roots of compassion

spring is finally here and we’re happy to introduce 3 new t-shirt designs and one new zipped hoody!
plus we found a great new shoe - the “NEW FANATIC BLACK” from the wonderful vegetarian shoes company. a very classic and basic street sneaker design, made from highly breathable and supple vegetan micro with vent holes on the side.
if you feel like reading a good book, we can recommend “MAKING A KILLING” by bob torres. a book that draws a very straight line between capitalism and the oppressive system of animal agribusiness. torres provides a convincing argument that in order to fight animal exploitation, we must also fight capitalism.
and finally, if you feel like chocolate, we have some really delicious new chocolate bars from bonvita in the shop - RICEMILK COFFEE and WHITE RICEMILK CRANBERRY!

enjoy the sun!

we’ve started introducing organic cotton t-shirts and jackets in addition to our already sweatshop-free clothing range. in the future all black t-shirts and unisex hooded sweatshirts will be made from organic cotton.
organic cotton means that no pesticides or herbicides were used to grow the cotton, so the soil and water were not polluted, nor did farm workers breathe in any harmful chemicals as they worked with the cotton.
in the future we hope to completely switch to organic cotton, once our supplier will introduce all colours and styles in organic cotton

its the 5th of march and the MYVS project ended 5 days ago. thanks to everyone who took part in the project and supported us by spreading the word and especially for sending us their shortfilm. the jury will take their time until the end of march to make a selection and will announce the winners on april 1st!

has arrived.

Expect Resistance is not one but three books, each of which may be read as a complete work unto itself. The first book, printed in standard black ink, continues the inquiry into modern life and its discontents begun in Days of War, Nights of Love. Just as that book included improved versions of texts originally published between 1996 and 1999, this book draws on CrimethInc. material from 2000 to 2004, painstakingly refined and augmented with a great deal of new content. The second book, in red ink, is a composite account, related by three narrators, of the adventures and tribulations that inevitably ensue when people pursuing their dreams enter into conflict with the world as it is.

Together these comprise a third book, an exploration of the complex relationship between ideals and reality. Expect Resistance is a field manual for a field on which all manuals are useless, a meditation on individual transformation and collective resistance in disastrous times, and a masterpiece that raises the bar for radical publishing.

>>> expect resistance

time to finish your short film or start thinking about a project real quick since the make your voice seen project is coming to an end on february 29th!
what is ‘make your voice seen’? its a short film project that is looking for your ideas on how to change the world. whether it’s filmed with your cellphone, on 8mm or with a professional camera, all that matters is the message. if your film gets into the top ten, we’ll put it on a dvd that will be available via the roots of compassion online shop and other mailorder distros and stores worldwide. the films will be shown in local cinemas on film festival, gatherings and other suitable occasions.

>>> make your voice seen project site (english/german)

after a five week odyssey through the US, roots of compassion agents marc and michi gathered over 40hrs of footage for their documentary about the straight edge lifestyle. their trip took them from new york, all across the continent to los angeles from where they returned on nov 22nd (i hear they also had some amazing vegan food along the way).
editing will begin this month and you can check on the status of the project or read about the trip in the edge project blog:

>>> edge.compassionmedia.org

we wish everyone a happy new year and would like to thank all of you that supported us through 2007!
it certainly was another awesome year for the ROC collective with the relaunch of the new website, the online shop and the move into our shiny new office!
of course we have a long list of projects and other marvellous undertakings on our to-do-list (eg. the edge project, the make your voice seen project and more), so you can all look forward to hearing from us real soon! oh and by the way - if you haven’t heard about the ‘make your voice seen’ project so far, make sure you do (see below) before its over!

big news! in about two days we’ll start with the production of our first feature documentary! yep. the edge project is a documentary of the past and present of straight edge in the US.

“26 years after minor threat released the song ’straight edge’, the idea of a drugfree lifestyle has become a vital form of resistance to a worldwide intoxication culture of alcohol, nicotine and other drugs. but the refusal of drugs anywhere in mainstream culture leads to significant changes. this documentary will look behind the scenes of straight edge. the people living the idea. how it changed their lives and what it means to them.”

>>> edge.compassionmedia.org

we have a new clothing supplier! we’ve decided that american apparel does not meet our standards anymore. we don’t like their sexist ads with women being objectified plus - reports from knowmore.org and clamor magazine reveiled that AA is hostile to employees organizing for job security and against the speed of work and layoffs. when employees tried to form a union, the company unleashed an intimidation campaign that mirrored the aggressive union-busting techniques of other major manufacturers.
continental clothing is a fair wear accredited company that has a very high ethical standard.
they recently started a campaign to boycott uzbek cotton - due to the fact that the uzbek regime is responsible for torture, slave labour and a continuing environmental disaster on an unimaginable scale - all in the name of cotton production.
and not enough - continental further announced that they are going 100% organic! they have purchased 750 tonnes of ‘100% organic cotton - in conversion’, which is due to be harvested in october. thereafter, from november onwards, all continental cotton garments will be 100% organic, or 100% organic - in conversion. continental will be the first major manufacturer to do this, and the implications for the apparel industry is enormous.
you will note that all items using continental clothing are labelled with the fair wear logo. all other items are still using american apparel stock and will be labelled as well once the old stock has been sold!

a new global anti-fur campaign against the escada designer group is being kicked off with a weekend of action from the 12th through the 14th of october. the campaign operating under the banner of the global network against the fur industry and is calling for demos to take place at any shop or office in any part of the world that distributes or directly sells items by escada.
escada was selected as its target due to its high profile influence throughout the global fashion industry. escada’s 2007 autumn/winter collection includes many fur and fur trimmed items, and campaigners say that there are stores belonging to the escada group, or concessions or shop-in-shops of these brands selling fur in department stores in almost every city in the world.
escada has been contacted prior to the launch of this campaign in an effort to negotiate cooperation from the company to stop selling fur items. the company has refused to communicate with activists. a campaign press release states: “those in charge of the global luxury brand of escada have had enough time for consideration about the violence for which they are responsible, about the the deaths of thousands upon thousands of animals, and also about what it means to be the target of a campaign by the global animal rights / liberation movement. as the management of escada clearly sees no need to take action, the animal rights movement feels obliged to carry out world wide protests against the brands belonging to the escada group (escada, apriori, biba, cavita and laurèl).”

>>> campaign website