Bhopal Hoax (the Yes Men)

Denis' post below was/is interesting to me partly because right now I'm writing a paper on culture jamming, hacktivism, and "politics by other means".

This video shows one of the most legendary culture jamming/art stunts ever pulled off--

In 2004, a member of the Yes Men art group managed to fool the BBC and convince them he was a spokesman for Dow Chemicals, gaining an invitation to be interviewed live on BBC news on the 20th anniversary of the Bhopal, India, disaster. In this interview, he promises billions of dollars of health care for the victims and full co-operation with authorities, transparency, environmental repair, etc.

All, of course, a big hoax.

Vince Carducci states that, along with the obvious human rights angle, the action was designed "to highlight the gap between companies' environmental posturing and their actual performance."

********************************
(Wikipedia re the Bhopal Disaster-- The Bhopal disaster (also referred to as the Bhopal gas tragedy) is the world's worst industrial catastrophe. It occurred on the night of December 2–3, 1984 at the Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL) pesticide plant in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India. A leak of methyl isocyanate gas and other chemicals from the plant resulted in the exposure of hundreds of thousands of people. Estimates vary on the death toll. The official immediate death toll was 2,259 and the government of Madhya Pradesh has confirmed a total of 3,787 deaths related to the gas release.[1] Other government agencies estimate 15,000 deaths.[2] Others estimate that 3,000 died within weeks and that another 8,000 have since died from gas-related diseases.[3][4] A government affidavit in 2006 stated the leak caused 558,125 injuries including 38,478 temporary partial and approximately 3,900 severely and permanently disabling injuries.[5]




Wikipedia creative commons Attribution: Luca Frediani uploaded by Simone.lippi