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Yes Men tweak corporate nose |
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The Yes Men are not just political protesters. Jacques Servin and Igor Vamos (known by several other aliases) practice what they call 'identity correction'. Which, in less glamorous terms, means they specialise in posing as spokesmen for powerful organisations or corporations, and making deeply ironic announcements to draw media attention to a cause.
In various guises, they have announced the World Trade Organisation thinks the best way to help Africa is reintroducing slavery and that George W Bush wants Americans to keep nuclear waste in their back yards. Or that Dow Chemical, owner of Union Carbide, responsible for the Bhopal chemical disaster, had decided to liquidate the $12bn company to help the victims of the toxic spill.
Last week, at an oil conference in Calgary they posed as ExxonMobil
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ravi somaiya reports on two activists whose stunts expose the danger of our blind loyalty to corporations
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and National Petroleum Council representatives and announced a scheme to turn bodies of the victims of climate change into a fuel called Vivoleum. Delegates lit 'commemorative candles' which they were told were made from the remains of a janitor who died cleaning up an oil spill. They only figured out something was wrong when the janitor appeared in a posthumous video announcing his wish to be turned into candles after his death.
They say that the modern corporate man is "ready to goosestep. Many, many people, regardless of education, are easy prey for the ideas of the corporate decision-makers. This is why it is important for citizens to decide what sorts of corporate decisions are and are not acceptable. It is not possible to expect that PhDs will always be on the lookout for the fascist and murderous".
FIRST POSTED JUNE 25, 2007 |
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News & Comment: News & Politics
