December 29, 2000 (first anniversary of victory over eToys)
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
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IMPOSTURE, PREDATION MARK 2000 TONE
The WTO becomes honest, children get "tough love" from corporate
predators, and the elections really were auctioned off after all
At RTMark, the rough-and-tumble Year 2000 was dominated by significant
cultural payoffs, as well as one obvious failure.
And preparing the way for the year's funniest moment was RTMark's first-
quarter transfer of Gatt.org (http://rtmark.com/gatt.html) to a group of
impostors known as The Yes Men (http://www.theyesmen.org/wto/), who have
maintained the site ever since.
IMPOSTORS MAKE THE WTO HONEST
The transfer paid off in May, when an organizer of a conference for
lawyers specializing in international trade matters visited Gatt.org
and, without reading the text very closely, clicked "Contact" to invite
WTO Director-General Mike Moore to speak. "Moore" declined but offered
to send a substitute.
In late October, one Dr. Andreas Bichlbauer (actually Veshengo
Phuridili, a Yes Man) spoke at the conference. His lecture described the
WTO's ideas and ultimate aims in terms that were horrifyingly
stark–suggesting, for example, the replacement of inefficient
democratic institutions like elections with private-sector solutions
like Voteauction.com, an Internet startup selling votes to the highest
corporate bidder.
None of the lawyers in attendance expressed dismay at Dr. Bichlbauer's
proposals, which The Yes Men have posted, along with all correspondence,
at http://www.theyesmen.org/wto/. They are currently preparing video
documentation of the lecture, questions, staged pieing, and lunch.
A DOWNTURN FOR A DEMOCRACY
Voteauction.com (http://rtmark.com/voteauction.html), the
"private-sector solution" of which Dr. Bichlbauer spoke, itself formed
the largest dividend of 2000 for the RTMark investor. Newspaper and TV
journalists who covered the story often found ways to mention that
corporations already buy votes–exactly the point founder James
Baumgartner had hoped would be made. (Baumgartner is currently planning
a spring lecture tour to help defray legal costs he incurred fighting
lawsuits before the ACLU came to his rescue. He can be reached at
mailto:voteauction@mail.com.)
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But 2000 was certainly not all free speech and good luck. And the year's
biggest disappointment began with 1999's biggest triumph.
ETOYS IS DEAD (NEARLY)! LONG LIVE FERRERO!
One year ago today, eToys capitulated to activist pressure–which some
say had helped drive down its stock price, recently sighted at
$0.03–and officially gave up its attempt to steal an art group's domain
name (http://rtmark.com/etoy.html).
Many activists hailed this triumph–lately punctuated by the
announcement of eToys' looming bankruptcy–as a lesson to other
corporations that might consider taking what is not rightfully theirs.
When Autodesk suddenly relented from a similar attack, many felt the
lesson had been well learned (http://rtmark.com/autodesk.html).
But unfortunately, corporations do not learn lessons that are not
written in law. Many of the entities that were fighting for their lives
last December 29 have been forced out of existence by their predators,
even before eToys; a few others are still fighting, at ever growing
expense (Healthnet.org, Leonardo Magazine, etc.); and dozens of new
cases have been brought to RTMark's attention.
In these days of privatized education, it should perhaps come as no
surprise that some of the new attacks are against children: Warner
Brothers, for example, is going after a fifteen-year-old girl for her
Harry Potter fan site, and Ferrero, which makes "Kinder Surprise"
chocolate eggs, is attempting to hijack the domain of an Austrian
children's charity ("Kinder" means "children" in German).
"Public outrage without legal backup isn't enough," said Rita Mae
Rakoczi, lawyer and RTMark spokesperson. "eToys was beaten outside the
courtroom, but as a result nothing was written in stone, and companies
know they can still get away with this sort of behavior–not to mention
much worse. The only solution is to pass laws protecting people from
corporate assault, and to rescind laws doing the opposite."
See http://rtmark.com/netabuse.html for more on these cases and others.
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ON THE HORIZON
To recover from these indications of colossal failure–which would
portend doom for less well-anchored startups–an exciting array of
cultural treats is in store for 2001.
+One German project
(http://www.deportation-alliance.com/lh/english.html) has already
forced a major airline into reconsidering its lucrative but horrible
transportation practices; this project is being adapted to the U.S.
market with RTMark's help, and public participation will be
requested at some point within the first quarter.
+Given the different impacts of corporate abuse in different parts of
the world, RTMark will be developing its first full-fledged regional
mutual funds in 2001. The first will focus on France, whose
population has resisted the push of globalization in unique
ways–including by not learning English. The fund will be
accompanied by a nearly complete translation of RTMark.com into
French, and will be unveiled within the first quarter by its
celebrity manager.
+RTMark's communication infrastructure will be overhauled in the
first and second quarters. Subscribers will be able to choose from a
menu of regular updates–on project additions, new investments in
particular projects or funds, developments in specific areas of
interest, etc. Also, an online payment system will be made available
to facilitate small investments in projects and funds.
Of course, in the cultural-profit as in the financial-profit sector,
there is no predicting what new actions may prove necessary in order to
push the bottom line in 2001.
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CORPORATE POETRY BREAKTHROUGHS
Last but not least, Andrei Codrescu has announced the co-winners of this
year's Corporate Poetry Contest (http://rtmark.com/corpoetry.html):
Amazon.com in correspondence with Daniel Arp, and three managers overheard
by temp worker Missy Chimovitz. An excerpt from one of the latter:
You can play it two sides to the middle… I really want to know
your thoughts– I'm game to making some internal adjustments,
Because I really want to wrap my arms around this thing.
Suggestions for prizes to be sent to the hapless winners are currently
being solicited.
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.
