The Yes Men are a group of “culture jamming activists” who impersonate heads of corporations to embarrass them in the media. They are increasingly well known and put out a movie in 2003 about their work called, The Yes Men Movie.
They are now about to release their second movie, The Yes Men Fix the World (trailer below), and it was supposed to show at the upcoming Jerusalem Film Festival. No longer. The Yes Men have decided to pull out of the festival to honor the call to boycott Israel. Here is their moving statement on their decision – “For Once, the Yes Men Say No“:
The
Yes Men, co-directors of the new award-winning documentary film The Yes
Men Fix the World, have decided to withdraw their film from the
Jerusalem International Film Festival, in support of the Boycott,
Divestment and Sanctions campaign:Dear Friends at the Jerusalem Film Festival,
We
regret to say that we have taken the hard decision to withdraw our
film, “The Yes Men Fix the World,” from the Jerusalem Film Festival in
solidarity with the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign (http://www.bdsmovement.net/).
This
decision does not come easily, as we realize that the festival opposes
the policies of the State of Israel, and we have no wish to punish
progressives who deplore the state-sponsored violence committed in
their name.
This decision does not come
easily, as we feel a strong affinity with many people in Israel,
sharing with them our Jewish roots, as well as the trauma of the
Holocaust, in which both our grandfathers died. Andy lived in Jerusalem
for a year long ago, can still get by in Hebrew, and counts several
friends there. And Mike has always wanted to connect with the roots of
his culture.
But despite all our feelings, we
cannot abandon our mission as activists. In the 1980s, there was a call
from the people of South Africa to artists and others to boycott that
regime, and it helped end apartheid there. Today, there is a clear call
for a boycott from Palestinian civil society. Obeying it is our only
hope, as filmmakers and activists, of helping put pressure on the
Israeli government to comply with international law.
It
is painful to do this. But it is even more painful to hear Israeli
policies described as “fascist” – not just from the ill-informed and
the clueless, not just from the usual anti-semitic morons, but from
well-informed Jewish activists within Israel. They know what they’re
talking about, and it’s painful to think that they could be right.
As
we’re sure you know and deplore, the Israeli government has recently
authorized the construction of new units in an illegal West Bank
outpost – one that is illegal even according to Israeli law. On Monday,
nine Palestinians were injured as Israeli authorities demolished their
East Jerusalem home. Tuesday, the Israeli navy stopped a ship from
delivering medicine, toys, and other humanitarian relief to Gaza, and
detained over twenty foreign peace activists, including a Nobel Peace
laureate. Meanwhile, a UN commission was in Gaza investigating much
worse abuses committed early this year.
Whatever
words are applied to such actions, our film mustn’t help lend an aura
of normalcy to a state that makes these decisions. For us, that’s the
bottom line.
There is certainly another way to
do things in Israel/Palestine, and that is what we must fight for,
however feeble our means. As for our film, there is another way for it
to be seen in Israel… and in Palestine, so that the people most in
need of comic relief, who would never have been able to see it at the
Jerusalem Film Festival anyhow, will be able to see it too. Within the
next few months, we will make this happen.
To those who want to see our film, savlanut and sabir (patience)! And for all the rest of us, a little LESS patience, please.
L’shanah haba’ah beyerushalayim,
Andy and MikeThe Yes Men
And here’s the trailer to their new film:
Dear No Men,
In March of 2004 a young mother of four was driving the family car along a highway just a few minutes from her home when she suddenly found herself and her four daughters, ages two through eleven, the targets of an armed attack. Two men armed with assault rifles riddled her car with bursts of auto fire striking a tire and causing her to veer off the road and into the soft sand where she became stranded.
Witnesses state that the two men then sauntered up to the disabled car and proceeded to calmly end the lives of the entire family one by one, including the two year old toddler strapped helplessly to her car seat. After first executing the girls with shots to their heads, they turned their attention to the mother, she was eight months pregnant and was due any day to deliver her first son. What they did next is something that has left a deep emotional scar on my very soul ever since learning of it. According to the forensics report, one of the men placed his weapon against her womb and fired three times at the unborn child inside.
One of the most primordial human instincts, common to all peoples and all cultures is the protection of innocent children. What sort of malevolence could fill the conscious of a pair of men, not a lone psychotic, but a fellowship of men, with such bitter hatred of the other?
The answer to that question has driven me relentlessly for the past five years, near to the brink of madness I dare say. Many anguished nights have I cried out in frustration, tears streaming down my face wondering why, oh why? And the faces of those children haunt my dreams still. Only it is my children that are at the scene of the crime, my wife lies bleeding to death unable to save my children, and in my horror time slows to a crawl as I wonder what the final moments were like and what the family must have been thinking.
The medics said the children, Hila 11, Hadar 9, Roni 6, and the toddler, Mera aged 2 were huddled together in a final embrace when they found them. The mother, Tali Hatuel, ironically a social worker who counseled grieving victims of suicide bombings, must have tried to throw her body over her children to save their lives probably as she pleaded and begged for mercy. Can you imagine it? Can you imagine your own children at that horrible moment, the shrieks of horror, the terror, and the final bloody horrifying image the last one left this world with?
I can. I relive it every day in my mind's eye and I wonder what sort of society produced these killers? You see the story doesn't end with the soul rending brutality of the Hatuel family massacre. It turns out a CNN crew had taken fire as well and reported the incident to policemen guarding a community not far away. When a police vehicle arrived on the scene the two killers tried to escape in their own vehicle back to Gaza City, yes they were Arabs and the policemen were Israelis. The killers fired and threw grenades at the border policemen but were killed in the ensuing gun battle. They became instant heroes.
Thousands of ordinary Arabs came out onto the streets of Gaza City and threw a massive celebration in honor of the two "heroic martyrs". This was not the random acts of a deeply disturbed pair of psychopaths, this was the end product of religious indoctrination and hatred. Their names are remembered with reverence along with the rest of the mass murderers which this ghoulish society has idolized and you want to boycott Israel.
What ever you think you know about this situation if you have determined that it is necessary to boycott Israel you have decided to side with the worst society on earth. The Israelis are not the aggressors here they live with the threat of genocide hanging over them like a burial shroud. Why would you add to their trouble with a misguided boycott?
Michael LeFavour
Big news. Really big news. Never heard of them. Just another group of self promoting "progressives". I mean with big stars like Mike Bonanno and Andy Bichlbaum, not to mention the superstar Patrick Lichty they have to do something to get attention.
Awesome news! I think the Yes Men are great…
Good for the Yes Men. They need to pull a stunt on the Zionists.
When is Chicken Little coming out with a statement in support of BDS?
Exactly right — so what better "publicity stunt" than to choose the greatest humanitarian crisis since the South African apartheid to raise your profile! Simply put out a press release that "shamelessly" slams the most egregious systematic human rights abuse in modern history! That's right, the Yes Men are just crass publicity-hungry jamoches, and they really don't care that the IDF used white phosphorus weapons to incinerate women and children during Operation Kill Kids. Nice post, thedhimmi.
Hah! It is big news, as they have a huge following among American college students and anti-corporate activists, among others.
Very good article. I have a lot of respect for artists who are willing to stand behind what they believe in, especially when it involves tough choices. By the way, and a little off topic but it is relevant to a blog entry you did not too long ago… there are one or more organizations that are targeting Max Blumenthal's recent article on Huffington Post and spamming them with smears and hate speech. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/max-blumenthal/neda... Check the user names — in many cases this the post to his blog is the only post made by that screen name, and most of the screen names are dated "July 2009" — meaning they were made today and they were made exclusively to flood his article specifically and hijack the debate. Somebody needs to start taking this "hasbara" propaganda seriously. I'm trying to figure out if there is a way to get Huffington Post itself to expose it — as obvious as this is from the user end, there has to be a lot more juicy data server side showing where and how this attack originated.
I liked them before. I like them even more now.
Wow, a dismissive post by somebody who uses an Islamaphobic buzz word as a screen name. Big surprise. Were you just as dismissive of the suffering of South Africans at the hands of Afrikaaners? I'm guessing probably — if you support Israel, it only follows you support who they support. And Israel was one of the few countries willing to break the boycott and sell arms to the apartheid regime. Even tried to sell then nuclear arms technology, too.
you're an ignorant. They sure got attention already. I wonder how long it will still work. Not toooooooo much attention is actually a prerequisite.
I too noticed that they've long had "operatives" who are rapidly mobilized anytime something is written that might make Zionists cry. Still, they reinstated my account where DKos never has (from being falsely smeared as a holocaust denier). That's at least a change from where they were in the midst of the war with Lebanon.
Great news. Keep it coming. Don't let up!
Big news. Really big news. Never heard of them. Your knee-jerk dismissal is parochial and shortsighted. Many Americans, whose disapproval Israel really doesn't need, respect them and their unique combination of courage and humor. It's one more brick from the wall. My already high level just went up a notch. I didn't realize they are Jewish, and that most certainly will enhance the power of their condemnation with those reticent to speak up. Hopefully soon there will come a day when they can participate in Israeli cultural events and not feel they would be betraying their humanity. It's the colonies, stupid. It's the colonies, stupid. It's the colonies, stupid. (not directed towards any individual, including thedhimmi)
Sorry, Mister Little is busy showing us how regular Americans are set to pounce on American Jews, which is the reason we have to keep milking those regulars in behalf the Jewish Insurance Policy, Israel, for which the regulars pay a major third party beneficiary premium.
Somebody who ignorantly uses an Islamophobic buzz word the meaning and significance of which he has no clue about.
There's, inter alia, the 'Jewish Internet Defense Force' – whose web page is so hilarious I had difficulty at first believing it wasn't a parody. If you've read Glenn Greenwald on the faux warrior delusion one can find among the columnists at Commentary, National Review, &c., you'll recognise the symptoms. (I'm not going to link; you can find them easily enough through Google.)
I'm happy for Max, but Arianna publishes him merely to maintain her "progressive credentials." His articles are given less than prominent placement, are posted for short durations, and all comments are heavily censored.
ROFLMAO. If you think anything Israel has done is the most egregious systematic human rights abuse in modern history then you obviously haven't been paying attention to modern history.
Let's see. Second class citizens in Muslim countries. Their testimony was not valid against Muslims, so when a Muslim made a false accusation against a dhimmi the dhimmi was screwed (unless he bribed the judge or had Muslim witnesses). They were taxed extra. If a dhimmi died and had a Muslim heir (e.g., a grandson who converted to Islam) then all his property went to the Muslim and his other heirs were left with nothing. Often required by the Muslims to wear distinctive clothing. Forbidden to ride horses or camels. About the only good things about being a dhimmi (originally just Jews and Christians) was that you weren't subjected to as much abuse as non-Muslims who weren't dhimmis. Also, for Jews there were some times when being a second class citizen of a particular Muslim country was less oppressive than being a second class citizen of a particular Christian country. Ayatollah Khomeini said that dhimmis should pay the extra taxes, but should not be allowed to participate in the political process. "Come, be a dhimmi, we will be slightly less abusive to you than we are to non-dhimmis." Yeah, sign me up for that.
You didn't realize they are Jewish? That's OK, neither did they.
The problem with a boycott is that it only gets a person or organization to do what you want if the cost of the boycott exceeds the cost of complying with the demands of the people doing the boycotting. In this case, the demands of the BDS people include that Israel cease to exist. Therefore, the cost of the boycott (money), whatever it is, is less than the cost of complying with the demands of the BDS crowd (extinction). So basically, you should only support the boycott if you want Israel to cease to exist. Like most of the posters on this site.
it's the islamist cult of terror, death, lies, blame and hatred, stupid it's the islamist cult of terror, death, lies, blame and hatred, stupid it's the islamist cult of terror, death, lies, blame and hatred, stupid
Support the boycott of anyone who enables Pali terror groupsand their Iraniam puppeteers
I can't boycott the Yes Men's movie. I wasn't going to see it anyway.
I don't know what's so awful about a country ceasing to exist. The Soviet Union ceased to exist, as did the German Democratic Republic (east Germany). As far as I can tell the world was much improved afterward.
Kudos to you for your intelligent posts here, on HuffPo, and Tony Karon's site.
I had never heard of them.
Or maybe just a particular regime–how many there? Let us count them, Apartheid S Africa, Sadsack's Iran, etc
Here and now, Thom, life does go on.
The demands of the BDS movement (as far as I understand and as clearly stated in the original BDS call found on http://www.bdsmovement.net), are not that Israel should cease to exist, but rather that BDS should be maintained until: "… Israel meets its obligation to recognize the Palestinian people's inalienable right to self-determination and fully complies with the precepts of international law by: 1. Ending its occupation and colonization of all Arab lands and dismantling the Wall; 2. Recognizing the fundamental rights of the Arab-Palestinian citizens of Israel to full equality; and 3. Respecting, protecting and promoting the rights of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and properties as stipulated in UN resolution 194." Supporting boycott does not equate with wanting Israel to cease to exist.
How exactly will Israel continue to exist if millions of refugees "return to their homes" (disregarding the fact that most of the refugees from 48 have died, so it's unclear what homes exactly this is supposed to refer to)? What would happen if there were 300 million Native American refugees in Canada, waiting to go back to their homeland in the US?
"How exactly will Israel continue to exist if millions of refugees "return to their homes" " The same way Israel would have existed had those refugees not been created in the first place. The homes of those refugees as still well documented, given that at the time of the enthnci cleansing, Israeli Jews only owned 7% of the land and the Arabs at least 50%.
Israel hasn't done the most egregious systematic human rights abuse is history, but it has the longest.
You forgot, for example, the Occupation of Palestine by Emir and then King Abdullah and the invention of the country of Trans-Jordan and then Jordan out of Palestine. Before Israeli indpendence in 1948. In the Arab world, many, many longer histories of HR abuse…. ongoing, too….
Dhimmi status is alive and well today. Lebanon, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Sudan/Darfur, etc…..
Arab land thieves didn't "own" land. They stole it. They still do. This is why Arab countries are armed to the teeth – they are terrified of their Arab neighbors….
I just love it! Moron Israel-haters boycott an Israeli film festival.. run by Leftist, Bohemian, Secularist, Homosexual, pro-Arab Israeli "artistes". Those guys are supposed to be your friends! What a bunch of morons….
Genius – 60 years have gone by. There are now over 7 million people living in Israel, compared to less than a million in 1948. People live where the refugees used to live. When you agree to leave your house so a Native American family can move in, then we'll talk.
People, get a grip. Your BDS movement is about as successful as Jessica Simpson's last album. Partial list of international entertainers and celebrities who have come or will come to Israel in 2009: Madonna, Leonard Cohen, Depeche Mode, Pet Shop Boys, Julio Iglesias, Chris Cornell, Susanne Vega, Macy Gray, Joe Jackson, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Branford Marsalis, The Roy Hanes Trio, Stefano Bollani, Kenny Garrett, Al Di Meola, Jamie Lidell, Paradise Lost, Dream Theater, David Helfgott, Murray Perahia, Yo Yo Ma, Jason Alexander, Naomi Watts, David LaChapelle… List of entertainers who have decided to "boycott": The Yes Men. I'm sure the great minds on this site will be able to do the math. Solutions will not be found by boycotting one side of the conflict.
Yes. The boycott didn't change South Africa either. OK, OK Israel it ignored right until the end, but otherwise the nations of non-priests did not.
If BDS doesn't work, then why are Israeli supporters against it?
"There are now over 7 million people living in Israel, compared to less than a million in 1948. People live where the refugees used to live." The Zionists should have thought of that before they ethnically cleansed the land of 85-90% of its indigenous population and moved immigrants from another continent into their homes, not to mention distributing their stolen property to them. Too bad, so sad that most Israelis are now living in stolen homes and/or on stolen land, but when the rightful owners show up, they'll just have to find another place to live. Come to think of it, there will be some nice, empty refugee camps all ready for them. PS Pretty ironic that you guys try to discredit the Palestinians' claims by pointing to the passage of a mere 60 years while basing your claim on a 2000 year old claim based on religious myth.
As I said, ignorantly uses an Islamophobic buzz word the meaning and significance of which he has no clue about. Oh yes, and an archaic word, at that.
Another Islamophobic ignoramus heard from.
"The Zionists should have thought of that before they ethnically cleansed the land" The Palestinians should have thought of that before they rejected the partition plan and started a war. They lost, too bad. They're not getting their land back. "But when the rightful owners show up, they'll just have to find another place to live." When the Native Americans move back to their homes in the US, give Israel a call. Until then you can dream on.
Isn't your shift at the Ministry of Absorption over yet?
Madonna? What a loss. They can keep her.
Exactly. The same people also claim that Israel doesn't need American aid. But they always take it.
How archaic could it be. Ayatollah Khomeini isn't exaclty current events but certainly not archaic. Exactly what is "ignorant" about what I posted. Care to enlighten us poor dhimmis?
No need to talk. All we need to do is defund Israel until it agrees to quit blowing up other people with weapons supplied by us.
In those cases? Nothing was wrong with it. Borders change. Nations change. In the particular case of Israel the main problem is that the people who would have control of the new nation would murder the Jews. That isn't something the Jews are likely to sign on for voluntarily.
Your analogy requires one thing to be accurate 300 million native Americans "who have recently elected a government whose stated goal is the extermination of the non Native Americans in the U.S.A."
Israel + 5 to 14 million Palestinians = Israel ceases to exist. Followed shortly by another Holocaust.
They live where the ancestors of the refugees used to live. Seriously, is there any other group in the world that gets to claim "refugee" status because their great grandparents were kicked out somewhere?
Hah! Ask the Coptic Christians of Egypt, for example. Persecuted, massacred, terrorized. Dhimmi. Ask the Maronite Christians of Lebanon. Terrorized, massacred, evicted. Dhimmi. Ask the Christians of Darfur. Genocide. Period. Dhimmi. Oh, the Jews got it before, now the Christians are getting it. Who's the ignoramus now, Shirin?
I pointed out that the boycotters were boycotting those in Israel who actually agree with them! Stupid boycotters. You just demonstrated that you are as moronic as the boycotters! That's OK. Being stupid very much suits bigots.
Remarkable. Can't wait to see their film..they did the right thing
In 38 years, there will be 100 year old refugee camps.
Your premise seems to be that since the ancestors of current day Americans took Indian land 150 to 300 years ago, current residents of Israel have has the right to take Palestinian land today. This is based on what? The notion that Israel doesn't need to abide by any of the changes in international law over the last 150 years?
If you would look at some of the videos from the West Bank posted here on Mondoweiss you would see that Israel settlers kick Palestinian farmers and villagers off their own land every day. I'm not talking about the people who lost their houses to Zionists 60 years ago. I'm talking about the people who are losing their land and houses to Zionist fanatics (God gave us the land) today.
It depends what you mean by "work". If you mean "will it get Israel to do what the boycotters demand" then no, it won't work. When the choice is face a boycott v. national (and personal) suicide, who is going to say "oh, no, not a boycott". If you mean "will it harm Israel or at least some Israeli companies" then yes, it might. Your question is like asking "if suicide bombing doesn't accomplish the stated goal of getting the suicide bomber laid in heaven, then why are the Israeli supporters against it". It won't do what it's supposed purpose is, that doesn't mean that it won't do harm.
How it would have existed if those refugees had not been created in the first place would be as a giant cemetery for the Jews. As for 7%. Actually about half. The 6% figure often cited undercounts the amount of land actually owned by Jews and counts all land not in private ownership by Jews as "Arab owned" despit the fact that most of it was actually government land that the Palestinians had no ownership rights in. They rented government land from the Ottomans. When the British took over, the land became theirs. When Israel took over, it became theirs. http://www.zionism-israel.com/dic/Land_question_i... What percent of America was owned by private non Native American land owners in 1776?
Depends what you mean by modern, but the Soviet Union has them beat. So does the Spanish Inquisition. And pretty most Arab countries.
Amen
The thread here is not about the territories, but about Israel proper.
Anyone else getting private video messages on that link?
Here's another thread. For many Israelis, Israel proper includes Judea and Samaria.
I embedded the first "feeling the hate" video clip at Jews sans frontieres from Youtube but then it disappeared. I then embedded it again from maxblumenthal.com but that too has now disappeared. What happened to the latter? Anyway, I'' embed this latest and see how that goes.
Woops, I didn't close my html. try this