The phrase "Consume, be silent, die'" embodies a critique of consumer culture, capturing what Raoul Vaneigem called "the poverty of abundance". Variants include "work, consume, be silent, die" and "work, buy, consume, die". The phrase can be traced back to 1970s environmental protests but regained prominence during the Occupy Wall Street protests of 2011. [1]
Some claim the phrase's origin is in 1970s graffiti. One of Benny Zable's GreeDozer costumes includes the phrase. Early photos of this costume are undated, but Hutton and Connors (1999, p. 153) report sightings in 1979. [2] It was also familiar to train passengers in Sydney as graffiti on the wall of a tunnel approaching Central Station as early as 1972.
The phrase "Consume, be silent, die'" embodies a critique of consumer culture, capturing what Raoul Vaneigem called "the poverty of abundance". Variants include "work, consume, be silent, die" and "work, buy, consume, die". The phrase can be traced back to 1970s environmental protests but regained prominence during the Occupy Wall Street protests of 2011. [1]
Some claim the phrase's origin is in 1970s graffiti. One of Benny Zable's GreeDozer costumes includes the phrase. Early photos of this costume are undated, but Hutton and Connors (1999, p. 153) report sightings in 1979. [2] It was also familiar to train passengers in Sydney as graffiti on the wall of a tunnel approaching Central Station as early as 1972.