Correcting… at conferences

  • Salzburg

    In May 2000, an organizer of a conference on international trade law in Salzburg, Austria writes to GATT.org inviting WTO Director-General Mike Moore to serve as a panelist. "Moore" politely declines but suggests a replacement, “Dr. Andreas Bichlbauer.”

    Sunday, October 1, 2000
  • Beyond the golden parachute

    In January of 2001, the organizers of a "Textiles of the Future" conference in Tampere, Finland send an e-mail to GATT.org asking for a WTO representative to deliver their keynote address. Andy and Mike are glad to oblige, and the organizers are delighted.

    Monday, January 1, 2001
  • Let them eat hamburger

    In April of 2002 Mike meets Richard Robbins at a conference in upstate New York. Richard has written a book on corporate globalization, and he offers to organize a lecture by the WTO for his students at the State University of New York in Plattsburgh, where he is a professor.

    Monday, April 1, 2002
  • End of the WTO

    Andy and Mike have decided on an entirely new tack for this lecture, one unmarked by the bombast and lunacy of previous ones. Since parody hasn't worked, they've decided to try that old standby, sincerity.

    Wednesday, May 1, 2002
  • Smash the State

    Heritage is the biggest free-market think tank - in fact the biggest think tank period - in Washington. It has a budget of $25 million and provides "talking points" to conservative Congressmen who don't have time to do their own research. Heritage is a kind of "grey eminence" behind Congress, and very actively helps direct U.S. politics.

    Friday, April 30, 2004
  • Dow Discovers a Golden Skeleton!

    On April 28, 2005, at a London banking conference to which they had accidentally been invited because of their satirical website, "Dow representative" "Erastus Hamm" unveiled "Acceptable Risk," a Dow industry standard for determining how many deaths are acceptable when achieving large profits.

    Thursday, April 28, 2005
  • Halliburton solves global warming!
    "The SurvivaBall is designed to protect the corporate manager no matter what Mother Nature throws his or her way," said Fred Wolf, a Halliburton representative who spoke today at the Catastrophic Loss conference held at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Amelia Island, Florida. "This technology is the only rational response to abrupt climate change," he said to an attentive and appreciative audience.
    Tuesday, May 9, 2006
  • HUD Secretary Jackson Announces New Direction for Agency
    The Yes Men get themselves invited to the Gulf Coast Reconstruction Conference as HUD, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. In the wake of Katrina, HUD has collaborated with large private developers in tearing down public housing, despite a dire need for it. In the Yes Men's version, HUD behaves quite differently.
    Monday, August 28, 2006
  • WTO Proposes Slavery for Africa
    At a Wharton Business School conference on business in Africa, World Trade Organization representative Hanniford Schmidt announced the creation of a WTO initiative for "full private stewardry of labor" for the parts of Africa that have been hardest hit by the 500 years of Africa's free trade with the West.
    Thursday, November 16, 2006
  • Exxon's Climate-Victim Candles

    Imposters posing as ExxonMobil and National Petroleum Council (NPC) representatives delivered an outrageous keynote speech to 300 oilmen at GO-EXPO, Canada's largest oil conference, held at Stampede Park in Calgary, Alberta, today.

    Thursday, June 14, 2007