[Imc-makerspace] Fwd: Help us launch the Yes Lab! Support our Kickstarter campaign

[Stewart Dickson]

File under "Hacktivism?"

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: 	Help us launch the Yes Lab! Support our Kickstarter campaign
Date: 	Wed, 7 Sep 2011 16:29:58 +0200 (CEST)
From: 	The Yes Men <donotreply at yeslab.org>
Reply-To: 	mailing at yeslab.org
To: 	mathart-emsh.calarts.edu <mathart at emsh.calarts.edu>



*Please support the Yes Lab! 
<http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/yeslab/the-yes-men-present-the-yes-lab-for-creative-activ>*

Dear Friends,

The Yes Men need your help 
<http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/yeslab/the-yes-men-present-the-yes-lab-for-creative-activ>.

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 Yes Lab <http://www.yeslab.org/>) to help 
others do the kind of funny, headline-grabbing actions we're 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 one's sorry, either.)

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

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 launch Sept. 14 
<http://yeslab.org/article/nyu-launch> and see how you can get 
involved!) It's also got a lovely new website <http://www.yeslab.org/> 
that will soon have a number of fancy tools to help hundreds more carry 
out or join up with Yes Lab projects.

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, *we're asking for $10,000 on Kickstarter 
<http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/yeslab/the-yes-men-present-the-yes-lab-for-creative-activ>*, 
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.

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*
    <http://yeslab.org/project/ge-returns-billions>
    Activists US Uncut <http://www.usuncut.org/>, with a little help
    from the Yes Lab, sent out a press release
    <http://yeslab.org/fake-ge-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 GE's share
    price. The result was massive, enlightening coverage of GE's
    tax-cheating ways on everything from local TV to CNN.

    *What the heck is an Asthmaze?* <http://yeslab.org/project/coal-cares>
    A small group of activists wondered how a big coal company might
    address the fact that coal causes childhood asthma
    <http://www.lungusa.org/healthy-air/outdoor/resources/toxic-air-report/>.
    The result: "Coal Cares," a faux greenwashing campaign
    <http://www.coalcares.org/> 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 didn't amuse Peabody one bit
    <http://yeslab.org/article/response-peabody> 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
    <http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/12/education/12coal.html> was
    defeated by the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood
    <http://commercialfreechildhood.blogspot.com/2011/05/scholastic-severs-ties-with-coal.html>.
    Hooray!

    *Beat Up On Chevron? We Agree.* <http://yeslab.org/project/chevron>
    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 much more honest version
    <http://www.chevron-weagree.com/> of Chevron's campaign just hours
    ahead of the "real" McCoy, generating a deluge of media coverage.
    Hundreds of user submissions
    <http://chevronthinkswerestupid.org/gallery> and some amazing
    <http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/b306db1443/chevron-thinks-we-re-stupid>
    videos
    <http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/da1db3a886/anatomy-of-a-greenwash>
    from FunnyOrDie further derailed Chevron's $90 million lie,
    infuriating Chevron even more---though not quite as much as the $18
    billion judgment against them
    <http://www.eenews.net/special_reports/ecuador> in Ecuador, which
    Chevron has vowed never to pay. The fight goes on.

    *Coal Burns Wealthy Neighborhood. Neighbors Nonplussed.*
    <http://yeslab.org/project/loop-coal>
    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 the media
    <http://www.wbez.org/story/loop-coal-just-kidding-85747#>, and
    helped focus attention on Chicago's much-needed Clean Power
    Ordinance <http://cleanpowerchicago.org/>.

    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* <http://yeslab.org/project/my-hair-cares>
    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 "My Hair Cares
    <http://www.myhaircares.com/>," a crackpot plan to sop up inevitable
    spills along the pipeline route with the hair of volunteers. The
    resulting press <http://myhaircares.com/media.html> publicized
    Enbridge's botched spill cleanup in Michigan
    <http://vimeo.com/22067803>, and let Canadians know how stupid it
    can be to let oil flow through your watershed.

    *More and More Mordor* <http://yeslab.org/project/hobbit>
    In the second Canada-centered action, a group of students, working
    with Greenpeace, launched a surreal campaign
    <http://theyesmen.org/hobbit>, complete with infomercials, cell
    phone videos, a tweeting campaign, a Facebook page
    <https://www.facebook.com/stopmordor>, 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.

    *Canadian War Room Defeated* <http://yeslab.org/project/cop15>
    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 here <http://yeslab.org/project/cop15>!

    *France Remains Offensive* <http://yeslab.org/project/france-haiti>
    An ad-hoc group called CRIME (Committee for the Reimbursement of
    Indemnity Money Extorted from Haiti) announced
    <http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/07/15/france-will-not-repay-haiti-reparations/>,
    on France's behalf, the repayment of EUR17 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 reaction
    <http://politics.gaeatimes.com/2010/07/15/france-considering-legal-action-on-21-billion-haiti-hoax-48829/>,
    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 campaign
    <http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/tag/c-r-i-m-e/> that further built
    pressure on France to do the right thing.

    *People Bite Apple* <http://yeslab.org/project/iphonecf>
    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 Friends of the Congo
    <http://www.friendsofthecongo.org/>, produced a fake Apple ad
    campaign touting a "Conflict-Free iPhone
    <http://www.macnotes.net/2010/11/18/iphone-cf-apple-vs-the-yes-men/>,"
    and calling for the citizen's arrest of John Paulson
    <http://www.absolutereturn-alpha.com/Article/2717294/Blogs/Yes-Men-pranksters-call-for-citizens-arrest-of-John-Paulson.html?ArticleId=2717294>,
    whose company finances some of the worst extraction practices. The
    project received hundreds of media hits
    <http://motherjones.com/mojo/2010/11/yes-men-iphone-congo> worldwide.

    *Unnatural Gas* <http://yeslab.org/project/safe-to-drink>
    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 communicated viscerally
    <http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704330404576291503778196750.html>
    just what's at stake if gas companies are allowed to drill in New
    York's 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 stories
    <http://uk.reuters.com/article/2010/05/17/uk-shell-hoax-idUKTRE64G5CI20100517?rpc=401>---all
    highlighting Shell's atrocious record.

Phew. Not bad for something that still hasn't launched!

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

    *Tim DeChristopher*
    Tim DeChristopher's amazing story
    <http://www.earthisland.org/journal/index.php/elist/eListRead/tim_dechristopher_speaks_about_his_impending_prison_sentence>
    continues to inspire a movement. He's currently living in a federal
    prison
    <http://www.grist.org/politics/2011-08-29-letter-from-prison-tim-dechristopher-speaks>,
    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
    <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81EZUkYzrxU> about why he did what
    he did, and what he's asking of you---and 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
    Commerce's lawsuit against us
    <http://www.eff.org/press/archives/2009/11/11>. Meanwhile, the
    Chamber's lawyers---the same ones who are apparently suing
    us---recently made big news for dirty tricks not seen since the days
    of CointelPro
    <http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2011/feb/16/anonymous-internet?INTCMP=SRCH>.
    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 in
    other ways <http://chamber.350.org/>.

    *Yes Men Revolting*
    Our latest film, The Yes Men Fix the World
    <http://theyesmenfixtheworld.com>, 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
    /not/ fix the world---which is why our new film will be called /The
    Yes Men Are Revolting/. 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.

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 
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vc1CcxHwypE> or of a whole bad idea 
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neoliberalism>. Please keep active in 
whatever way you can, and if you can, please pledge to our campaign 
<http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/yeslab/the-yes-men-present-the-yes-lab-for-creative-activ>. 
THANKS!!

Gratefully yours,
The Yes Men

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Change your info or unsubscribe here 
<http://theyesmen.org/dblist/prof.php?e=mathart@emsh.calarts.edu&x=210142238>.) 


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