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File under "Hacktivism?"<br>
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<th align="RIGHT" nowrap="nowrap" valign="BASELINE">Subject: </th>
<td>Help us launch the Yes Lab! Support our Kickstarter
campaign</td>
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<th align="RIGHT" nowrap="nowrap" valign="BASELINE">Date: </th>
<td>Wed, 7 Sep 2011 16:29:58 +0200 (CEST)</td>
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<th align="RIGHT" nowrap="nowrap" valign="BASELINE">From: </th>
<td>The Yes Men <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:donotreply@yeslab.org"><donotreply@yeslab.org></a></td>
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<th align="RIGHT" nowrap="nowrap" valign="BASELINE">Reply-To:
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<td><a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:mailing@yeslab.org">mailing@yeslab.org</a></td>
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<th align="RIGHT" nowrap="nowrap" valign="BASELINE">To: </th>
<td>mathart-emsh.calarts.edu <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:mathart@emsh.calarts.edu"><mathart@emsh.calarts.edu></a></td>
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<p align="center"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><strong><a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/yeslab/the-yes-men-present-the-yes-lab-for-creative-activ">Please
support the Yes Lab!</a></strong></font></p>
<p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Dear Friends,</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">The Yes Men <a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/yeslab/the-yes-men-present-the-yes-lab-for-creative-activ">need
your help</a>.</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">For years, we’ve been
tossing our little buckets of water on the blazes of social
injustice. Last year, we decided to form a bucket brigade: a
system (we’re calling it the <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.yeslab.org/">Yes Lab</a>) to help others do
the kind of funny, headline-grabbing actions we’re <a
moz-do-not-send="true">known for</a>.</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">It worked. In its
embryonic first year, the Yes Lab helped launch nearly a <a
moz-do-not-send="true">dozen activist media campaigns (see
below)</a>, garnering a total of <em>4.5 metric tons</em> of
media hype. It even attracted threatening legal letters (frames
not included) from five <a moz-do-not-send="true">coal
companies</a>, one <a moz-do-not-send="true">oil transport
company</a>, one <a moz-do-not-send="true">utility</a>, <a
moz-do-not-send="true">France</a>, and <a
moz-do-not-send="true">GE</a>! (Seriously, GE, no one meant to
knock $3.5 billion off your share price. But no one’s sorry,
either.)</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Given this proof of
concept, the Yes Lab is now (almost) ready for prime time.</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">It’s 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 you’re in New York, come to our <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://yeslab.org/article/nyu-launch">launch Sept. 14</a>
and see how you can get involved!) It’s also got a lovely new <a
moz-do-not-send="true" href="http://www.yeslab.org/">website</a>
that will soon have a number of fancy <a moz-do-not-send="true">tools</a>
to help hundreds more carry out or join up with Yes Lab
projects.</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">There’s only one hitch.
We’ve got the venue, the participants, and (soon) the tools. But
we’re short on cash for the projects themselves—which, of
course, are the entire point of the Yes Lab. That’s why today, <strong><a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/yeslab/the-yes-men-present-the-yes-lab-for-creative-activ">we’re
asking for $10,000 on Kickstarter</a></strong>, to hire
project managers and cover expenses for projects that don’t have
other funding. It's all the Yes Lab needs to become a
fully-functioning mischief machine.
</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">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!</font></p>
<blockquote>
<p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://yeslab.org/project/ge-returns-billions"><strong>General
Electric Short-Circuited</strong></a>
<br>
Activists <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.usuncut.org/">US Uncut</a>, with a little
help from the Yes Lab, sent out <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://yeslab.org/fake-ge-press-release">a press
release</a> 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 GE’s share
price. The result was massive, enlightening coverage of GE’s
tax-cheating ways on everything from local TV to CNN.</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://yeslab.org/project/coal-cares"><strong>What the
heck is an Asthmaze?</strong></a>
<br>
A small group of activists wondered how a big coal company
might address the fact that coal <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.lungusa.org/healthy-air/outdoor/resources/toxic-air-report/">causes
childhood asthma</a>. The result: “Coal Cares,” a <a
moz-do-not-send="true" href="http://www.coalcares.org/">faux
greenwashing campaign</a> in which Peabody Coal tried to
“make asthma cool” 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 <a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://yeslab.org/article/response-peabody">didn’t
amuse Peabody one bit</a> 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 <a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/12/education/12coal.html">attempt
by the coal industry to mislead children</a> was defeated by
the <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://commercialfreechildhood.blogspot.com/2011/05/scholastic-severs-ties-with-coal.html">Campaign
for a Commercial-Free Childhood</a>. Hooray!</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://yeslab.org/project/chevron"><strong>Beat Up On
Chevron? We Agree.</strong></a>
<br>
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 Chevron’s plans to Amazon Watch. The Yes Lab helped
Amazon Watch and Rainforest Action Network (RAN) release a <a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.chevron-weagree.com/">much more honest
version</a> of Chevron’s campaign just hours ahead of the
“real” McCoy, generating a deluge of media coverage. <a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://chevronthinkswerestupid.org/gallery">Hundreds
of user submissions</a> and some <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/b306db1443/chevron-thinks-we-re-stupid">amazing</a>
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/da1db3a886/anatomy-of-a-greenwash">videos</a>
from FunnyOrDie further derailed Chevron’s $90 million lie,
infuriating Chevron even more—though not quite as much as the
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.eenews.net/special_reports/ecuador">$18
billion judgment against them</a> in Ecuador, which Chevron
has vowed never to pay. The fight goes on.</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://yeslab.org/project/loop-coal"><strong>Coal
Burns Wealthy Neighborhood. Neighbors Nonplussed.</strong></a>
<br>
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 city—but 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 <a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.wbez.org/story/loop-coal-just-kidding-85747#">the
media</a>, and helped focus attention on Chicago’s
much-needed <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://cleanpowerchicago.org/">Clean Power Ordinance</a>.</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">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.</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://yeslab.org/project/my-hair-cares"><strong>Hair
Clogs Pipeline</strong></a>
<br>
In the first Canadian action, a group of activists had
Enbridge—who are aiming to build a massive pipeline from the
Alberta Tar Sands through pristine wilderness to the British
Columbia coast—announce “<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.myhaircares.com/">My Hair Cares</a>,” a
crackpot plan to sop up inevitable spills along the pipeline
route with the hair of volunteers. The resulting <a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://myhaircares.com/media.html">press</a>
publicized <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://vimeo.com/22067803">Enbridge’s botched spill
cleanup in Michigan</a>, and let Canadians know how stupid
it can be to let oil flow through your watershed.</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://yeslab.org/project/hobbit"><strong>More and
More Mordor</strong></a>
<br>
In the second Canada-centered action, a group of students,
working with Greenpeace, launched a <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://theyesmen.org/hobbit">surreal campaign</a>,
complete with infomercials, cell phone videos, a tweeting
campaign, <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://www.facebook.com/stopmordor">a Facebook page</a>,
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 “news” went quickly viral and helped to cement the
Canadian Government’s reputation as top-shelf planet-killing
bastards.</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://yeslab.org/project/cop15"><strong>Canadian War
Room Defeated</strong></a>
<br>
Another Canadian action on the same subject took place way
back in December 2009, before the Yes Lab really existed—but
it happened according to the same model, so the Yes Lab is
claiming it. Read about it <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://yeslab.org/project/cop15">here</a>!</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://yeslab.org/project/france-haiti"><strong>France
Remains Offensive</strong></a>
<br>
An ad-hoc group called CRIME (Committee for the Reimbursement
of Indemnity Money Extorted from Haiti) <a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/07/15/france-will-not-repay-haiti-reparations/">announced</a>,
on France’s behalf, the repayment of €17 billion to Haiti in
relief aid—a payment equal to that which France extorted from
Haiti in 1804 as a condition for their independence. Because
of France’s ham-fisted <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://politics.gaeatimes.com/2010/07/15/france-considering-legal-action-on-21-billion-haiti-hoax-48829/">reaction</a>,
the story received global attention, alerting many to the deep
colonial roots of Haiti’s problems. The media attention was
also used to launch <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/tag/c-r-i-m-e/">a
campaign</a> that further built pressure on France to do the
right thing.</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://yeslab.org/project/iphonecf"><strong>People
Bite Apple</strong></a>
<br>
It’s a bummer that our shiny tech toys are made using the
blood of people—or, more precisely, the “conflict minerals”
that play a big role in the violence and instability of
Central Africa. So a group of students, together with <a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.friendsofthecongo.org/">Friends of the
Congo</a>, produced a fake Apple ad campaign touting a “<a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.macnotes.net/2010/11/18/iphone-cf-apple-vs-the-yes-men/">Conflict-Free
iPhone</a>,” and calling for the <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.absolutereturn-alpha.com/Article/2717294/Blogs/Yes-Men-pranksters-call-for-citizens-arrest-of-John-Paulson.html?ArticleId=2717294">citizen’s
arrest of John Paulson</a>, whose company finances some of
the worst extraction practices. The project received hundreds
of <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://motherjones.com/mojo/2010/11/yes-men-iphone-congo">media
hits</a> worldwide.</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://yeslab.org/project/safe-to-drink"><strong>Unnatural
Gas</strong></a>
<br>
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,
they’ll soon need to test for their water’s safety by trying
to light it on fire. The project <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704330404576291503778196750.html">communicated
viscerally</a> just what’s at stake if gas companies are
allowed to drill in New York’s aquifer, as the companies are
demanding.</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><strong>Shell Game
Uncovers Oil Slick</strong>
<br>
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 <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://uk.reuters.com/article/2010/05/17/uk-shell-hoax-idUKTRE64G5CI20100517?rpc=401">stories</a>—all
highlighting Shell’s atrocious record.</font></p>
</blockquote>
<font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">
<p>Phew. Not bad for something that still hasn’t launched!</p>
<p>Meanwhile, as long as we're writing a long breezy email, we
have other news too:</p>
</font>
<blockquote>
<p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><strong>Tim
DeChristopher</strong> <br>
Tim DeChristopher’s <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.earthisland.org/journal/index.php/elist/eListRead/tim_dechristopher_speaks_about_his_impending_prison_sentence">amazing
story</a> continues to inspire a movement. He’s currently <a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.grist.org/politics/2011-08-29-letter-from-prison-tim-dechristopher-speaks">living
in a federal prison</a>, 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 <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81EZUkYzrxU">Tim speak</a>
about why he did what he did, and what he’s asking of you—and
then make up your mind.</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><strong>CointelCOC</strong>
<br>
Speaking of small rooms, we are still, almost two years later,
waiting for the judge to rule whether to throw out the <a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.eff.org/press/archives/2009/11/11">US
Chamber of Commerce’s lawsuit against us</a>. Meanwhile, the
Chamber’s lawyers—the same ones who are apparently suing
us—recently made big news for <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2011/feb/16/anonymous-internet?INTCMP=SRCH">dirty
tricks not seen since the days of CointelPro</a>. We almost
hope we have a chance to address these creeps in court.
Meanwhile, we’ll have to be content trying to express our
anger <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://chamber.350.org/">in other ways</a>.</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><strong>Yes Men
Revolting</strong> <br>
Our latest film, <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://theyesmenfixtheworld.com">The Yes Men Fix the
World</a>, didn’t. It won the Berlin Audience Award and the
UK’s 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 <em>not</em>
fix the world—which is why our new film will be called <em>The
Yes Men Are Revolting</em>. It’ll feature many of the
Yes-Lab-assisted actions above, as well as conversations with
funny people who have overthrown tyrannies worldwide. It’ll be
funny and watchable, and will use the word “revolution” quite
a bit. Isn’t 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 let’s say it: “re-vo-lu-tion.” Goooood.</font></p>
</blockquote>
<font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">
</font>
<p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">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 <a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vc1CcxHwypE">dictator</a>
or of a whole <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neoliberalism">bad idea</a>.
Please keep active in whatever way you can, and if you can,
please <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/yeslab/the-yes-men-present-the-yes-lab-for-creative-activ">pledge
to our campaign</a>. THANKS!!</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Gratefully yours,<br>
The Yes Men</font></p>
<p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><font size="1">(You're
receiving this email because you're on the Yes Men mailing
list. Change your info or unsubscribe <a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://theyesmen.org/dblist/prof.php?e=mathart@emsh.calarts.edu&x=210142238">here</a>.)</font>
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