersby. Gave out approx. 300 flyers. Reaction by people was about 65% positive, 25% negative and 10% dumbfounded. Some of the people to whom flyers were distributed knew of Ayn Rand and were supportive of Objectivism, and walked with us a little bit. One of the funniest things that happened was that we were approached by someone from L. Ron Hubbard's Church of Scientology who thought that Scientology and Objectivism were similar and who started giving us literature. There were, however, no counter-demonstrators (and thus no media).

We then presented the International Freedom and Prosperity Award to Emiliano Antunez in his absence because, although he attended earlier in the day, he came with his three year old daughter who was getting cranky and needed to be taken home (she enjoyed the walk so much, though, that when he tried to take her home she kept screaming that she didn't want to go). Antunez ran for mayor of the city of Miami on a platform of eliminating unnecessary city departments and zoning laws, and during the campaign suffered brutal ostracism by the media-while personally visiting and handing out materials to 17,000 likely voters by taking a year and a half hiatus from his real estate investment business and walking the neighborhoods and wearing out several pairs of shoes. Although he didn't win, he did influence the city of Miami to adopt several of his campaign positions. For this, he was our winner (and will receive his certificate by mail).

Not too bad for a day's work. Oh and uh, yes we did get suntans. Eat your hearts out Brussels, Toronto, Oslo, Stockholm, Seattle!

The Seattle Walk went well, our message has been heard throughout the Pacific Northwest via the Northwest Cable News Network and local TV stations that graphically displayed the difference between our message and those of the tattered remnants of communism who opposed us.

There were about 50 of us, there were about 50 of them. They were there to mock us, the police were there to protect us, and we just pretty much just ignored the Reds.

While we could not take time out to honor businesses due to the police protection, we did safely hold our walk on the sidewalks of downtown Seattle to our goal, Westlake Park, in the heart of the downtown Seattle shopping district, and the site of the last two TWO riot commemorative demonstrations.

The anticapitalists had mostly followed us although a few tried to infiltrate our group and pretend they were with us, holding up signs extolling slavery, child labor, racism, and genocide. Once we arrived at the park however, the police quickly identified the Reds and told them to leave the area or be cited for trespass. A small number were cited, but most moved across four-lane Fourth Avenue to jeer and scream from a distance.

The Bernstein Declaration was read by Tym Parsons, Greg Clark announced the winner of the first Seattle Capitalism Day Award to be Bill Gates, an article in defense of personal transportation by Thomas Boes was read, and a poem was read by Bruce Bracken.

It was 40 F (5 C) and windy too. But we hung in there. Maybe sometime in July for the next walk? Ha!

Congratulations to everybody. I love reading WFC emails but especially now the walk has been done.I have been getting tingles down my spine reading about the courage and effort that it has taken and the heartening results.

I thought you might like to know how one of the walks went on "Down-Under" with the inimitable Prodos at the head of the small and trusty Melburnian band!!

I went over to Prodos' house on Saturday to paint some banners. I think "I love Shopping Malls" was my favourite, but I resisted and went for something a little more deep and meaningful! I have three dogs so I did suggest the wording Dogs for Capitalism - but hmmm I don't think we''ll go there on the inaugural March. Might attract the animal libbers.

Mid evening, after Prodos had been on the network doing the last minute things, we decided to have something to eat and I must say our WFC leader makes a mean salad!! It's called a Beyond Greek Salad. He may even give you the recipe if you ask. But then again P could turn it into a fantastic money-spinner so he may just keep stum!!

We had a brilliant Melbourne day on the Sat which turned into the most miserable wet day on Sunday, D2 day.This is so typical of Melbourne. However, each day can go through several weather changes so we were hoping it would clear up, but no such luck!

Typical of Prodos, who turns every adversity into an opportunity and re-frames the negative into a positive, he said that the harder it rains the better! We then proceeded to sing down the phone (parodying the words of Irving Berlin) "We've got our capitalism to keep us warm!! "

We gathered on the steps of the State Parliament House and proceeded down the main streets of Melbourne to very bemused responses and when we stopped outside a 4711 (24 hour store ) they looked downright worried. I think they thought we were there to protest and smash in all the windows. They were flabbergasted when Prodos tied up the blue ribbons and then opened the door and thanked them for what they did. The smiles broke out all over their faces which was GREAT to see.

A lot of people were positive and pleased to see us, they smiled and nodded, the odd one said, "about time" and there was, on the whole, very little negativity and no counter-protest whatsoever. My favourite reaction was a tram driver who was looking so far over his shoulder at us that I'm sure he was lucky he didn't mow anyone down. He then clanged the tram bell vigourously. Ripper!!

We got bolder as we walked and shouted out our slogans and wished everybody Happy Capitalism Day. Some of us followed Prodos' suite with explanations of what Capitalism is about ie. Freedom. Being involved in the movement (even though I am a Johnny-come-lately) has been a great opportunity for me to explore my own stance on what I hold precious and I am very grateful for the jolt out of my apathy and neglect for what is good and great in our Society.

The timing of the walk was good because a large department store in Melbourne (Myers Bros) always decorates its windows at Christmas with wonderful scenes and people stand for hours in queues with their kids to get a glimpse of these theme windows. This made a captive audience for us.

We visited The Stock Exchange, Supreme Law Courts, Nike, McDonalds, the statues of Batman (not the Gotham City variety) and Fawkner, explorers and Founding Fathers of Melbourne, circa 1835.

We ended up in the main Mall handing out leaflets and sipping a well-earned cup of coffee from good old Starbuck's who have just started up in Melbourne. One man took a leaflet with the words that he thought Ayn Rand was just gorgeous. I wondered whether that referred to her philosphoy or he just had a crush on her. I will never know. He looked very surprised and delighted however to find her face on our leaflet when he had just popped out to do some innocent Christmas shopping.

Again, one of the things which attracted me to the WFC movement was its intellectual rigour and articulate and knowledgeable suuporters who are prepared to debate their position.

I felt extremely proud to carry the slogans on the day. My face ached with smiling and laughing and enjoying the humour and company of my co-walkers. I really and honestly can't remember a negative. I acknowledge that had we faced opposition I may have felt differently, but we were able to breeze through it.

At 6.00 pm we met up at a local bistro cafe called The Brazilian and Prodos hosted the evening and the award to Gerard who, in typical self-effacing style, said that he felt that the award whould have gone to Prodos. We had a great evening with singing and entertainment put on by Prodos Did you know he's a really good singer and performer?/walkers and supporters who were invited to perform. Of course we had to include the song Big Spender didn't we . I can hear you all groan..!

I would like to add that a song sung in Polish was dedicated to all the Poles who walked during the evening of entertainment in Melbourne. This was because of the background of one of the walkers who had a Polish father who was in the Freen Polish Airforce during the WW11.

Prodos was very aware when other walks were starting up and he would chirp up to say that now the walk in Hong Kong etc was on its way. So, believe me, we all had our colleagues all over the world very much in our minds and hearts while we partied.

Proceedings closed down at around the 11.00pm mark and the tired little teddy bears wended their ways home.

Like most of you I want to express my thanks to Prodos and his genuis at logisitics, motivation and being a person who makes it happen. It takes great courage, tenacity, persistence and an undimmed belief in what one thinks is right. Congratulation of the highest order are accorded to him.

Being super busy, I had done only a little word-of-mouth marketing, sent e-mails to 15 people who had expressed interest in the walk, and did no formal press releases. I expected a small turn-out since I wasn't able to do a big marketing job.

Something I did do well: I had several poster signs, flyers/information sheets with our website, ribbons, and the award certificate ready for the walk.

Five showed, but two left (an older gentleman and his daughter) before we got started. He mentioned how he took this walk seriously, had driven all the way from Phoenix (2 hours), and wanted to participate in something "organized." At first he had been impressed by the posters, etc. His negative reaction was after he realized that no one else was going to show up for the walk.

I'm thinking: If he took it seriously, then why didn't he help out with the preparations? Another walker, who was an out-of-state visitor experienced with these sorts of events and politics had said that the guy had wanted to "hide in the middle of a crowd" of walkers. I suspect he's correct in that assessment. Anyway, in a sense, I'm glad the guy left. If a person doesn't have the courage to stand and walk publicly for his or her beliefs and be SEEN, then the person shouldn't bother attending.

Two of the participants were myself and my fiancé. The third one was a gentleman, Jim, from California. He had a lot of prior experience with politics, etc. Given the climate, he said if I had gone all out (with the marketing), I would have been lucky to get 15 people at the walk. Needless to say, I'm glad I didn't kill myself in an effort to get more to attend. That said, I've already got my brain working on how to make a big splash for next year's walk. :-)

Most of the people we talked with were anti-capitalists who confuse today's government-regulated capitalist/socialist mix in the USA as "true capitalism." While we distributed our posters and flyers to walkers outside of a cafe, diners read our signs and made negative hand gestures at us. Then, one woman started to write nonsensical, nasty notes and tape them to the windows of the cafe. We took a picture. ;-)

There were a lot of questions, but most seemed to be from people who already had their minds made up and were just trying to argue. But, perhaps some of them went home to rethink things... We did have one guy who was genuinely concerned and curious and asked sincere questions. To me, he made the whole walk worthwhile. He didn't understand the basics of capitalism, but he wanted to. If we hadn't been there, he probably wouldn't have ever come across the information, certainly not any time soon in this area.

Oh, I also received an e-mail from a coworker who had threatened to picket the walk. He wrote, "Hope that you don't get hit with any rubber bullets or other "less lethal" weapons while marching on 4th Ave." Given the conversations I've had with the guy (where he was very hostile and ended with insults when he couldn't refute my logic), I don't think he was sincere, but rather sarcastic and hopeful of the opposite. Or, who knows, maybe he would have done the deed himself if he had found me with a crowd...

The recipient of our award was pleasantly surprised and had his picture taken while receiving the award. He agreed to allowing us to use the picture.

I'll be catching up with all the updates on the Walks tomorrow. Great work my friends. I'm so proud of you! :-)

Capitalism Day is the first Sunday of December each year. So for 2002 that's: Sunday, December 01

I'm transferring the whole WalkForCapitalism campaign to CelebrateCapitalism.ORG and will write to you shortly about what I have in mind. I think you'll like it.

Briefly, the focus will be to broaden the campaign to "festive events" celebrating Capitalism. I am very much in favour of Walks, but I will also be suggesting (and inviting your ideas for) other events.

Also, I will invite you to a new campaign starting tomorrow. It is called The RationalVoice Project.

I'd like you to think about setting up and running your OWN radio show. And I'd like to HELP you set it up.

In the next few days I will invite your participation in the "RationalVoice Project". The idea will be to provide the training and support necessary to set up 100 new, autonomous, pro Capitalism radio presenters around the world by the 4th of July, 2002. Would you like to be one of them?

I'll be defining a few basic guidelines or "rules" for participation but I'm pretty sure you'll find it all straightforward and quite agreeable.

Gary Mallett is an ex-councillor and owner of Les Mills in Hamilton. He has been the highest profile politician consistently in support of the principles of Capitalism in the Hamilton region. Gary is an ACT Party member( http://www.act.org.nz ), though not strictly Libertarian in its focus the ACT Party is 90% Libertarian in its application of principle (though I know I must have angered "Libertarianz" members who will be sending me mail bombs as we speak..).

On issues like Genetic Engineering and even the WalkForCapitalism Gary has forked out money from his own pocket to pay for advertisents and columns in the local papers publicising libertarian positions on both issues.

His frequent support of council policy based on capitalism during the local election campaign also helped defeat the Mayoralty on issues such as the casino as well as rates and also contributed to helping kick out big-spending Socialist Russ Rimmington out of the Mayoral position in Hamilton in a landslide (though one could argue that trying to ban a casino, increase rates by their largest amoung in a decade and Russ' indecisions which cost millions in regards to the construction of the Waikato Stadium could have made himself more a cause of his own demise..). Regardless Gary has definately had an impact on local politics especially with Council Rates where Gary consistently argued in his paid columns appearing in the Hamilton Press that Hamilton initiating population control via raising of rates wasn't working!

Hamilton is extremely lucky to have such a fine candidate for the Capitalism Award in our midst, in fact if we had a choice about it we'd give 7 capitalism awards to Gary Mallet. This year's Capitalism Award goes, without a doubt, to Gary Mallet. Well Done Garry and keep up the good work!

NOTE: Gary will not be present on D2 to recieve the award, instead a speech shall be made about him and it shall be given to him on Monday.

60+ people showed up on the walk in Gothenburg, Sweden. Overcast sky but th= ere was no rain and not very cold. We had good of media coverage and lots o= f police escorting us (3 police vans, a small riot squad and riding police)= , there was almost as much police as there were WFC walkers.=20

There was a minor leftist demonstration along our route which had police ap= proval to walk behind us for a while but the police held them at distance a= nd no hostilities occured.=20

We had good coverage from the local media, but the national media is more f= ocused on the events in Lund that Per Bylund and other has told about.

Well thanks to everyone and especially Prodos for making this global event = possible.

Here in Bergen we were about 15 participants. I was a little anxious after reading that left-wing radicals were going to infiltrate the march, wearing suits and slogans like "exploit an African, you too". Stupid! However, the anti-capitalists probably hadn't got out of bed yet (we started at 3 p.m.!!), so they didn't bother us. There were two "journalists" from some communist newspaper, but they behaved nicely.

Speeches were held outside a RIMI supermarket (one of the big chains in Norway), at a square surrounded by four banks, outside a shopping mall, and we ended up outside McDonalds. It was dissappointing, but not surprising, that none of the shops or banks wanted to accept the double-blue ribbons.

The march ended with speeches by representatives from the parties and organisations that joined the walk. Even in Norway, a country led by social democrats for half a century, it can be done!! The snowball has started rolling....

> the strategy of the socialists was mix in > with us, act loud & obnoxious, & make people think they were part of > the Walk, & to shout us down whenever we tried to make a presentation.

Yea, we had about two of those. Surprising, for a socialist capital like Amsterdam. I guess 12.00 was too early in the morning for them. :-) They left after we simply told the camera's that indeed, they *were* part of the walk, and that they in fact were brougt by us as living proof of the average IQ of the socialist.

I guess that when even the reporters laugh in their faces, it's not so much fun anymore.

you will find some free press-images from Stockholm with links to high-resolution picts.

On Sunday on the steps of SYDNEY TOWN HALL, precisely at 1.30pm the mighty twelve began to assemble for its walk into history. Into the new millennium 2001. There was a small editorial in the SUN HERALD the previous day about us. One of our number had read the paper and came to see what was going on, a tourist from America and a PRO-CAPITALIST. Like a bee to honey was he.

We sort of expected News coverage. On the day only we turned up for business. We band of brothers with money in our arteries; and the American with money on his mind.

At 5 minutes past 2.00pm, in the wake of a countdown, there was a mighty roar from the mighty twelve ... "CAPITALISM, LETS WALK" - which all of SYDNEY must have heard. All four flags that we carried were seen by all who saw us as we saw them as we walked past them. One flag was American. Dollars signs were on our tee-shirts aswell as in our eyes. We felt like the $100 dollars notes also printed on our tee-shirts; we were made of money.

Amid the sound of fanfare and laughter and slogans to the virtues of Capitalism, we all marched to the tune of different drums. Each assessing our own profits in this affair. We saw many capitalists on the way. We saw buskers; street dancers and shops wide open to let in the sun and people with open wallets. Every where the smell of money.

I offer as proof a tape of this event with a digital video camera. I embellish nothing. I'll put honey and money on it.

This is the first step of people who have expressed an official 'thank you" to the Capitalist and the principle behind Capitalism- that life and production are a man's two absolutes. For next year I have two numbers planted in my mind. 1200 is the minimum turnout and D2. I think that an investment into the next twelve months will show a profit at maturity.

P.S. I will post images and possibly a DIVx to make up for a slack unmotivated New media. SOON.

London England walked - 15 people. Went well, positive reactions from public, mostly. A bit of predictable verbal at Speakers' Corner where we gathered to set off - fuller report later when I have a little more time. No trouble encountered. Contacts made will make for a much more organised walk next time! Well done everyone, Jonathan.

We had a successful walk in Edmonton with about 25 people out to support it and 6 counter-protesters. Several news stations came and interviewed me, as well as 2 newspapers and a radio station. Double Blue Ribbons were given out to 8 stops along our route and the Capitalism Award was given to Matthew Johnston. After we headed over to Sherlock Holmes Pub to warm up.

I will be putting up a complete description on the website with pictures when I have the time.

here is the link with several photos from Walk for Capitalism in SZCZECIN - POLAND.

PS I am really proud of all the people in the whole world walking in our Walk. We are going stronger and stronger.

I'm so happy hearing about the successes that were had all over the world! Spokane also had a successful walk.

We had ten unique showings between the walk and the celebration (A few were able to walk but not make the dinner and a few were able to make the dinner but not the walk), which was less than we had anticipated. A few people contacted me afterwards and apologized but for not attending, but even with our small showing we had fun and the walk went well. The local news had come to talk with us and aired a small segment about the walk, showing our brave people marching through downtown with signs in hand.

I was so relieved that the walk went on well. The night before there was a major wind storm, but that had cleared up for us, and Spokane has a fair sized liberal population, though no one did a counter protest or stood in our way. While we were in front of the courthouse showing our signs to passing people, a policeman came out to make sure we weren't doing anything bad, and we had a pleasant chat with him and he was very polite to us.

The dinner was fun as well, especially when we discovered the resturaunt's secret dessert, deep fried oreo cookies! Thanks to Kyle for ordering them for us, they were great! And if anyone has an Onion Resturaunt in your area, you should go try them out, you won't be dissapointed.

To everyone else that had a great walk, I commend you, and I hope we all stick with it for another year.

The NYC walk was far larger than I anticipated. Approximately 50 people showed up and walked from The New York Public Library at 42nd St to 57th St. Along the way capitalism awards were given to several corporations - Chase, Disney and Tiffany's among others. The reaction from the general public was extraordinary. Many people smiled and clapped and waved. Many tourists, especially non-American tourists wore puzzled looks and seemed to be in a state of disbelief. The few NYers of the apparently hard-core left that were seen seemed to shrivel in disgust -- that was a most wonderful sight.

The people who seemed to have the most fun -- aside from us -- were the NYC cops walking aside us. All in all it was a wonderful afternoon and I heartily recommend that the first Sunday in December becomes capitalism day. The left can keep May Day. We'll have capitalism day.

Yesterday it was a great day. We were few to walk, but a lot of people were with us. It was seen in the readiness they showed to hang the ribbons in their places. We did a short walk in one of the main streets of Tirana, holding two big posters we prepared just for this day, and the double-blue ribbons, of course. Then we handed the award to Mr Zef Preci, who accepted it with great pleasure. In the evening we had a big party among friends, where we read all the translated materials we had prepared for this occassion. We sang and read poems that some of us had written for this big day. We also sent a short article to be published and we hope it will come out tomorrow. Very soon you will see everything, including photos of this event, in our website.

I was at the New York walk, with maybe about 100 people at the end of the walk who listened to a speech by Andy Bernstein. The number of people was not the same, but the encounters were remarkably similar. I appreciate your efforts, especially with very small amount of support. The cynicism and fear of "whatever" will always be there, until they realize that they must face the truth. Cheers to your stand and your spirit.

Our walk wasn't very organized, but around 15 to 20 of us gathered outside the local Whole Foods. We had expected 30 but weren't surprised it was a smaller turnout due to the rain. Luckily, the rain stopped just as we started gathering and didn't start again until we were done. The temp was just right -- around 65 to 70F. Since there were plenty of signs with more "substance", I chose to make mine a little more whimsical - "Shop 'till you drop!" . Someone else brought a cute sign for one of the kids "My lemonade stand is a multi-national corporation." The "Honk for Capitalism" sign got several responses. There was a large US flag that we used for our front banner and a few smaller flags and red, white, and blue pompoms that someone graciously allowed my kids to hold.

The Manager of Whole Foods came out and we asked for permission to place a dbr and take a picture. He was surprised to actually have a group that wasn't protesting AGAINST their business, but he didn't want us to even take a picture with the dbr of his store or to stand around in front of it (even to take a picture). We gave him a copy of a statement we had printed off the Whole Foods website (see below for more on that), and politely went over to a sidewalk to the side of the store to take some group pictures before getting started on our walk.

We didn't see any anti-capitalism protestors although we had expected there might be some. There were a very few individuals who questioned us but seemed more friendly when they came to understand what Capitalism really means. I think there was one person who didn't bother to stay and argue and just left. We walked around placing the blue ribbons and taking pictures (we kept reusing the same one because we had a hard time finding sky/light blue ribbon of the right size... and what we did find was too expensive to give much away!)

The response was lots of friendly smiles, some encouraging words, and very little in the way negative comments. We did get a laugh out of the guy that zoomed by us in his car yelling something like, "That's sad". After about an hour, we were getting hungry and so decided to head over to Opal Divine's Freehouse where we had a small room to ourselves and had a great celebration. Our Capitalism Award recipient, Gail Withrow (see www.hometaught.com ) wasn't able to make it, but we passed around the speech I had prepared along with copies of the Bernstein Declaration.

P.S. We all had a great time and are really looking forward to doing something much bigger next year!

The NY Times covered our event in NYC and the reporter asked me for a count of the number of people in each city. While some have reported the number of walkers, others have not. If you have a count for your city and haven't sent it in a message to PLANET alrady, please do it so that I can update the writer before he completes his article. When the article appears, I'll notify you. It might be as early as tomorrow.

In NYC I guess that we had 50-60, but I did not make a count. I'm sure Sheryl will give you the complete info later.

Thanks to Bruce Jones, here are the first photos from the Toronto Walk for Capitalism.

We had about 75 people on the walk, but it looked like hundreds, especially with our balloons and signs.

We had some enthusiasts with megaphones chanting great capitalist slogans like "Liberty! Property! Happiness!" as we walked along.

The police and the security staff were great. We even gave a Double Blue to the Sergeant in charge as a sign of our appreciation.

Dear Friends! Our WTC in Warsaw was a completly success. We were shown in many medias(TV News, newspapers, Radio). There were about 250 people walking in our march. We had many transparets, baloons, it was very loud and we were very noticable on the main street of Warsaws Old City district. There was a group of people belonging to an anarchy associacion trying to stop us or to disturb our demonstration but there were smashed by our capitalism forces:) We had something like 100 whistles and when they were trying to shout anything we made such noise that nothing could be heard. Our warsaw chapter(which consisted of many people well known in public and politic society) granted the Capitalism Award to Rafal Ziemkiewicz, an independent publisher who is a well known fighter for capitalism. I think that our march was a success. I'd like to continue our co-operation with all co-ordinators of the WFC in the whole world. Im a member of an associacion which fights for free market and capitalism in Poland. You can contact me at adamwojtasiewicz@hotmail.com. I hope that with your help we will manage to obtain free market and capitalism in Poland and in the whole world! I also hope that the next year there will be millions of us walking 4 capitalism!

PS:Sorry for not writting so long, but we had plenty of things to do due to the march. As soon as pictures are avaliable on the net I'll let you know.

We made the Seattle Times again. The author of this piece was clearly more amused with the anti-message, than interested in the truth. Nevertheless it is coverage. Front page, Local Section, Seattle Time, Monday 12/3/01.

I'll be defining a few basic guidelines or "rules" for participation but I'm pretty sure you'll find it all straightforward and quite agreeable.

Thanks to the fantastic tireless efforts of Martin Ljubic who was the Sydney co-ordinator.

I was pleased that there were only about a dozen walkers in Sydney! The fewer the walkers, the more powerful and potent it is! I would have walked with only myself and Martin!

The dozen walkers were particularly generous in Sydney .. other walkers brought excellent large U.S and Australian flags; one walker gave away, free, fabulaous "Money is the root of all good" t-shirts, which we all wore, another walker gave away fabulous copies of _Ideas on Liberty_ magazine, another walker donated a portable P.A. system and we had a hilarious commentary as the walk went through beautiful downtown Sydney in the perfect sunshine.

I had to drive for a few hours to the walk: I remember thinking whilst driving there "I would not miss this no matter what." I suddenly realized the presence of just a few people walking in Sydney, Australia meant that Sydney was "on the list" of cities that really had a 1st-year walk.

Isn't it interesting that generally there seems to be much more folks walking in EUROPE than in the US?!!! Perhaps more of a pressure-release-valve for European capitalists?!

And what an opportunity to meet other intriguing capitalists and make business contacts! :) I predict lots of business people will show up just for that reason in future marches!

Thanks SO MUCH Martin Ljubic the Sydney co-ordinator and of course -- THANK YOU PRODOS THANK YOU PRODOS THANK YOU PRODOS THANK YOU PRODOS!!!!!

Only four people have assembled for the Moscow Walk for Capitalism - this includes the, er, Coordinator, that's me, who was about 50 minutes late to his own event. Probably the main reason no more people came was the cold weather, but I did not expect more than 7 or 8 people anyway.

We have walked through a very busy market-type area, with many many shops around us. This is the former Exhibition of Achievements of the People's Economy. Capitalism has turned it into a great place where nearly everything legally available is sold.

We had no permit so, apart from a stick (actually a ruler) with the ribbons, we carried nothing public.

This includes wine, so our final destination was 'The Cup of Khaiam', a very decent place where we drank some very good and cheap wine for Capitalism - including some of the kinds one would need 'connections' to get under Communist rule. This was the only place where I actually spoke to some people outside the Walk, namely the shop asistants at the counter, telling them that we are celebrating the system that allows ythe place to exist, and saves it from 'anti-alcohol campaigns' such as Gorbachev did in the late 80s - it included destruction of unique (state-owned) grape fields.

We will have a photo or two sometime soon. And it were not four people Walking for Capitalism there. It was the whole big place! People who came to buy, owners, managers and clerks who came to sell, all of them were there to celebrate Capitalism, all of them who walked, Walked for Capitalism.

We have not made a big statement, but we have seen, celebrated and participated in Capitalism as it is - which means, Capitalism at work!

As for the Award, I have not yet been able to hand it over due to technical problems but I hope to do it within a week, as well as handing our ribbons over to Moscow's first McDonalds. The recipient for the Award is determined - more on him when I hand over the Award.

We had about 25 people show up. No opposition. One woman asked if it was a joke.

The establishment we began at said we were soliciting and couldn't take pictures from the front. Not trying to sell stuff but soliciting ideas.

Our Capitalism Award went out to Gail Withrow who owns and operates Austin's Hometaught Schools. http://www.hometaught.com/

"She has worked to support free enterprise in education through the informative website and newsletters, through her work to help establish the Texas Home Educators Freedom Alliance, and through radio interviews with Prodos and Dr. Hurd."

Hello! Walk in Cracow was a moderate success... We walked (around 80 persons) form the old city gates to the market square, all wearing double blue ribbons, with a huge banner with "Capitalism" written on it. Unfortunately even that we informed all regional media, several times, almost none of them showed up...

No anti-globalists showed up and it was very calm (maybe if they did TV would have shown us :-)), policeman were very polite, we had no problem with them. Photos will be available soon.

150 walkers, headline in "le Figaro", a national newspaper. Photos are available at request. That was really a capitalist celebration, many leaflets were dispatched and the public seemed to be interested in what we have to offer.

A write-up on the walk was in the Toronto Sun today. The print version has a humorous picture of one of our walkers donating some coing to a "homeless" person.

I was also interviewed by three television stations. One featured us on the 6:30 news, which a number of our walkers managed to catch on TV. A local magazine called "Now" will feature the walk in its Thursday edition. The University of Toronto paper and various radio stations also interviewed walkers.

Declan McCullagh is a writer for Wired magazine here in DC. He came to our event yesterday and took these great shots (at the end of our event):

Jonathan Prince does stuff for Indymedia here in DC. He followed us along the walk, took video and took pictures as well. These are great b&w pictures. I haven't watched the video yet, but have a look-see.

We walked in London, all fifteen of us, including Neil who had just arrived from Bath having Walked FOR Capialism there earlier in the day. In fact later on during the walk we stopped for a group photograph outside a Waterstones Bookshop for no other reason than the fact that they had done the same in Bath. We set off from Speakers' corner after some debate and discussions, handing out a few Declarations and Money Speeches to generally positive response. It was a joy to see the variety of looks on peoples' faces as tey read our Walk FOR Capitalism sign. One walker with us, being from Cuba suggested we stop for a Toast to Capitalism at the Bar Cuba which was on our route, not far ahead, and to our left, of course. We took more hotographs outside the bar then entered and there we toasted Capitalism and nominated Margaret Thatcher for our Capitalism Award, not for her conservative politics, but for the enormous contribution she made to freeing up the markets in the UK and the extent to which she sewed some seeds of Capitalist principles and practices, the benefits of which we reap to this day. At the same time we exchanged contact details and discussed a bigger, more organised event for next year. The idea of staging other events, in spring or autumn events to publicise WFC Day was very popular, and we now have a place to meet in future and I am sure we will have a bigger team working from now on.

Thank you, all who came and walked and showed such enthusiasm, and special thanks to Richard who turned up with a huge bunch of balloons printed with' I love money', but with, you know, the heart symbol instead of love ( can' do it with my e-mail functions!) It was great to meet real people and put faces to some of those e-mails. Great day - Great Idea, Prodos, Thanks a lot. Jonathan Dickson, London.

We cities with nice weather in December definitely have the advantage. We were out there walking and celebrating and getting noticed for 4 hours. The spectators were friendly, mostly tourists, who kindly used our camera to take our photo so we all could be in the picture. Here are some pictures: http://members.aol.com/laughingzebra

The Las Vegas Capitalism award went to Sheldon Adelson, creator of COMDEX, the largest trade show in L.V. and builder of the opulent Venetian Hotel-Resort-Casino.

You know, if you live in a cold, unfriendly or small town, come out to Las Vegas next year and help us celebrate!

I'm truly amazed at such places like Moscow and Tirana would hold a pro capitalist walk. Remember, over 10 years ago, those two cities were under the grip of communism.

Seeing this, I'll work harder for a glitzy and fun filled Las Vegas walk in 2002!

Sunday morning was quite rainy but we still turned out 47 people. Our stage was decorated by an eight-foot model of the World Trade Center. We began with a remembrance of the victims. We had two speakers - Logan Darrow, publisher of American Venture magazine (http://www.avce.com ) and Carl Close, Academic Affairs Director of the Independent Institute (http://www.independent.org ). Logan presented our Capitalism Award to T.J. Rodgers of Cypress Semiconductor (who did not attend).

We met on the plaza across the street from the Tech Museum. We then walked two miles to City Hall displaying many different signs, for example, "Defend America - Defend Capitalism", "Free Trade Means Life for Billions", "Get Bin Laden not Bill Gates". One of us used a bullhorn to lead the chanting of slogans, and blasted some friendly advice into the office of Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren.

The Walk was a lot of fun. Many passing pedestrians and cars waved and honked their approval. There were no counter-demonstrators and hardly any negative responses. On the door of City Hall we posted a Declaration of Liberty signed by all. An excerpt: "You do not have the right to take our earnings by force for the benefit of others. You do not have the right to prohibit us from freely trading what we want, with whom we want, at the price we choose."

The Walk ended at the Gordon Biersch Brewery for beverages, dinner and discussion. Then the die-hards went to play Laser Tag.

On Saturday night we had a quiet ceremony outside the Tech Museum, reading the names of all the victims on Sept. 11 before our model of the WTC.

I would like to congratulate our organizer and sponsor, Logan Darrow, for the success of this event. Logan committed tremendous amounts of time, effort and money to the project.

We celebrated World Capitalism Day in more or less traditional South African style by having fancy tea and philosophy in the garden followed by a braaivleis (literally, burn meat or barbecue) for lunch. Sixteen individuals were present at various times in the day. As is our custom, the discussion ranged over many issues, including capitalism, capital punishment, and capital gains tax.

At our previous monthly meeting of local Libertarians it had been decided that there was no need to march for Capitalism, or in support of Capitalism, since Capitalism had so clearly won the day as a successful economic system. Better just to triumphantly celebrate our victory amongst the victors.

Of course, marching through the streets of downtown Johannesburg in support of Capitalism could be extraordinarily dangerous in this country of 21,000 murders per year, one of only three countries in the world (I believe) still to be ruled (in coalition) by a well-constituted and functioning communist party. Of course, if we had marched to Johannesburg's equivalent of Central Park, Joubert Park, we might have been in time to stop the rape of a 5 month old baby there on Sunday.

Having read the many exciting stories of other marches around the world, however, I think we over-intellectualised the situation, and missed out on a serious opportunity to publicise our position locally, and have some fun and excitement. Perhaps next year....

Following a review of the membership of our local Libertarian Society, we decided to present the Capitalism Award to one of our past members who best demonstrated the power of the Capitalist system - Mark Shuttleworth, billionaire founder of Thawte Consulting and developer of one of two digital signature systems used for Internet Security.

Delhi had a beautiful cloudless day, and all enjoyed the mild winter sun as we walked in the heart of the city - in the circular central business district of Connaught Place. We had a great time and the walk was a grand success with every major newspaper in the city covering it. Our peak number was about a hundred, even as the crowd waxed and waned around a core group of fifty walkers.

We began at 2 p.m. with a DJ playing Bob Marley and Billy Joel songs, attracting a crowd around our stand. Thankfully, it was a holiday or we would have been swamped! There was also a large contingent from the press and we kicked off the walk after explaining briefly what it was all about.

We had caps and rosettes for all the participants and we looked impressive, carrying several placards ( one read: "Before - Dead phones; After - Cellphones. Capitalism Works!"). As we wended our way round the inner circle of Connaught Place, we paused occasionally to award the 'Double Blue Ribbons' to various establishments and some enterprising individuals.

At each 'DBR' ceremony, we had a different walker speak a few words about international capitalism day, about the significance of the two colors, and why we were appreciating that particular business. With sixteen stops, everybody who wanted to speak got their chance. Then the ribbons (which were neatly tied into a bow) were stuck prominently along with a citation addressed to the owners.

Amongst those we honoured were international names like McDonald's, Nike, Bose, and Bata; leading Indian businesses like ICICI Bank, NIIT, India Today, and Titan Watches; and smaller shops and individuals like a book store, an 'auto-taxi' driver, and an ice-cream vendor.

But the highlight of the walk came when, on the spur of the moment, we gave the DBR and citation (along with some money) to two very enterprising street kids who had made the walk come alive by beating an exciting rhythm on their drums [Prodos would have loved it!]. They in turn were overjoyed! So too were the other recipients, at least those who were available inspite of the holiday.

Not so McDonald's. The manager refused to come out, fearing another attack by the gathered crowd. Barun Mitra, the walk's coordinator in Delhi, made the point of how scared businesses are of rallies, thanks to the vandalism and abuse that accompanies nearly all of them. He stuck the DBR on the door and gave the citation to the non-plussed security guard instead, and we moved on after raising three cheers for McDonald's.

The crowd, by and large, was curious and readily accepted the handouts (which were also in Hindi). Some joined the walk, but there was no opposition of any kind whatsoever. On completing the full circle, we re-assembled to announce the winner of this years "International Capitalism Award".

The Delhi chapter of Walk for Capitalism was extremely proud to present this inaugural award to Mr. Shiv Nadar the founder and the force behind Hindustan Computers Ltd (HCL). HCL is a technology and software behemoth that was set up by him in 1976, from a small flat in Delhi along with a few friends. Today, Shiv Nadar features among the Forbes' list of billionaires, among the only handful of Indians. Nadar is Delhi's own Bill Gates! Unfortunately, he was out of town and could not be present in person.

The walk concluded with some peppy dance numbers, and as the crowd thinned out, forty-odd core walkers filed into a nearby eatery for some welcome - and well deserved - coffee, cake and celebrations. Next day, we woke up to some great coverage from the press, and are now eagerly awaiting the edited video of the walk!

For news stories and pics, I will post the links in another post. The Delhi website www.walkforcapitalism.org/delhi will soon have all these and more.

Thanks Prodos, and all other participating cities, for making this a memorable and exciting event. We are already meeting later this week to plan for the coming years!

At last count atleast six papers reported the walk, putting the number of walkers between fifty and one hundred. Some had captioned photos, others were reports (with one on the front page). Here is a rundown of the Monday papers and the headlines:

BOTTOMLINE: A low-key but festive celebration of the first-ever World Capitalism Day

3. Times of India - on Page2, a nice story with a lovely colour pic of Gurmeet and boys.

BOTTOMLINE: A low-key but festive celebration of the first-ever World Capitalism Day

Twenty, thirty and forty somethings - most of 'em in jeans and T-shirts - making a public point about capitalism the day an economic summit gets underway in the city: another Seattle, Davos or Genoa, huh? Quite the opposite actually. We're talking about a rally in the heart of the capital in support of the much-maligned capitalism, globalisation and economic liberalisation!

The Walk for Capitalism was the brainchild of Prodos, Melbourne's Internet radio presenter, who used the Net rather effectively to discuss the idea with an international network of pro-globalisers. It materialised - on Sunday, the first-ever World Capitalism Day - as a global walk held simultaneously across 35 countries in 117 cities, including Dhaka, San Jose, Lagos and Moscow (surprise, surprise). In New Delhi, it was held under the aegis of a city-based non-governmental organisation, the Liberty Institute.

"We keep being told that capitalism's emerged victorious, it rules the world, so we decided to celebrate that victory," co-ordinator Barun Mitra says while explaining the rationale behind the rally. Others had their own reasons, all of which generally gelled well with the bumper-sticker ideology 'Capitalism is good, socialism is bad'. Mohit Satyananad, an entrepreneur, was there to celebrate the economic freedom 'to do or not to do' and to insist that "capitalism had been misrepresented by socialism as something which encourages exploitation".

Bibek Debroy, eminent free-trader economist, was there to applaud capitalism for its employment generation and wealth-building roles. Still others were quite basic and made a rather uncomplicated point: that public rallies and marches didn't always have to be about violent protests; they could be constructive and peaceful too. And listening to them, one could almost envisage the 500 delegates at the 17th India Economic Summit nodding in agreement.

Anti-globalisation/capitalism feelings and protectionist tendencies may well strengthen as the global economy passes through a recessionary phase. In this context, people coming out on the streets in support of capitalism could be a welcome counter to the counter-capitalism current sweeping the world. Er, not really true for New Delhi this year. The shopping district, which was deserted on account of a weekly-off, saw only 50-odd people - entrepreneurs, professionals (management consultants, journalists, economists and such like), career social activists, and students - turn up.

But those who did, enjoyed the mild winter sun, the Bob Marley and Billy Joel songs being played, and talked excitedly about how it was a pretty decent turn-out for a first-ever! And in a timely illustration of the licence-permit-raj system, which not surprisingly all the assembled folk had a problem with, the music got off to a late start because the tempo which was to bring the genset wasn't allowed into Inner Circle until a particular time!

When it was time, though, capitalism was celebrated by waving placards (Free Trade is Fair Trade; Bourgeoisie of the World Unite; The Best Way to Fight Poverty is to Work); by honouring the surprised and perplexed neighbourhood paanwallah and ice cream vendor, the guard at ICICI Bank and the manager at Mc Donald's with 'thank you' citations and blue ribbons for fearlessly and tirelessly defying numerous hurdles while providing their services; and, by awarding the founder of HCL, Shiv Nadar - the gent who ushered in the information age in India at a time when most considered computers a threat to employment - with the first-ever Annual International Capitalism Award from the Delhi chapter.

Oddly enough, this celebration of capitalism was devoid of any visible signs of corporate sponsorships. Mitra admits to having spent close to Rs 40,000 on the event, rustled up largely through in-house resources. And 'capitalism rules' wasn't quite the case as well - some of the potential awardees of the International Capitalism Award were not so eager to be associated with it; even some of the pro-capitalist NGOs, policymakers and businessmen had specifically asked why the walk was "for capitalism" and not "globalisation," according to an exasperated Mitra. So much for coming out and admitting to be proud of being a capitalist! And a pity that more practitioners of capitalism in the capital couldn't find the time to give a boost to their cause.

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Giving globalisation a boost HTC (New Delhi)
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Confused gazes peered out from the windows of the Connaught Place branch of MacDonalds. As its employees attempted to figure out, the man in the blue cap stuck a ribbon to the restaurant's door, and the crowd cheered. The marchers of Delhi's 'Walk had acclaimed another business venture for Capitalism'. A worldwide event was coordinated on the Internet by the Australian Prodos organisation. This was the Capitalist's answer to the anti-globalisation demonstrations.

In over 115 locations around the globe groups of pro-active consumers pledged support for economic liberalism and free trade, and Delhi was no different.

At 2 p m on Sunday, approximately 50 marchers, largely journalists, businessmen and economists, donned their 'Walk for Capitalism 2001' caps and began their jaunt around Connaught Place. They halted outside establishments and cheered by crowd.

Look up the Photos section on the left for 40 digital snapshots which tell the whole story. You will need an Yahoo ID. If you don't have one or are not a member of the group don't lose heart. Use the following ID:

Dear All, Phenomenal reports from all over the world. :) Mumbai walked too on D2...walked well and walked proud. :) Achieved Basic Version !! :) All along the way we handed out copies of the Bernstien Declaration in English and Marathi (Thanks...Barun in Delhi for the translation )and some pamphlets explaining why we were walking and what we hoped to achieve. Also tied the double blue ribbons to all commercial establishments along the way and explained their significance. We congregated at a restaurant called New Yorker ( a tribute to the freeest city of the world and the embodiment of our ideals ) and raised a toast to Capitalism. Announced the awardee for the capitalism award for Mumbai. Then read the Bernsien Declaration and a few excerpts from "The New Left: The Anti Industrial Revolution - Comprachios" - Ayn Rand. Photos coming up shortly. :) Then we discussed stuff and made plans for next years walk. Boy am I rearing to go for D1 - 2002 :) Heres to making the event a bigger and better one next year. Cheers :) :) :)

Victoria, BC, Canada reporting in that we had 13 Capitalist walkers and excellent press coverage on our main TV station here. They set up their report so as to contrast our peaceful approach to that of the "nasties" of the Left and it came across so clearly, I doubt if I could have edited it better myself!

Our march was quite successful. We had about 40 people with flags and slogans. Local TV coverage, local press reports.

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer had a more balanced assessment of Sunday's event, See the attached link.

Interestingly enough it was one of the Counter-protesters who told the homeless man to get a job. I wanted to hire the man to pass out literature.

All I can say is that it was a great day! We suspected a turn out of as low as 6. the weather had been horrible most of the week and worse on Saturday. Tym, Bruce, Kimberly (my beautiful wife) and I worked feverishly Thursday, Friday, and Saturday printing materials, making signs, sewing banners, updating the website, pre-tying ribbons, as well as doing the jobs that we are paid to do, unlike the laughable Socialist Spook who appeared on Sunday dressed like an MIB. His only job was to pass out signs, and que sheets to the mindless insignificant punks that gathered to make their point; his point ... no point at all.

We spent an hour assembling on the steps of Benaroya Hall at Remembrance Park... dedicated to the brave US soldiers and ultimate defenders of freedom - KIA's of Foreign Wars. We brandished signs and waved at honking supporters driving by on Second Avenue. Many friendly supporters greeted us, even though they had no previous knowledge of the event. Some joined us just the same. Bruce looked like a truth mercenary, boldy brandishing two signs (one in each hand) and holding them firm against the stiff cold wind. Nicholas roamed up and down the sidewalk with his sign, confidently challenging the anarchist piddle in his own intellectual gambit of "Wack a Mole" - drawing them from their holes and squashing them with his mallet of truth. At one time he counter-stunned a young, hardware crested, female naive with a smile and a half-compliment saying... "Your too pretty to be Evil!"

Having my own chat with the counter-rabble, only confirmed our suspicions of a protest by parody by the "Mind numbed automatons" responding to the global mission statement of the Socialist armies and their tyrannical generals who hide behind a shield of disinformation... thereby professing the impotency of their rhetoric. I introduced myself, and invited them to walk with us and openly profess their ideas and disagreement in an honest forum of discussion and debate. I assured them that all points of view are welcome in the Free Market of Ideas. Denying a separation between the two groups they rejected my offer. "So be it...," I replied!

At 1pm we began to walk, with the WFC group in the front heading up through the Central Business District on our way to Westlake Park. I remained in the rear,(behind the chanting Anti's), proudly walking with our Honorable Law Enforcement Officers. The tone for them was set at that point, when the Anti's began chanting "Make more Money, Buy More Cops!" That was met by grins and grunts from the bicycle-mounted police.

We continued straight to the Urban Park and re-assembled for speeches, debates, and to pass out literature to Seattleites braving the cold to support their values with monetary compensation (to Shop) and visit the Christmas Carousel with their children. We laughed and chatted and met one another. Tym was an amazing presence, organizing the crowd, chatting with police, delivering wisdom through a booming bullhorn, and giving radio and TV interviews. Greg's booming voice overwhelmed any opposition as he eloquently offered praise and bestowed the Capitalism Award on Bill Gates (who was not present, physically). After a powerful reading of "The Motive Power of Freedom," he concluded the ceremonies. We continued to hand out remaining literature, declared the day to be an outstanding success, and began to seek the comfort of warmth. After cleaning up the park, we thanked the Police, and left the Anti's to their eternal confusion. We went to Kell's - an Irish Pub on Post Alley - for food and beverages.

I met some wonderful people... potential new friends. It was a GREAT DAY TO BE ALIVE!

See you all next year, and hopefully sooner than that. The Seattle Website has already been updated to December 1, 2002.

I will maintain it accordingly and update all of the links and literature as needed. If anyone has photographs, please pass them along for the website.

... And lets hear it for Stockholm, Warsaw ,Paris, and Port Alegre for mass, Moscow and Hong Kong for courage, and Craig & his dog in El Paso for integrity. Bravo, People, Bravo!!!!

> [...] one significant thing is that a National Public Radio reporter > covered the entire event [in Washington DC]. If the segment runs on > NPR, they may have it available on their website, [...]

My name is Alon Eshet, I'm a first year student at the University of Western Ontario (London, Canada). I unfortunately didn't get to participate in the Walk but will definately next year.

Any advice on raising awareness of Capitalism on campus? As you can all guess, socialists have a tight control at this university.

Matthew - I just read your essay. Well done (both the essay and the walk). It's a shame you were prevented from getting the message out, but next year will be different.

Fortunately, in New York, the Walkers vastly outnumbered the protesters, who didn't even bother to put on their "poor" costumes.

I'm so glad I walked. Thank you, Prodos! Your hard work paid off big-time, as did the hard work of the coordinators around the world!

[David Dylan wrote:] > Yea, we had about two of those. Surprising, for a socialist capital > like Amsterdam. I guess 12.00 was too early in the morning for > them. :-) They left after we simply told the camera's that indeed, > they *were* part of the walk, and that they in fact were brougt by us > as living proof of the average IQ of the socialist.

I'm going to remember that one for next year :-) Actually, here's my plan - I'm going to make signs attached to a telescoping rod, so that when they surround us again I can simply pull it out and hold it above their heads. The sign will say have an arrow pointing downwards, and will say - "I'm With Stupid."

well the walk in Bratislava was quite a pleasant occasion to meet some friends but it was unfortunately not a very huge happening. Only 12 people came, but I was extremelz delighted that these inlcuded dr Sima from the Liberal Institute of Prague, Thomas Grey (former counselor to the slovak Prime Minister), Milan Galanda (former MP) and so on. We were walking from the building of the central bank to a near place, where we announced the winner of the Award. Some local TVs were there and I had to answer several questions about the meaning of our walk. The weather was unpleasant which could be one of the causes of the low number of participants.

People we were meeting were quite interested and we were giving them the czech libertarian magazine called Terra libera.

I want to say that it had definitely a sense and that I enjoyed it. I am looking forward to next Capitalism day.

Well I was an inactive member this year in San Diego, Cal, U.S.A.but next year I'm moving the Salt Lake City Utah valley and I will be the organizer!!!! Capitalism in 2002 here we come!

I was on the Melbourne walk. You may have read the report already which I posted yesterday.

We got no media interest whatsoever. We could have been the men from Mars and I don't think the Melbourne media would have turned out. It didn't matter, it was better engaging with the public. We had a ball!

To my great shame I omitted to offer special thanks to Emmajane for doing so of the work with me for the walk. Her encouragement has been an inestimable value, and her work included translating the Bernstein Declaration into Italian, helping me with typing and photocopying, making t-shirts and bringing drinks and chocolates, and, most importantly, herself, to the walk. Thanks!

I am visiting Poland and Warsaw in January 2002 and have suggested to Prodos that perhaps people who walked could meet up for a coffee where ever they are in the world! If you and your group like this idea, perhaps you could email back and we will swop details.

Now, I guess we might also start a German hate mail section from Prodos webpage for everyone able to read or guess German, there is a discussion forum in the German left wing paper TAZ, which did an interview with two Berlin co-ordinators a week ago.

If you want to comment upon anything or annoy them somehow, you just have to click on ³Antwort² and you should be able to leave a comment on that webpage, readable for everyone on the net. Though the interview was very positive and moderate, the comments are nasty and full of hatred towards capitalism, objectivism and the individuals advocating the corresponding ideas of liberty. As we mentioned Ayn Rand in our interview, the leftists did their homework very well and point out to a German based webpage advocating her ideas...

Monday next week, there will be another TV report on our walk in a political magazine that is kind of serious...

Hey, that was fun but I would have loved to participate in the great Stockholm walk we were only 35....

The only publicity we've had so far is the Daily Gazette article December 3. The headline reads:

A NEWS release last week announced that a group of New Yorkers would be marching up Fifth Avenue on Sunday to celebrate the first Capitalism Day, part of a global rally in more than 100 cities. In the wake of Sept. 11, the organizers explained, "we need to defend the values and economic systems that have produced untold wealth for the Western world and are now under attack."

So here at the home of the World Trade Center, here at the capital of capitalism, how many defenders would be massing on Fifth Avenue? "At least 50," the organizers promised.

Fifty people! Clearly a historic event. Even if it wasn't the smallest "global rally" on record, it had to be the first in which the organizers gave out honest crowd estimates ahead of time.

Sure enough, all of five dozen people (and no television cameras) showed up Sunday afternoon at 42nd Street. In the global Walk for Capitalism, organized by an Australian group, New York ranked well below Stockholm (400 marchers) and Porto Alegre, Brazil (300), although the city did manage to beat out Bath, England (6). The local leader was Sheryl Ann Jackson, a New Zealander who has worked as a nanny since immigrating to Queens 12 years ago. She smiled when asked if there were any out-of-town groups marching.

"Does two qualify as a group?" she said, referring to two men from the Greater Lehigh Valley Objectivist Club, in Pennsylvania. One had a sign saying "Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of MY OWN Happiness."

As the marchers headed up the sidewalk on Fifth Avenue with a police escort, another man tried leading a cheer -- "Give me a C!" -- but the crowd barely had enough energy to spell "capitalism." The rest of the march was pretty quiet.

"We don't have any chants," Miss Jackson said. "We're really not protest people." The closest the marchers came to an act of civil disobedience was to tape blue ribbons and certificates of appreciation to the walls and windows of a Chase Manhattan Bank branch, Barnes & Noble, Rockefeller Center (the statue of Atlas was reverently noted), Trump Tower, Tiffany's and F. A. O. Schwarz.

It was not what you would call an angry crowd, but several marchers seemed to be jointly indignant. They were holding signs like "Privatize the Public Library," "Profits Before People"' and "Get-A-Job" (next to a picture of a man lying in the street). One of them, a bearded college student named Joshua Boydstun, said they were all devout capitalists, but he turned vague when asked about his intellectual background.

"Gee, it's been so long." Mr. Boydstun paused and confessed. He was a member of the Vassar College Student Activist Union and a veteran of protests against globalization. Six members of the Vassar group had come to New York to infiltrate the Walk for Capitalism, he said. That made them the largest group at the march.

"We're trying to represent a hyper-capitalist stance that would give the whole march a bad name," he said, pointing to the nasty signs and to two of his allies who were photographing and videotaping the event.

AFTER the march, the capitalists were dumbfounded to hear of the infiltrators. They hadn't even videotaped their own march. They couldn't imagine wasting a minute at someone's else march. A few wondered how the activists would feel if a corporation had sent infiltrators to an antiglobalization rally with a sign like "Keep Those Colorful Natives in Their Quaint Villages!"

In fact, though, the activists would probably be delighted at the corporate infiltration -- another injustice to protest! They could devote another Sunday to a rally at the company's headquarters, complete with television cameras, angry speeches, and a crowd of a lot more than 50.

Whatever the powers of capitalists, they can't compete with moralists and politicians when it comes to public protests. Two months ago, it looked on television as if the masses in the streets of Afghanistan and Pakistan embraced the Taliban and its extreme antiglobalization policies. There weren't daily violent protests for the right to buy televisions, CD's and cosmetics.

The supporters of free trade didn't hit the streets of Kabul until later, and all they did was shop, just as thousands of people were doing on Fifth Avenue on Sunday afternoon. They were too busy doing their own walk for capitalism to notice the little group walking behind a banner.

Subj: [PLANET] Lagos reports successful D2 event Date: 12/7/01 5:43:56 PM Eastern Standard Time From: prodos@prodos.com Reply-to: ProjectLeadersActionNetwork@yahoogroups.com To: ProjectLeadersActionNetwork@YahooGroups.com Sent from the Internet (Details)

Though it was smaller than we had planned the walk and the capitalism day celebration was a huge success. Over 80 were involved in the walk. Blue ribbons were given out, handouts and leaflets were given. Then there was a wonderful celebration time at the beach side. Enternment was supplied by some native musiciansn and there was lots to drink and eat. It ended with a speech by me. We prayed for a more successful walk by [2002]. Pictures were taken, and there was adequate media coverage. The pictures will be posted soon.

Thanks to all who have contributed to this fantastic development . I hope to be part of this team for ever .

Subj: [PLANET] Nice Article on Los Angeles Walk Date: 12/7/01 8:45:59 PM Eastern Standard Time From: betsy@speicher.com Reply-to: ProjectLeadersActionNetwork@yahoogroups.com To: ProjectLeadersActionNetwork@yahoogroups.com Sent from the Internet (Details)

There's a amazingly nice story about the Los Angeles Walk for Capitalism in the LA Weekly currently available throughout Los Angeles and on the Web.

It is nice because it is illustrated with a lovely picture of Ayn Rand, quotes my deliberately planted "sound bytes" accurately, and caught some of the spirit of the event. It is amazing because the LA Weekly is a Leftist Rag.

Subj: [PLANET] WND on WFC Date: 12/8/01 5:43:00 AM Eastern Standard Time From: fredrik@fredriknorman.com Reply-to: ProjectLeadersActionNetwork@yahoogroups.com To: ProjectLeadersActionNetwork@yahoogroups.com Sent from the Internet (Details)

Libertarian activists from around the country have participated in the first "Walk for Capitalism" to show support for free-trade policies and private property rights.

The event, which took place Dec. 2, involved "hundreds" of Libertarians who "marched, displayed signs, chanted pro-capitalism slogans, fended off protesters and gave out awards to selected entrepreneurs to honor their contributions to economic freedom," according to a statement released by the party's national headquarters yesterday.

Created by Australian radio personality PRODOS, LP officials say the event was actually global in scope and involved more than 100 cities.

"Capitalism is frequently portrayed as the epitome of evil in popular culture and in the media," said North Carolina Chairman Barbara Howe, who walked in Raleigh. "It was time that an event celebrated the contributions that capitalism has made to the world."

"It was great to see many people reading our pro-capitalism signs, then honking their horns and giving us thumbs-up," added Noelle Stettner, a Libertarian radio announcer who walked in northern Virginia and who hopes the event is staged annually. "I didn't see even one person react negatively."

Libertarians and Objectivists who gathered to walk the Boston Freedom Trail were met by several anti-capitalist protesters who carried signs such as "Capitalism Kills Children" and "Eat the Poor." "These same people would later mingle with our group during the walk and shout similar things, attempting to pass themselves off as capitalists," noted Kamal Jain, LP state executive director for Massachusetts

In Raleigh, Libertarians and other supporters of economic freedom marched with a pony at the state Capitol. "He added a fun element and was the subject of his owner's speech to the crowd," said event organizer Bobby Emory. "The owner pointed out that, just like us, the pony depended on capitalism for his food."

In Seattle, Wash., free-market proponents were "jeered by dozens of socialist counter-demonstrators" during their walk to Westlake Park, the site of two recent demonstrations commemorating the WTO riot, said local party officials. Microsoft CEO and founder Bill Gates was honored as "Capitalist of the Day."

"For the first walk, [it was] a success," said Washington resident and LP member Greg Clark. "As we build on this, the message of free minds and free markets will resound."

Members also walked near the nation's capital, but to avoid the "bureaucratic hurdles" of trying to get a permit in Washington, they organized their event across the Potomac in Arlington, Va.

"Capitalism and Libertarianism are about choice: the choice of how to spend, invest and save one's money," Stettner said.

LP members also walked in San Jose, Calif., Honolulu, Hawaii, and Westminster, Md.

Imagine a small to medium sized town. On the main street there is ONE restaurant. Just one. If you want to eat out, that's the place to go.

One fine day, some bright spark gets the idea of opening his own restaurant a few doors down from the first one. I suppose that's what we call "competition," right?

We often (wrongly) think of the free market as a place for "competition". And that this competition means driving our competitors out of business by virtue of providing better products and services, appealing to the consumer, who then spends his money in your establishment rather than your competitor's establishment.

What the first restauranter should do is invite at least two other restaurants to ALSO set up near the existing ones. By doing that, he creates a "restaurant strip". He creates a market for restaurants in that area. The place will thrive.

On this day, December 12, 2001, the Centenary of Guglielmo Marconi's first transantlantic radio transmission, I hereby invite you to praise this great inventor and entrepreneur http://www.nobel.se/physics/laureates/1909/marconi-bio.html and to:

The RationalVoice Project has an initial goal of training and setting up 100 new autonomous, pro capitalism radio presenters/interviewers around the world.

If you are a supporter of Capitalism. If you have a positive attitude about upholding freedom and prosperity (rather than simply being anti government) and are an admirer of the Creators and Producers of the world - whether they are entrepreneurs, poets, teachers, or scientists.

If your viewpoint is aligned with thinkers such as John Locke, Thomas Jefferson, Frederic Bastiat, Ayn Rand, Ludwig Von Mises, and Adam Smith - I invite you to join the RationalVoice Project.

You will get free coaching and support and be encouraged to develop your own personal style as a presenter and interviewer. Most importantly you will be protected from many of the myths about being a presenter (such as needing to have a "good radio voice")

RationalVoice shows need not be confined to political or philosophical issues. But all RationalVoice presenters need to at least include some degree of positive, pro capitalism content in their shows from time to time. Internet TV shows are also welcome.

More details will be available soon. And I will be defining some guidelines, rules, and restrictions - but nothing onerous or daunting :-) To register your interest please email prodos@RationalVoice.ORG and tell me a little about yourself. Please also provide your phone number.

Subj: [PLANET] Kingston report Date: 12/10/01 4:25:17 PM Eastern Standard Time From: PJaworski@Hotmail.com Reply-to: ProjectLeadersActionNetwork@yahoogroups.com To: ProjectLeadersActionNetwork@YahooGroups.com Sent from the Internet (Details)

Here's the lo down for Kingston: Approximately 30 folk participated. We got counter demonstrated (about 12 folk in full regalia--including top hats, signs and so on). What follows is our press release, which explains what happened in Kingston well. It wasn't picked up though... so it goes. We did get some campus press coverage, and, through letters to the editor, we generated more interest.

To Alberta: Good choice for the award. Matthew Johnston kicks ass. And you can tell him I said so. :)

I want to thank Warren Senkowski (Pres of Queen's Objectivist Association) for all his help. He really was awesome. The rest of the gang that helped out as well (Lanny, Shawna, Adam, Jeff, John, and so on... we got lots of help here).

Subj: [PLANET] W4C vs N30 Date: 12/10/01 4:29:47 PM Eastern Standard Time From: tym_parsons@yahoo.com Reply-to: ProjectLeadersActionNetwork@yahoogroups.com To: ProjectLeadersActionNetwork@yahoogroups.com, W4CSEA@yahoogroups.com Sent from the Internet (Details)

Below are some talking points I sent to local media, in followup of D2 coverage.

What are we to make of a group that turns out on a cold Seattle weekend afternoon, in order to extol the values that made this country great? And what does it say about a group that does everything in its power to suppress the message of the first group? What is this latter group so afraid of, that it would go to every length to systematically misrepresent, distort, discredit, disrupt, shout down, and jeer at their message?

And what are we to make of a media that fails to objectively report the event, favoring style over substance?

For this is exactly what happened during the WalkForCapitalism last Sunday, December 2. And it happened on a worldwide basis, not just in Seattle. WalkForCapitalism, a group that held rallies in over 100 cities worldwide on that day, stands for individual rights, private property, free trade, globalism, and technology.

Prodos, the global coordinator for the group, reported an unprecedented onslaught of Internet viruses and worms sent against his computer in the days leading up to D2. Perhaps not coincidentally, there was widespread talk on websites around the world of an ugly "civil disobedience" campaign to infiltrate, disrupt, and parody the WalkForCapitalism.

On Sunday these nihilists attempted to insinuate themselves into our group, carrying signs with disingenuous or fraudulent slogans. At the rally they screamed and yelled at us, and did everything they could to detract from, trivialize, or drown out our message. I have to wonder why these leftists are so scared of our message that they would try to suppress it with such ugly, dishonest tactics. In any case it provided a dramatic perceptual contrast between the two groups, to anyone who was actually there.

As events unfolded at Westlake Park on Sunday, the local media generally chose to focus on the theatrical gimmicks of the anticapitalists, rather than meaningful reportage of what W4C stood for.

The MORAL basis for capitalism is the idea that the proper goal of an individual's actions is his own welfare. Capitalism is the system of individual rights: the right to life, and by extension of that, liberty, property, and the pursuit of happiness. That means that the individual owns his own life by _right_, rather than by permission of society.

The PRACTICAL result of capitalism around the world is unprecedented prosperity, insofar as any given country is capitalist.

Subj: [PLANET] THANKS PRODOS Date: 12/10/01 4:32:11 PM Eastern Standard Time From: wilensd@aol.com Reply-to: ProjectLeadersActionNetwork@yahoogroups.com To: ProjectLeadersActionNetwork@yahoogroups.com Sent from the Internet (Details)

If I haven't yet done so, I want to register a tremendous thank-you to Prodos and his staff for their great leadership of W4C. I can imagine the demands on their time and the trade-offs they must have had to make to pull it all off successfully. Thanks to them we all accomplished our exact objective: showed the world the alternative to the mindlessness of the socialist uprisings and put capitalism back on the map thereby. And we did it successfully because of the vision, concern and responsiveness of Prodos and all of his support staff-the moderators, the web designers, and everyone else who had good ideas and a hand to lend. Also thanks to the other coordinators and to Kyle McFarlane for helping me get my website up and running.

Subj: [PLANET] Seattle P-I op-ed response Date: 12/10/01 4:36:16 PM Eastern Standard Time From: tym_parsons@yahoo.com Reply-to: ProjectLeadersActionNetwork@yahoogroups.com To: ProjectLeadersActionNetwork@yahoogroups.com, W4CSEA@yahoogroups.com Sent from the Internet (Details)

In the Saturday Seattle P-I there were two LTEs in response to my editorial from last week:

Contrary to what Alton Brand baselessly asserts (12/8), laws limiting capitalism are immoral in principle, and a disaster in practise.

The moral basis for capitalism is the idea that the proper goal of an individual's actions is his own welfare. Capitalism, the system of individual rights, is the only system that allows this.

Consider the immorality of government controls on wages, prices, and workplace conditions, which Mr. Brand supports. I say that the only “fair” arrangement is one voluntarily arrived at by both buyer and seller, in an atmosphere free of the initiation of physical force. Government force violates this e.g. with ruinous fines, prison, or even death; it disrupts its victims’ ability to think and act.

Government controls cause unemployment, inflation, shortages, decreased productivity, and destruction of wealth. Whenever government interferes in the economy it has bad effects; this is economic fact. For details see economist Ludwig von Mises.

Jean Fallow’s letter (also 12/8) shows failure to think in principles. Substitute “Iranian” for “Arab” or “Middle Eastern,” or yesterday for today, and everything in my essay still holds. It shows that hatred of Western values is the fundamental explanation for tyrannical governments in the region, not US intervention.

Subj: [PLANET] T-shirts available from the Perth Walk Date: 12/10/01 4:37:36 PM Eastern Standard Time From: warrenstewartperth@yahoo.com.au Reply-to: ProjectLeadersActionNetwork@yahoogroups.com To: ProjectLeadersActionNetwork@yahoogroups.com Sent from the Internet (Details)

I have extra shirts to trade. I made up 20 shirts with the following on the back:

And three columns of cities in alphabetical order with the 3-letter country code. Final line says "114 cities worldwide"

(These were printed on the Thursday before the walk) The point is I have 12 shirts left in various sizes in grey or white both with blue letters.

I reeeallly would like to trade with others that have made shirts for their walk in their city.

If that isn't possible then I would like to trade a Walk-shirt for a fantastic shirt from your city (But not too touristy)(Skyscraprs and city skylines are beaut).

Here is another newspaper article on our walk in Delhi. We had a lot of press coverage, eight at the last count with three photographs. Some of the links are available on our web site www.walkforcapitalism.org/delhi And the walk was also mentioned in detail on one of the local FM channels a couple of days later on December 4.

In his column in the Financial Express on December 11, 2001, Bibek Debroy, highlights the Walk in Delhi. The author had walked with us. Barun
> -----------------------------------------------------------------
>
> THE FINANCIAL EXPRESS
> Editorials
> Tuesday, December 11, 2001
>
http://www.financialexpress.com/fe20011211/ed4.html

McDonald's and a drummer boy
Rewarding entrepreneurship's an intriguing concept for Indians
Bibek Debroy

December 2 was celebrated as World Capitalism Day, in 115 cities across the world, India chipping in with Delhi and Mumbai. There was a Walk for Capitalism, sponsored by Prodos Institute's Capitalism Worldwide Campaign. The official position statement of the Walk for Capitalism is the Bernstein Declaration, written by Andrew Bernstein, author of "The Capitalist
Manifesto". In brief, this is what it says. "The more capitalist a culture the greater its freedom and prosperity. Less capitalism means
more human misery.
>
Capitalism is successful because of freedom. Men and women of all countries unite in your support of capitalism. You have a world of joyous achievement to win." And implicitly, your chains to lose. Henceforth, the first Sunday of December will be thus celebrated every year.
>
> In Delhi, the walk was organised by Liberty Institute. Assemble at "A" Block, Inner Circle, Connaught Place, was the instruction. At 1.15 in the afternoon. The walk will start at 1.30. People begin to assemble in trickles. In ones and twos. There are placards and banners. Blue caps marked "Walk for Capitalism" for the heads. For those of you not from Delhi, Connaught Place is closed on Sundays. Most shops are closed. Not too many other people, the odd tourist. A few Indians with nothing better to on a Sunday afternoon. Soon, there are around 50 walkers and around 20 curious bystanders. The bystanders are puzzled. "What film shooting is going on?" asks one. The walk doesn't start at 1.15. Permissions are required for such walks. From police and local administration. The permission is for 2.00. Before that, the tempo and the cycle-rickshaw with loudspeakers, music system and sundry other props will not be allowed in. In any case, the rickshaw will not be allowed. By 2.00, things are sorted out. The Master of Ceremonies makes a speech. Appropriate music is played and the walk is flagged off.
>
> The plan is the following. Circumambulate Inner Circle clock-wise. Certain establishments have been singled out for special citations, representative of the virtues of enterprise and capitalism. Respect for law, property rights and the right to choose. There is a list of these establishments. Stop at these. One walker makes a brief speech, highlighting why that establishment has been chosen for the citation and the award.
>
> The citation and a double-blue ribbon are then formally presented. The dark blue in the ribbon symbolises capitalism, the light blue infinite opportunities. Cheers are raised for that particular establishment and the walk moves on. When the establishment is closed, as happens often, the citation and the ribbon are stuck on to the front door. Twelve such establishments have thus been singled out, with four awards in reserve. Other than the cheering, no slogans.
The walk begins and is soon joined by around ten urchins. Eight of them areplain beggars, hoping for some money. Two are more enterprising. They have drums with them and the walk proceeds to the accompaniment of drumbeats. (The drummers are monetarily rewarded at the end.) The establishments belong to three categories. Some are completely closed and life is simple.
Stick the stuff on to the door and move on. Some are partially open. There is a security guard hanging around or some employee working over-time. Bit of a problem there.
>
> Security guards are suspicious, though they haven't heard of Anthrax. Compromises work. The envelope with the citation is handed over to the guard and the ribbon stuck to the door. The ones that are open are the problem. If a citation is to be presented and a speech made, one would like someone from the open establishment to come out and be present. Receive the citation for God's sake! Doesn't work that way. Whoever has heard of people being rewarded in India for entrepreneurship?
>
> People don't come out. Even if there are no red flags, you might be beaten up, with fifty characters around. Why take the chance? The prime
> example of this is McDonald's. "It is against company policy," says the manager. What is against company policy? To receive a citation, as opposed to sticks and stones? To come out of the premises to receive it? The answer is not clear. There is a suggestion that the award be given to Nirula's instead. But no Nirula's is immediately in sight. So the award is stuck on to the McDonald's door and the walk moves on. To keep the record straight, NIIT behaves differently. The representative grins from ear to ear as he receives the award. Four reserve awards. For special awardees. A cigarette and paan shop owner, an auto-rickshaw driver, an ice cream vendor and a shoeshine boy. Who else battles the inspector raj so consistently to earn a living? The cigarette and paan shop owner doesn't bat an eyelid. He has been witness of several such tamashas. He keeps on rolling his paans, he has no time to waste on such trivialities. He signals with his hand that the walk is welcome to stick the award on the shop and move on. That done, one moves to the ice cream vendor. The poor guy is in a state of shock. But stomachs the sight of a ribbon stuck to his cart. Probably takes it off immediately afterwards. The auto-rickshaw driver is a different proposition. He is in a queue with other drivers, waiting for customers, and this sudden bolt from the blue raises his esteem in the eyes of fellow-drivers. The ribbon is proudly stuck to the windscreen. No signs of a shoe-shine boy though. They have all disappeared. Perhaps it is the Sunday effect. Perhaps they are discouraged at the sight of most of the walkers wearing sneakers rather than normal shoes. As a substitute, one of the drummer boys is rewarded instead. He has displayed enough enterprise.
>
> The walk is over, having returned to where it started. There are more bystanders now. Goaded by the sight of bystanders, slogans are raised for the first time. "Socialism murdabad. Capitalism zindabad." The bystanders seem happier. These guys are normal after all.

Bibek Debroy is the Director of the Rajiv Gandhi Institute for Contemporary Studies in New Delhi, and one of the most prominent economist in India advocating for free trade.

> I have extra shirts to trade. I made up 20 shirts with the following > on the back: > > www.walkforcapitalism.org/PERTH > CAPITALISM WORLD TOUR > December 2nd 2001

We also have extra shirts to trade from the Auckland walk! Due to a delivery problem on the Sunday a number of our Auckland T-shirts are available to trade - WalkForCapitalism and a twin towers logo on front, and a rather funky cartoon on the back: 'From the Slime to the Sublime' (which stars Prodos).

Send your shirt(s) to Peter Cresswell, 11 Castle Drive, Epsom, Auckland, NZ [size XXL please] and I'll send a shirt to your return address.

20 or so of us marched on December 2, 2001 in Chicago, Illinois to kick off what will hopefully be a growing annual event for Capitalism in Chicago. We started at the Sears Tower @ 10AM and winded our way through the Loop (the downtown district of Chicago) to Buckingham Fountain by Lake Michigan. We stopped off @ McDonald's, the Chicago Board of Trade, and Borders Books and Music (just to name a few places) to tie the ribbons. We were followed by some anti-capitalists who doctored one of ours signs and tried to debate with us on why Capitalism was wrong. They were benign and left us alone after awhile.

At Buckingham Fountain, I made a speech which can be seen at our website (see my signature below) and gave a speech, also seen at the website, about the award winner Ed Kaplan. We got lots of greats pics and the weather was gorgeous. Everyone who attended seemed to have a good time and I can't wait to do it again next year. After, the ceremony we all enjoyed a lunch at Bennigan's on North Michigan Avenue. If you are in Chicago or are going to be in Chicago for D1 2002 and want to be part of the festivities, please email me. I am always looking for people to walk with us who agree with the Bernstein Position Statement.

Finally, thanks to Prodos for this wonderful opportunity and kudos to everyone else for walking. This is the beginning and the beginning will be the toughest part for now.