By Alisa Solomon Nobody smashed any windows in an overcaffeinated rage at Starbucks in Washington, D. C., over the weekend, as many had predicted after the trashing the chain's outlets took in Seattle in February. But that doesn't mean that the steam has gone out of the rebel froth.
Coffee is the second-largest traded commodity, after oil.
Starbucks was the target of a national campaign against ecological damage and unfair labor conditions overseas that was to be launched last week by Global Exchange, on of the IMF rally organizers. The creation of the actor Bill Talen, Reverend Billy began preaching the anti-consumerist gospel in the Times Square Disney store three years ago. Wearing a white dinner jacket over a black T-shirt and a priest's collar, and flashing a salesman's smarmiest smile, he confronted shoppers with the ugly news that Bambi had been built in sweatshops, and lamented the corporate monoculture that has conquered Times Square. At the end of each stirring show, he'd lead the congregation into the streets to take part in a direct political action overseen by the organizers being celebrated that night. The Reverend Billy has become the Al Sharpton of the ultra-ironic yet politically committed Downtown set.