Andy Bichlbaum - The Art of the Prank

Database of creative activism case studies will inform and inspire a new generation of activists

The Yes Lab and the Center for Artistic Activism are announcing the launch of Actipedia.org, an open-access, user-generated database of creative activism case studies designed to inspire activists.

Actipedia is built on an open-source platform and is designed for ease of use, with simple formats for viewing, searching and posting examples. The site draws case studies from original submissions, reprinted news articles, and informal snippets of action reports. Although it is only now launching, Actipedia already hosts over 400 case studies and counting, from countries from all over the world.

Contact: Stephen Duncombe, 212-998-7327, srd@artisticactivism.org

April 30, 2011December 15, 2023

The Yes Men Interviewed

Meet the Yes Men, the Political Satirists Who Punked GE
The Atlantic
April 22, 2011

A conversation with the more than decade old group that delights in mocking the powerful by pretending to be them

General Electric likes their tax rate low, according to CEO Jeffrey Immelt. Very low. Despite $5 billion in profit last year the company paid no income tax and received a $3.2 billion tax benefit, according to The New York Times. Which is less than low: It’s taxpayer padded.

Then Immelt was tapped to be an outside economic adviser to the Obama administration, which has been decrying low tax rates for companies and the rich.

Very embarrassing. Continue reading “The Yes Men Interviewed”

September 24, 2009December 15, 2023

Yes Men Honcho Sprung from Clink

From The Yes Men, September 24, 2009:

NYPD abuse of authority big factor in arrest

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 24, 2009

“Balls Across America” direct-action campaign launched

Andy Bichlbaum, co-founder of activist group the Yes Men, emerged after 26 hours in New York City’s central lockup with all charges against him dismissed.[1]

“The judge just laughed,” said Bichlbaum. “The police had a less well-developed sense of humor – and, it turned out, much less regard for the law. But all in all, I’m ecstatic that they arrested me.”

Jeannie Moos coverage on CNN
http://i.cdn.turner.com/cnn/.element/js/2.0/video/evp/module.js?loc=dom&vid=/video/offbeat/2009/09/23/moos.survivaball.cnnEmbedded video from CNN Video
Continue reading “Yes Men Honcho Sprung from Clink”

July 20, 2009December 15, 2023

Yes Men Go BeyondTalk.net

Political Pranksters Say Latest Climate Venture Is Not Hot Air
by Joshua Rhett Miller
FoxNews.com
July 16, 2009

An Internet-based group of activists who specialize in political pranks say they”™re seriously determined to expel all the hot air surrounding the highly combustible issue of climate change.

0_61_climate_200 Igor Vamos, aka Mike Bonanno, says The Yes Men’s latest venture, beyondtalk.net, is the real deal. But can the Yes Men — a group that has previously lampooned former President George W. Bush and impersonated officials from Dow Chemical and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development — be taken seriously?

Igor Vamos, one of the Yes Men’s founders, claims the Yes Men’s latest venture, beyondtalk.net, is completely authentic. The group is seeking “like-minded people” to participate in non-violent acts of civil disobedience to coincide with the U.N.-hosted Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December. Continue reading “Yes Men Go BeyondTalk.net”

June 19, 2009December 15, 2023

Civil Disobedients Sought via Fake Newspaper

Press release submitted by The Yes Men, June 18, 2009:

World Leaders Sign Pact to Avert Climate Disaster

Newspaper Ignites Hope, Announces “Civil Disobedience Database”
[Watch video here]

In a front-page ad in today’s International Herald Tribune, the leaders of the European Union thank the European public for having engaged in months of civil disobedience leading up to the Copenhagen climate conference that will be held this December. “It was only thanks to your massive pressure over the past six months that we could so dramatically shift our climate-change policies…. To those who were arrested, we
thank you.”

There was only one catch: the paper was fake.

Looking exactly like the real thing, but dated December 19th, 2009, a million copies of the fake paper were distributed worldwide by thousands of volunteers in order to show what could be achieved at the Copenhagen climate conference that is scheduled for Dec. 7-18, 2009. (At the moment, the conference is aiming for much more modest cuts, dismissed by leading climate scientists as too little, too late to stave off runaway processes that will lead to millions or even billions of casualties.)

The paper describes in detail a powerful (and entirely possible) new treaty to bring carbon levels down below 350 parts per million – the level climate scientists say we need to achieve to avoid climate catastrophe. One article describes how a website, http://BeyondTalk.net, mobilized thousands of people to put their bodies on the line to confront climate change policies – ever since way back in June, 2009.

Although the newspaper is a fake (its production and launch were coordinated by Greenpeace), the website is real. Continue reading “Civil Disobedients Sought via Fake Newspaper”