forwarded from Mike Lebowitz (a pen-l alumnus): > August 30, 2001 > FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE > > WTO INTRODUCES NEW MEMBER > Gold and one meter long, phallus is brand-new technology to control > distant workers > > Anti-WTO impostors have struck again, delivering a lecture about the > rights of slavery, the stupidity of Gandhi, and the supremacy of free > trade to an enthusiastic crowd of scientists, engineers, and marketing > professionals--all of whom thought they were watching an official WTO > representative. > > The 150 experts at the "Textiles of the Future" conference in Tampere, > Finland heard one Hank Hardy Unruh explain that Gandhi's "self- > sufficiency" movement was entirely misguided, because it centered > around protectionism, and that Lincoln, by outlawing slavery, had > criminally interfered with the trade freedom of the South, as well as > with slavery's own freedom to develop naturally. Had slavery never > been abolished, Unruh said, today's much cheaper system of sweatshops > would have eventually replaced it anyhow; following this free-market > logic to the end, Unruh declared the Civil War just a big waste of > money. > > Finally, to applause from the highly educated audience, Unruh's > business suit was ripped off to reveal a golden leotard with a > three-foot-long phallus. The purpose of the "Management Leisure Suit", > he explained, was to allow managers, no matter where they were, to > monitor their distant, impoverished workforces and to administer > shocks to encourage productivity--assuring that no "Gandhi-type > situation" develop again. > > "If a group of Ph.D.s cheers at such crudely crazy things, just > because it's the WTO saying them, what else can the WTO get away > with?" said Andy Bichlbaum of the Yes Men, the impostors' umbrella > group. (The entire PowerPoint lecture is available at > http://www.theyesmen.org/finland/ , along with some shots captured by > a video crew preparing a film on the Yes Men's activities.) > > The Yes Men had a similar experience last October with a group of > international trade lawyers http://www.theyesmen.org/wto/ . And in > July, a member of the group, again passing as a representative of the > WTO, appeared on a major television network show about protest's > effect on the market http://theyesmen.org/tv.html ; among other > things, he spoke about how the privatization of education will > naturally eliminate "unproductive" thinkers from the high-school > classroom, a long-term solution to the problem of protest. (Because > the imposture was not noticed and the Yes Men hope for further > appearances, the show's name is being withheld.) > ... > RTMark's primary goal is to publicize corporate subversion of the > democratic process. To this end it acts as a clearinghouse for > anti-corporate projects. A list of just-added projects is maintained > at http://rtmark.com/new.html . > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------- > Mobilization for Global Justice Vancouver - working to expose and oppose the FTAA. > http://mobglobvan.tao.ca > --------- > mobglob-discuss is a non-moderated list: Jim Devine [EMAIL PROTECTED] & http://bellarmine.lmu.edu/~jdevine
