<nettime> Help us launch the Yes Lab! Support our Kickstarter campaign

[The Yes Men]

Please support the Yes Lab!

Dear Friends,

The Yes Men need your help.

For years, webve been tossing our little buckets of water on the blazes of 
social injustice. Last year, we decided to form a bucket brigade: a system 
(webre calling it the Yes Lab) to help others do the kind of funny, 
headline-grabbing actions webre known for.

It worked. In its embryonic first year, the Yes Lab helped launch nearly a 
dozen activist media campaigns (see below), garnering a total of 4.5 metric 
tons of media hype. It even attracted threatening legal letters (frames not 
included) from five coal companies, one oil transport company, one utility, 
France, and GE! (Seriously, GE, no one meant to knock $3.5 billion off your 
share price. But no onebs sorry, either.)

Given this proof of concept, the Yes Lab is now (almost) ready for prime 
time.

Itbs got a brand-new home at New York University, complete with plenty of 
space, a big supportive crew, lots of eager collaborators, and a structure 
that will let it tackle five or so projects at once. (If youbre in New 
York, come to our launch Sept. 14 and see how you can get involved!) Itbs 
also got a lovely new website that will soon have a number of fancy tools 
to help hundreds more carry out or join up with Yes Lab projects.

Therebs only one hitch. Webve got the venue, the participants, and (soon) 
the tools. But webre short on cash for the projects themselvesbwhich, of 
course, are the entire point of the Yes Lab. Thatbs why today, webre asking 
for $10,000 on Kickstarter, to hire project managers and cover expenses for 
projects that donbt have other funding. It's all the Yes Lab needs to 
become a fully-functioning mischief machine.

OK, you got the point of this email: the Yes Lab needs money. So here,  
without further ado, is a summary of last year's mischief, accomplished by 
just a few dozen folks. Imagine what hundreds will be able to do!

General Electric Short-Circuited
Activists US Uncut, with a little help from the Yes Lab, sent out a press 
release announcing that General Electric would repay the $3.2 billion tax 
credit they received last year despite massive profits. The announcement 
was momentarily picked up as true by the AP, and the market, unable to 
leave a good deed unpunished, responded by knocking $3.5 billion off GEbs 
share price. The result was massive, enlightening coverage of GEbs 
tax-cheating ways on everything from local TV to CNN.

What the heck is an Asthmaze?
A small group of activists wondered how a big coal company might address 
the fact that coal causes childhood asthma. The result: bCoal Cares,b a 
faux greenwashing campaign in which Peabody Coal tried to bmake asthma 
coolb with free themed inhalers to kids living within 200 miles of a coal 
plant. The site, taken as real by many, quickly went massively viral, which 
didnbt amuse Peabody one bit but did help publicize coal as a major public 
health issue. And as it happened, in the week following the launch of Coal 
Cares, a real-life attempt by the coal industry to mislead children was 
defeated by the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood. Hooray!

Beat Up On Chevron? We Agree.
Chevron decided to launch a $90 million greenwashing campaign with a  
street-art aesthetic, and was stupid enough to approach street artists for 
help. One of them, Cesar Maxit, promptly leaked Chevronbs plans to Amazon 
Watch. The Yes Lab helped Amazon Watch and Rainforest Action Network (RAN) 
release a much more honest version of Chevronbs campaign just hours ahead 
of the brealb McCoy, generating a deluge of media coverage. Hundreds of 
user submissions and some amazing videos from FunnyOrDie further derailed 
Chevronbs $90 million lie, infuriating Chevron even morebthough not quite 
as much as the $18 billion judgment against them in Ecuador, which Chevron 
has vowed never to pay. The fight goes on.

Coal Burns Wealthy Neighborhood. Neighbors Nonplussed.
Students from Columbia College in Chicago came together with Greenpeace and 
the Yes Lab to create the illusion that a new coal plant was planned in 
their citybbut that instead of going in a poor neighborhood (like the two 
coal plants that already exist in Chicago), this one would be built in a 
rich one. The plans got a rise out of residents and the media, and helped 
focus attention on Chicagobs much-needed Clean Power Ordinance.

Canada was the victim of two Yes-Lab-assisted actions, both targeting the 
Alberta Tar Sands, the England-sized mess that has made Canada the worst 
per-capita carbon emitter on earth.

Hair Clogs Pipeline
In the first Canadian action, a group of activists had Enbridgebwho are 
aiming to build a massive pipeline from the Alberta Tar Sands through 
pristine wilderness to the British Columbia coastbannounce bMy Hair Cares,b 
a crackpot plan to sop up inevitable spills along the pipeline route with 
the hair of volunteers. The resulting press publicized Enbridgebs botched 
spill cleanup in Michigan, and let Canadians know how stupid it can be to 
let oil flow through your watershed.

More and More Mordor
In the second Canada-centered action, a group of students, working with 
Greenpeace, launched a surreal campaign, complete with infomercials, cell 
phone videos, a tweeting campaign, a Facebook page, etc. to make folks in 
Canada think that the new Hobbit film was saving money on Mordor scenes by 
shooting them in the Tar Sands. The bnewsb went quickly viral and helped to 
cement the Canadian Governmentbs reputation as top-shelf planet-killing 
bastards.

Canadian War Room Defeated
Another Canadian action on the same subject took place way back in  
December 2009, before the Yes Lab really existedbbut it happened according 
to the same model, so the Yes Lab is claiming it. Read about it here!

France Remains Offensive
An ad-hoc group called CRIME (Committee for the Reimbursement of Indemnity 
Money Extorted from Haiti) announced, on Francebs behalf, the repayment of 
b,17 billion to Haiti in relief aidba payment equal to that which France 
extorted from Haiti in 1804 as a condition for their independence. Because 
of Francebs ham-fisted reaction, the story received global attention, 
alerting many to the deep colonial roots of Haitibs problems. The media 
attention was also used to launch a campaign that further built pressure on 
France to do the right thing.

People Bite Apple
Itbs a bummer that our shiny tech toys are made using the blood of  
peoplebor, more precisely, the bconflict mineralsb that play a big role in 
the violence and instability of Central Africa. So a group of students, 
together with Friends of the Congo, produced a fake Apple ad campaign 
touting a bConflict-Free iPhone,b and calling for the citizenbs arrest of 
John Paulson, whose company finances some of the worst extraction 
practices. The project received hundreds of media hits worldwide.

Unnatural Gas
Students and local activists launched a campaign to cover Manhattan with 
stickers warning residents that if a ban on hydraulic fracturing is not 
extended in New York State, theybll soon need to test for their waterbs 
safety by trying to light it on fire. The project communicated viscerally 
just whatbs at stake if gas companies are allowed to drill in New Yorkbs 
aquifer, as the companies are demanding.

Shell Game Uncovers Oil Slick
In the Hague, activists impersonated oil giant Shell and publicly  
apologized for devastating the Niger Delta each year with oil spills  
larger than that of the Exxon Valdez. The action generated hundreds of  
storiesball highlighting Shellbs atrocious record.

Phew. Not bad for something that still hasnbt launched!

Meanwhile, as long as we're writing a long breezy email, we have other  
news too:

Tim DeChristopher
Tim DeChristopherbs amazing story continues to inspire a movement. Hebs 
currently living in a federal prison, in a tiny room he was offered in 
exchange for single-handedly saving hundreds of thousands of acres of 
gorgeous Utah wilderness from destruction at the hands of Big Oil and Gas. 
Listen to Tim speak about why he did what he did, and what hebs asking of 
youband then make up your mind.

CointelCOC
Speaking of small rooms, we are still, almost two years later, waiting for 
the judge to rule whether to throw out the US Chamber of Commercebs lawsuit 
against us. Meanwhile, the Chamberbs lawyersbthe same ones who are 
apparently suing usbrecently made big news for dirty tricks not seen since 
the days of CointelPro. We almost hope we have a chance to address these 
creeps in court. Meanwhile, webll have to be content trying to express our 
anger in other ways.

Yes Men Revolting
Our latest film, The Yes Men Fix the World, didnbt. It won the Berlin  
Audience Award and the UKbs most prestigious prize in documentary film, was 
released theatrically in the U.S. and 40 other countries, and was shown on 
HBO and all kinds of other TV. But it simply did not fix the worldbwhich is 
why our new film will be called The Yes Men Are Revolting. Itbll feature 
many of the Yes-Lab-assisted actions above, as well as conversations with 
funny people who have overthrown tyrannies worldwide. Itbll be funny and 
watchable, and will use the word brevolutionb quite a bit. Isnbt it time? 
The rich (except for Warren Buffett) are not getting nicer, and our leaders 
seem less and less able to think about us. So letbs say it: 
bre-vo-lu-tion.b Goooood.

Finally, huge, huge thanks to all of you who helped make the long list of 
Yes Lab-supported hijinks happen. We believe humor can have a role in 
shaking off tyranny, whether of one crazy dictator or of a whole bad idea. 
Please keep active in whatever way you can, and if you can, please pledge 
to our campaign. THANKS!!

Gratefully yours,
The Yes Men




#  distributed via <nettime>: no commercial use without permission
#  <nettime>  is a moderated mailing list for net criticism,
#  collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets
#  more info: http://mx.kein.org/mailman/listinfo/nettime-l
#  archive: http://www.nettime.org contact: nettime at kein.org

----- End forwarded message -----
-- 
Eugen* Leitl <a href="http://leitl.org">leitl</a> http://leitl.org
______________________________________________________________
ICBM: 48.07100, 11.36820 http://www.ativel.com http://postbiota.org
8B29F6BE: 099D 78BA 2FD3 B014 B08A  7779 75B0 2443 8B29 F6BE