4.2.09

F I R S TP R E V934NEXTLAST

Digging it in the Haight
For many the term Hippie is synonymous with San Francisco. The word was derived from 'hipster' and was originally used to describe the ex-beatniks who congregated in San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury district. Soon a younger generation were dropping out of society and joining them. These new hippies created their own generational rebellion with their own music, clothes, language, art, and drugs.

But before the Hippies there were the Diggers, a mid-60s group inspired by a philosophy of social anarchism. The Diggers took their name from a 17th century English movement that sought a society free from any private property. The Diggers began to distribute free food in Golden Gate Park and opened free stores where people could get clothes, books, and housewares without charge. The group coined the phrases, 'Today is the first day of the rest of your life' and 'Do your own thing.' They even declared the Haight District, the Great Un-Society as opposed to LBJ's Great Society.

The Diggers also famously erected a giant empty wooden frame, the Free Frame of Reference, as a way to encourage people to see things differently. The Diggers greatly shaped the following Hippie movement and its philosophy of communal sharing. The Diggers' spirit lives on in events like the Really, Really Free Market, an event held on the last Saturday of every month in the Mission where everything is free - no trade, no barter, no money.
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1 Comments:

Blogger Tomate Farcie said...

This is great news!! I have things to bring to the free market.

10:49 PM  

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