LUCIDMEDIA

THE YES MEN FIX THE WORLD

Written by Ryan Barnett Friday, 09 April 2010 13:44

Monday, December 14, 2009, a press release was sent out to journalists covering the UN Summit on Climate Change in Copenhagen. The announcement claimed to be from Environment Canada, and stated that Canada had adjusted its greenhouse gas emission reduction targets—emissions would be reduced 40 per cent below 1990 levels by 2020, and allocate $13 billion to African nations for emissions-reduction.In response, the Ugandan delegation sent out a press release praising the Canadian Government for its stance. A third release followed, again purported to be from Environment Canada, which stated that the first two press releases were hoaxes. In this same statement, Environment Minister Jim Prentice is quoted saying:

“Today’s stunt, with its shortsighted, irrational policy ideas should distract no one from the serious, energetic and meaningful commitments of Canada to a shared, sustainable future on this planet that will guaranty all nations their due portion in accord to historical norms.”

As you might have guessed, this statement, too, was a hoax. The perpetrators were a group of merry pranksters known as the Yes Men. Lead by Mike Bonanno and Andy Bichlbaum, the Yes Men make it their mission to change government policies and correct corporate malfeasance. Their modus operandi is to impersonate government and corporate officials and act as spokesmen, and through satire and irony, point out what they believe to be insane within our system. Their weapons of choice are fake websites and phony press releases.

The Canadian government is just the latest target for Bonanno and Bichlbaum’s group. Their new documentary, The Yes Men Fix the World, chronicles their exploits in pranking huge corporations and government bodies. The list of “victims” the Yes Men target in the film includes the WTO, Exxon Mobil, the Dow Chemical Company, and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

The film begins with Bichlbaum preparing for an interview under the assumed name and title, Jude Finisterra, spokesman for Dow Chemicals. In his BBC interview, Bichlbaum announced that Dow Chemicals claim full responsibility for an industrial accident that caused 15,000 deaths in Bhopal, India nearly 20 years previous. Bichlbaum stated that Dow has launched a $12 billion plan to fully compensate the suffering peoples of Bhopal.

“The Bhopal issue came from a friend of ours,” says Andy Bichlbaum. “After we did the WTO series of actions that turned into the first Yes Men movie, our friend said, ‘why don’t you go after Dow for this Bhopal thing? You could use your talents to really make a difference there.’”

The hoax, which was broadcast to 300 million people around the world, wiped caused Dow Chemical stock to plummet $2 billion in a matter of minutes. However, when the prank was revealed, the stock price quickly rebounded. Media in the UK quickly jumped on the Yes Men for giving the people of Bhopal “false hope”, but that’s okay with Bichlbaum.

The Yes Men have created their own Theatre of the Oppressed. They call what they do “Identity Correction”. By posing as spokesmen for these large and flawed organizations, they plant their tongues firmly in their cheeks and highlight what they believe to be the hypocrisies and true motivations behind these companies—the routine placement of profits over people.

What is most striking about the filmis not how serious they are about the issues, but how gleeful both Bichlbaum and Bonanno are before perpetrating a prank. Beyond dressing up in costumes and putting on voices, the Yes Men exude a giddy energy that displays a clear love of performance.

“I’ve always enjoyed the idea of performing,” says Bichlbaum. “I tried to actually act, but I couldn’t do it. I was no good. But I obviously have a hambone, and that’s part of why I’ve been doing this, I suppose.”

As one can imagine, these two merry pranksters are sometimes caught in the act and forced to tell a series of convincing lies while trying to not break character. In one particularly confrontational sequence, a journalist called the pair out for posing as Housing and Urban Development representatives discussing the housing situation in New Orleans. Surprisingly though, being found out doesn’t seem to trip up these Yes Men; in fact, it seems to only invigorate them and add to the theatre of the situational humour.

“When that happens, mainly what goes through my head is ‘uh-oh,’” says Bichlbaum. “But really, that kind of tension isn’t bad. It isn’t frightening. The main tension for me comes before getting up there—the feeling that we could get caught out. If we get caught out afterwards that’s just great. When that reporter caught me, it was just extra fuel for the fire; it wasn’t endangering the whole thing. It was kind of fun.”

In response to the prank in Copenhagen this past December, the Prime Minister’s Office initially pointed fingers at Steven Guilbeault, from the Quebec environmentalist group Équiterre. There was a heated exchange between Guilbeault and PMO spokesman Dimitri Soudas, in which Guilbeault demanded an apology. I asked Bichlbaum how NGOs and advocacy groups react to the Yes Men pranks.

“Usually they totally get it,” he says. “Sometimes they think it’s in poor taste or belittles the issue, or making people laugh will take away from their anger. But generally they don’t have those reactions. People really like [what we’re doing] and want to work with us and want to use our techniques to highlight their issues.”

The Yes Men recognize that their time on the frontlines of politically charged shenanigans may be coming to a close. The Yes Men Fix The World is their second film, and they may now be too popular and recognizable to bluff their way into a big oil conference. Bichlbaum and Bonanno have begun to turn their focus toward instructing and organizing others to take up civil disobedience through “Identity Correction.” They started the Yes Men Lab to bring others into the fold.

“What we’d love to see is people using whatever they’re good at for a good cause…The Yes Men Lab is really about spreading our techniques and getting more people doing them—just thinking about different ways of fighting back and getting issues advanced. And figuring out ways to create change, and we lend our experience to that.” Bichlbaum adds, “It’s not necessarily about bigger pranks, but we want to really think about real change. Does what we do create real change? I don’t know, but wherever we go it will be towards that.”

The Yes Men Fixed The World DVD hit stores on April Fool’s Day. To find out more about the Yes Men Lab, and see more of their exploits visit: www.theyesmen.org

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