>Date: Thu, 30 Aug 2001 17:54:05 -0500 >Reply-To: Todd <[log in to unmask]> > Todd <[log in to unmask]> cultural jamming at its finest [log in to unmask] >heh heh > > This message is not commercial. Get off our list by writing > mailto:[log in to unmask]@hoth.gcn.ou.edu. > >August 30, 2001 >FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE > >WTO INTRODUCES NEW MEMBER >Gold and one meter long, phallus is brand-new technology to control >distant workers > >Anti-WTO impostors have struck again, delivering a lecture about the >rights of slavery, the stupidity of Gandhi, and the supremacy of free >trade to an enthusiastic crowd of scientists, engineers, and marketing >professionals--all of whom thought they were watching an official WTO >representative. > >The 150 experts at the "Textiles of the Future" conference in Tampere, >Finland heard one Hank Hardy Unruh explain that Gandhi's "self- >sufficiency" movement was entirely misguided, because it centered >around protectionism, and that Lincoln, by outlawing slavery, had >criminally interfered with the trade freedom of the South, as well as >with slavery's own freedom to develop naturally. Had slavery never >been abolished, Unruh said, today's much cheaper system of sweatshops >would have eventually replaced it anyhow; following this free-market >logic to the end, Unruh declared the Civil War just a big waste of >money. > >Finally, to applause from the highly educated audience, Unruh's >business suit was ripped off to reveal a golden leotard with a >three-foot-long phallus. The purpose of the "Management Leisure Suit", >he explained, was to allow managers, no matter where they were, to >monitor their distant, impoverished workforces and to administer >shocks to encourage productivity--assuring that no "Gandhi-type >situation" develop again. > >"If a group of Ph.D.s cheers at such crudely crazy things, just >because it's the WTO saying them, what else can the WTO get away >with?" said Andy Bichlbaum of the Yes Men, the impostors' umbrella >group. (The entire PowerPoint lecture is available at >http://www.theyesmen.org/finland/, along with some shots captured by >a video crew preparing a film on the Yes Men's activities.) > >The Yes Men had a similar experience last October with a group of >international trade lawyers (http://www.theyesmen.org/wto/). And in >July, a member of the group, again passing as a representative of the >WTO, appeared on a major television network show about protest's >effect on the market (http://theyesmen.org/tv.html); among other >things, he spoke about how the privatization of education will >naturally eliminate "unproductive" thinkers from the high-school >classroom, a long-term solution to the problem of protest. (Because >the imposture was not noticed and the Yes Men hope for further >appearances, the show's name is being withheld.) > >In other quarterly developments: > >* A conference session on techniques to counter anti-corporate >activism, normally available for $225 to corporate clients, is >available to activists for free at http://rtmark.com/prsa/, thanks to >an anonymous donor. > >* At the G8 protests in Genoa, activists distributed one thousand >vanity mirrors, which were then used to reflect the sun into the eyes >of attacking policemen; this fulfilled RTMark project MIRR >(http://rtmark.com/archimedes.html), and those who carried it out >received a $1,000 anonymous investment. > >The "Archimedes Project" comes on the heels of the medieval catapult >attack on the FTAA fortress in Quebec City, for which the workers were >awarded $200. For the upcoming IMF protests in Washington, D.C., on >September 29, an RTMark investor has offered $500 to any Lacrosse >team that harnesses their skills and equipment to throw tear gas >canisters back to the police (http://rtmark.com/fundhigh.html#LACR). > >* A software development kit and book from http://hactivist.com, >entitled "Child as Audience", allows anyone to reverse-engineer the >Nintendo Gameboy. Because of content that many will find >objectionable, RTMark has lent its corporate veil to the project, >meaning that any legal flak will be absorbed by the RTMark corporate >body rather than by those responsible. > >* The same label that enraged Geffen Records with "Deconstructing >Beck" is issuing its fourth RTMark-sponsored release, "A Mutated >Christmas," a paean to musical sharing illegally assembled from >copyrighted holiday music. Promotional copies will be available in >late September; press and radio requests should be directed to >mailto:[log in to unmask] > > >RTMark's primary goal is to publicize corporate subversion of the >democratic process. To this end it acts as a clearinghouse for >anti-corporate projects. A list of just-added projects is maintained >at http://rtmark.com/new.html. > > # 30 # > > This message is not commercial. Get off our list by writing > mailto:[log in to unmask]@hoth.gcn.ou.edu. > If you are receiving multiple copies of this release and would > rather receive only one, remove as above all versions but one. - "Every act of rebellion expresses a nostalgia for innocence and an appeal to the essence of being." (Albert Camus) ------------------------------------------------------------ the cry! arts and humanities http://www.thecry.com