The Yes Men Fix the World's a Riot. No, Really.

We all know the facts.

Free-market capitalism is dangerous. It's run by a whole lot of bad, powerful people, and it hurts a whole lot of people who don't deserve to be hurt.

So much for the obvious. Now what?

Our movie, The Yes Men Fix the World, will help answer that question. It opens this Wednesday in New York City - and if it doesn't become the first film run shut down by the NYPD, it'll be the most action-packed week in New York film history.

The film's story is simple: two guys, armed with nothing but thrift-store suits, infiltrate the world of big business, where we make a lot of bad, powerful people really uncomfortable.

You'll see us knock $2 billion off Dow Chemical's share price, expose New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin for the corporate lackey he is, and show some of the most powerful free-market spokesmen to be C-level liars.

Around you in the theater you'll hear spontaneous cheering, multiple bursts of hysterical laughter, a few sniffles, and the occasional thud of an audience member rolling in the aisles. If past screenings at Sundance, Berlin, and many other places are any guide, you'll also see a standing ovation, and, as the lights go up, a room of people visibly eager to rise up and fight.

For five years, we worked hard to make a film that would make people feel that way. It worked, which makes us happy. The fact that Sunday's New York Magazine called it a "glorious testimony to the moral power of satire" and "outrageously entertaining" makes us happy too.

But WANTING to rise up isn't enough. A cinema isn't a town hall, popcorn isn't paving stones, and change doesn't come from people sitting together in a dark theater.

What matters is what happens when the movie is over, and the audience takes to the streets.

That's exactly what they're going to do after seeing our movie, this week in New York, and then, two weeks later, nationwide.

We can't tell you exactly what'll happen each night. But we can give you some hints, at least for the week ahead in New York.

Wednesday's premiere (October 7) will be the national launch of "Balls Across America," the preview of which made a big splash on CNN thanks to New York's boys in blue. Assorted stars and starlets, fitted with their own custom " Survivaballs," will waddle off to wreak havoc on unsuspecting climate criminals. (These things are remarkably hard to put handcuffs on!)

The next day (Thursday) we'll lead a rowdy-as-usual crowd from the 8pm screening across town to the "Hijinx" Premiere Party at the Delancey, hosted by some of New York's most revved-up muckrakers. Interestingly, a massive new Whole Foods sits smack dab in the middle of that crosstown march - providing a great opportunity to make Whole Foods CEO John Mackey continue regretting his recent reactionary comments on health-care reform. (Do big-box stores have stupidity insurance?)

Opening weekend kicks off with a Friday matinee screening hosted by the Raging Grannies, Granny Peace Brigade and Gray Panthers. These elders get arrested blocking access to recruitment centers and otherwise putting their bodies on the line against militarism and war profiteering. Who will bear the brunt of the Grannies' rage Friday? Come early to find out.

Friday's 8pm screening is hosted by Reverend Billy, the Green Candidate for mayor of New York City, and his ever-rambunctious choir. The Reverend, who's been arrested more than 40 times, has a stubborn habit of using humor, gospel, and civil disobedience to fight grave injustices. Only blocks away from the Film Forum theater sits one particularly blatant example of injustice. Is levitation really a myth? Buy tickets now to find out!

Saturday night the ruckus goes international, with simultaneous screenings in three foreign cities featured in our film: Bhopal, Calgary, and New Orleans. (OK, New Orleans isn't really a foreign city, but you wouldn't guess it from how the US government continues to treat Katrina's victims.) Each of these screenings, plus post-screening fracas, will be hosted by a group we either worked with in the film, or were inspired by: the Sambhavna Clinic (Bhopal), the Arusha Centre (Calgary), and Common Ground (New Orleans).

Back in New York, almost every remaining night of our two-week run we'll be sharpening pitchforks with an incredible list of activist partners: CODEPINK, Rainforest Action Network, Picture the Homeless, SEIU, Witness, the Center for Constitutional Rights, Corporate Accountability International... The list goes on and on.

But New York is only the start. Beginning October 23, "Balls Across America" will visit dozens of cities across this great, weird land of ours. See www.theyesmenfixtheworld.com/screenings.htm for full schedule.

Sweeping positive changes have only come to America when there's been a progressive President, pushed to do the right thing by large numbers of rowdy citizens. (Think FDR and the New Deal; think LBJ and the Civil Rights movement.)

Today, we've got the progressive President. Now all we need is to vote with our feet, and enable him to do what we elected him for.

Our film is a small part of a movement to help make that happen. Another part is BeyondTalk.net - a website we recently launched in collaboration with a dozen direct-action activists. The idea is to get 10,000 folks to sign the "Climate Pledge of Resistance" and risk arrest to demand sane climate-change policy. On November 30, the tenth anniversary of the Seattle protests, and a week before the Copenhagen climate talks, those 10,000 activists will form the largest civil disobedience action in recent protest history.

Please join us on this big, crazy trip. And on the way, please see our film and learn how you too can have a riot while fixing the world.

Special note to our friends:

We've got no ad budget to speak of. Want to help our film do well regardless? Easy! Just Twitter, Facebook, and email your friends and let them know they should see it. Use our fancy HTML e-flier or the simple text version. Change your Facebook status, or your Facebook picture - either to the poster or a weird inflatable widget.

And as you leave the theater, Twitter your friends to tell them what you thought of the film. It won't fix the world, but if they do go see the movie as a result, and it helps them realize that things can change, you'll feel pretty proud!

And finally: in our quest to build an adequate Survivaball army, we're currently 20 short of our goal. Is there a Survivaball angel out there? If so, please write [e-mail].

 

 

Follow The Yes Men on Twitter: www.twitter.com/theyesmen

Comments

[kaleena]

When can I move to New York? I feel left out of all the yes men fun!

[HaiLee Sujestibul]

Yes men, I love you.

[Richard Trent]

I am amazed with the amount of information given here about "Yes Men". Growing up in the 3rd world country, anyone giving a critical criticism against the government has to have money or connections; has to face the consequence of being hurt physically or economically. At least here in the west, we have the opportunity to air the BS that is going on. To sum it all, Yes Men for me is ONE the reason corruption exist but if you couple that with NO HC (health care), you can see why the status quo prevails all the time. Do you realize that in most cases if you loose your job, you also loose your HC? Who do you think in his right mind will fight if there is injustice in the company you work for? This is why universal HC is important which is practiced in most industrialized countries except USA.

[DownWithFakeHockeyMoms]

The new Yes Men movie is fantastic, quirky, inspiring - go see it, you'll be glad you did!

[Richard Trent]

I will be interested to see this movie this Saturday if I have time. However, it seems that I know what is this all about because this is what I suspect all time. The reason our society is having difficulty is because of too many "Yes Men". And when you realize that in US, HC is something done for profit instead of helping people get proper medical treatment, it's no wonder these "Yes Men" people will dominate.

[castanea]

I had the pleasure of meeting The Yes Men during their 2004 "Yes Bush Can!" campaign bus tour. Their satirical genius, sensitivity, and clear commitment to goodness are an inspiration. I am deeply grateful that they are doing what they do, and doing it so successfully. I look forward to seeing this movie!!! I hope to help bring it to my community theater & perhaps to publicize it by waddling through the streets of my town in a Survivaball. Joy!

[guidoo]

The Yes Men are HOT!

[zola77]

I love the Yes Men! Why on earth can't you come to Australia and do these things?

[RevBookburn]

The original film was 5 stars. I cannot wait to see this. They are incredible! Rev. Bookburn - Radio Volta

[peteonearth]

The "Yes Men" are the spirit of what is good about the United States. They are modern "Minutemen­"... Sneaking up on corrupted powers and calling them out is SOOO American! Duh! God Bless America. God Bless the Yes Men. I can't wait to see this film.

[tklink]

"The Yes Men" are the best - please give us more....!

[greenmonk]

I LOVE you guys.

I've seen clips of some of your 'work' . Very brave and very funny.
Can't wait to see the film.

[anarchocptlist]

Would someone tell me how it's free market capitalism when government has such a heavy interventionist policy WRT the 'private' sector? How it's a free market when the money supply is controlled by a government created cartel? When the government is stealing trillions from the productive class to give to their friends on Wall St?

Generally that's referred to as corporatism or given recent actions taken by the government­... economic fascism.

If some are going to alter definitions then I hope they don't complain when others misrepresent the Soviet Union or Communist China as 'socialism­.'

Capitalism is just the description of a particular type of human interaction. If you don't like that format so be it but the real issue here is liberty vs authoritarianism. Any market setup, capitalist, socialist, syndicalist, communist, etc., will become corrupted and harmful to the people as authoritarians increase their control over it. The Yes Men are attacking the symptoms rather then the disease.

[CaptainFailmore]

The problem with 'ism' words is that it leads to semantic poisoning. Define a certain word a certain way enough times, especially a (opaque) word that has a highly complex and vague definition to begin with, and your definition will likely prevail. Define a different word in enough different ways, on the other hand, and it loses meaning. By altering or attacking the meaning of words used to condense the complex positions and platforms argued about in our discourse, the terms of the debate change - literally.

One of the greater problems our national dialog faces is the prevalence of the belief that any idea as complex as a well formed ideology can be condensed into a single word and still have its meaning remain constant. The more complex the definition, the easier it becomes to adulterate its meaning. We would be better served by avoiding reliance on verbal 'isms' and offer more thorough explanations of our beliefs and observations, though the dominant soundbite culture won't have any of that.

[Pearlswan]

"The Yes Men are attacking the symptoms rather then the disease...­"

Not if the disease is ignorance and that is precisely how the authoritarians gain control over the masses in the first place. Capitalism as ideology may not be the problem, but we can all see that capitalism is the economic system we are living under now and, because it has infiltrated our representative democracy and bought our government with its multinational profits, it is a broken system that benefits the few at the expense of the many. Choosing to fix it or scrap it and build something different is impossible until the veil of ignorance is lifted and people can diagnose the problem accurately. That's the starting point for real change to occur--when recognition of truth overcomes ignorance and injustice. That's when change turns from a discussion to an energized force of human nature. The Yes Men have it! Can't wait to see the movie.

[CaptainFailmore]

Also, I'd like to drop a quote related to your last paragraph.

"All governments suffer a recurring problem: Power attracts pathological personalities. It is not that power corrupts but that it is magnetic to the corruptible. Such people have a tendency to become drunk on violence, a condition to which they are quickly addicted." - Frank Herbert, 'Dune'

I'm aware that the realm of science fiction isn't exactly a fertile breeding ground for political commentary, but the author above has made an excellent point. The utility of power is quickly subsumed by its abuse, at which point the two become indistinguishable from one another. This applies not only to the power of office, but to all power and its constituent elements: wealth, influence, and ability. To decry power is also to attack the symptoms of corruption as opposed to the disease itself.

Lewis Black said it best when he remarked that, "Government is people." Power does not corrupt those who hold it, but is instead corrupted by its holders, and in this truth lies the real importance of our democracy. Through vigilance we must give immunity to our enterprise of state from the plague of corruption. This debauchery, as John Maynard Keynes might have put it, proceeds because we allow it. For this reason I feel that we are fortunate to live in this Information Age where news of such abuse travels quickly, as do the ideas which may lead to their correction.

[kkrimmer]

Can't wait to see it.

Moore's "Capitalism" is good too, go see them both. Support these filmmakers.

[Pearlswan]

I saw "Capitalism: A Love Story" last Friday. It was an eye-opening movie and a drama of epic proportions, as well. I wish Moore had supplied us each with a roll of yellow crime scene tape on the way out of the theatre. I felt like making a citizen's arrest too. LMAO! If this movie doesn't open people's eyes then they must live in the State of Denial!