Biotic Baking Brigade on Thu, 10 May 2001 18:12:42 +0200 (CEST) |
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<nettime> Pie Times News Digest #1! |
[orig To: BBB Correspondents <bbb@asis.com>] Dear correspondents, Revolutionary pastry greetings after a long hiatus. I have been toiling away as an editor at the new Earth First! Journal, which recently moved from Oregon to Arizona. Due to feedback from correspondents, I'm starting the first official Pie Times New Digest with this post. If the pies keep flying, then the posts will as well--and all indications suggest that this movement's time has come. The recent flanning of James Wolfensohn marked a special moment in the history of the global pastry uprising, as it completed the Holy Trinity of entartement: the heads of the World Bank, International Monetary Fund and World Trade Organization have all been pied. It's fascinating how pie attacks spread like wildfire through certain geographical regions. The American West, Australia, Eastern Europe, Britain and now Scandinavia have all had their flashpoints. Hmmm...would make a fascinating case study. Please contact me for any additions or removals of email addresses to this list. >From the wildlands of Turtle Island, remaining a proud purveyor of palatable projectiles, Agent Apple for the BBB @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ Wolfensohn Creamed! The director of the World Bank, James D. Wolfensohn, was pied March 29 in Finland by the Arctic Baking Brigade (BBB), the first such attack in the country. Wolfensohn was starting his press conference when 2 soya-cream pies attacked him. They landed on his face. He seemed a bit surprised, but then said: "Mmm. Tastes good but I'm on a diet. " "We managed to cancel the press conference. It's hard to give an impression of a respected economic leader with your face covered in soya-cream," said the deputy commander Marzipan, who was honored to throw the first pie in Finnish history. The deputy commander Pomada threw the second cake pie and scored also, even though she had to throw her cake from a few meters away. Deputy commanders Nonpareils and Cardamom successfully covered for them. "Cakes are the best way of communicating with these totally undemocratic organizations, like the World Bank," the group said in their press release. When Wolfensohn chose not press any charges, the group proclaimed, "So the case is closed as far as the police are concerned. But for us, this is just a beginning...." However, the Finnish prime minister's office later filed an official criminal complaint against the two entarteurs. Wolfensohn expressed his frustration that "these types of non-governmental organizations find it so easy to play their little games, when out in the field people are dying of poverty. This sort of thing really enrages me." The BBB received the following communication from Subcommander Pomada of the ABB: "It's been a busy month for us with all the media attention (too many interviews with commando-style cook hats), the police hearings and having politicians say such nasty things about us, but it was worth it!" A classic pie action shot is online at: http://www.indymedia.org/display.php3?article_id=30879 @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ Swedish finance minister pied in Stockholm During a ceremonial procession through the streets of Stockholm on April 6 to present the Swedish state budget, the finance minister Bosse Ringholm was attacked by two members of the Stockholms Tårtbrigade (Stockholm Pie Brigade). The activists managed to throw not one, but two pies in the surprised minister's face. "It was a vicious attack," the finance minister said to one of Sweden's tabloid newspapers, before continuing his walk." Stockholm Pie Brigade writes in a press release that the aim of the attack was to "draw attention to the forthcoming protests in Gothenburg against the so-called 'social democracies' and their neoliberal actions both in Europe and globally. We know who are the losers in the privatization of apartment houses, schools and hospitals, in the shut down of public libraries, and in the harder prison sentences. We also know who will profit from this system, and who are responsible for these economical policies." "We wanted to do something fun. It's a symbolic action, it shows that the responsible have a face and a name," one of the two activists commented to Arbetaren, (the official paper of SAC, Sweden's revolutionary anarcho-syndicalist union). According to the group, the attack was part of the international initiative "Operation Dessert Storm." The initiative comes from activists that strongly sympathize with the international pie-throwing network Biotic Baking Brigade. They have pronounced that April is to be an international pie-throwing month. An irritated Ringholm told news reporters that, "This is the kind of thing you do when arguments no longer work!" Anti-Fascist Action--Sweden responded by saying, "How right you are Mr. Ringholm!" Photo at: http://www.dessertstorm.org/news.php3?id=18&start=0 @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ The BBB received the following communication from Norway: "Hi, we are Bergen Bloetekake Brigade from Bergen, Norway. Wednesday we threw a cake on the minister of... don't know the name in english. but her name is Sylvia Brustad and she is responsible for all the housing problems in Norway." And two weeks later, according to Reuters, Norway's Foreign Minister Thorbjoern Jagland was in for a surprise when protesters threw cream pie in his face. He light-heartedly cleaned himself up and proceeded to lead a labour march in Oslo. @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ Pies in the face of Swedish European Union (EU) politicians Three EU-friendly Swedish federal politicians were attacked with cream pies on March 6 at the beginning of a debate about Sweden's EU policies in the university town of Lund in southern Sweden. The Syndicalist Youth Federation, SUF, in Lund have taken responsibility for the action. The politicians have complained about their dry-cleaning bills! "Someone had to do something to get a debate started. EU is a deeply undemocratic organisation and all of us who are critical to the heart of the project, capitalism, have almost no platform at all in the debate that is only about small changes to the system," said one of the entarteurs. More info: www.motkraft.net/gbg2001 @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ British Minister Gets Her Just Desserts Clare Short, Britain's International Development Secretary, was custard-pied on March 5 in recognition of her disservice to the world's poor. Just Desserts, or Dim ond Cwstard in Welsh, pied her when she visited Bangor in north-west Wales this evening. She was delivering a lecture on globalization at the University of Wales, when three local patisseristas presented her with custard pies in Short-crust pastry, made with fair-trade bananas and local organic ingredients. Ms. Short is believed to be the first government minister on earth to have received a special Cabinet Pudding. Baked to a new recipe, the pies have been christened the Short-crust Bananas Turnover, to mark both the minister's political volte-face and the madness of her current globalization policies. Ms Short was doubtless pleased to note that after the pie-ing there was a marked Trickle-Down Effect, as her clothes were enriched by the same commodities which had been imported into her face. Agent Cwstard commented, "Clare Short's bananas policies are flying in the face of ministerial promises to help the world's poor and protect the environment. Our alternative flan of action involves policies which stick while distributing the fruits of the global economy to those who are most deserving." Regarding this event, acclaimed journalist John Pilger wrote the following in the New Statesman (London): "At the recent British press awards, there was no prize for news management. This was a pity, as this branch of journalism has pulled off some great scoops lately, keeping important stories out of the news or shifting their emphasis away from the truth. Take the custard-pieing of Clare Short. Not itself a significant event, it was certainly newsworthy, considering the wider issues. Moreover, videotape and photographs were distributed widely. A few months ago, when Ann Widdecombe was pied, most of the papers ran the picture, even though it was indistinct. And Tony Blair's tomato-ing and Nick Brown's receipt of a chocolate eclair were covered. But Clare Short is one Cabinet minister too far. She has to be protected; her value to new Labour is that some people in the party's grass roots still believe she is one of them. She was pied as she was telling an audience at the University of Bangor heart-breaking stories about the world's poor and how the World Bank and other pillars of globalisation were their saviours. She is, after all, not only Secretary of State for Globalisation, or International Development, as new Labour prefers, but a governor of the World Bank. Short's first reaction to her pieing (the pie had been baked to a new recipe called Short-crust Bananas Turnover, to mark her abandonment of any political principles and her embrace of new Labour) was to shout at the camerawoman: "Stop that woman. Don't let her get that film out." The film did get out, but Short's news managers were quickly on to editors, raising the question of "permission to film the meeting". At the meeting, the author and environmentalist George Monbiot had tried to distribute lists of questions, challenging Short's and Blair's policies. These were snatched by a security guard, who said that he was under instructions from a Labour Party official. The videotape did slip on to Sky News, but the BBC and ITN showed nothing. The Daily Mail ran a short piece on page 31, and the Guardian a single paragraph on page 10. There were no pictures. @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ Anti-Capitalists Take Wellington Tuesday, 1 May 2001, 9:38 am Press Release: Wellington Biotic Baking Brigade http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/PO0105/S00003.htm 'FIRST WE TOOK WELLINGTON CITY, THEN CUBA MALL THE TRUE STORY BEHIND THE ANTI-CAPITALIST INVASION OF PONEKE - WHANGANUI A TARA (Wellington for you pre de-colonials) Group Photo Of Wellington Biotic Baking Brigade [excerpts] 1. Approximately 3 million members of the Wellington Biotic Baking Brigade have already arrived outside Wellington City, each heavily armed with stink bombs, exploding Cuban cigars & Barbara Streisand albums. They are camped out in camouflaged RVs in the suburbs; 2. Among them, 30,000 JAPANESE NINJA ANARCHIST WARRIORS are preparing to breach the beehive at dawn. They will clear landing pads for several hundred ANARCHIST BLACK CROSS HELICOPTERS carrying 14,000 BELGIAN ANARCHIST pie throwing specialists. @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ Dessert Storm on Mayday Forget the lies, half truths and state propoganda that has been said about Mayday- here is the real story: On May 1st a crack team of highly trained anarchist pastry chefs will descend on London vowing to cover the capital in custard. This will be known to future generations as Operation Dessert Storm and we are talking Pie-rect action. The pastry chefs, who include Agent Orange creme, comrade creme brulee and Brigadier Banoffee, will be making this day custards last stand. This action will be effective in making the state look like the raspberry fools they are. They will get just desserts. Wee call on all of the working class to join us in this fun day out and to put a smile back on the faces of the oppressed. If any flan flingers do get taken into custardy, you can be sure that unlike the pies the charges won't stick. Here is the recipe that was handed down to us by revolutionaries of years gone by: 10 kg of flour 1 kg of sugar water to make it sticky yellow food colouring vanilla essence (optional) Mix it alltogether, stick it on a paper plate and throw. Serves 50. @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ Logging Protestor and Pie-thrower sentenced to Six Months in Prison As reported in a previous BBB email, Salmon SoufflÈ Society pie-thrower Randall Mark pied US Senator Helen Chenowith in Idaho. Because he was on probation from a previous protest against logging, and because Idaho is such a reactionary state, he was sentenced to a six month sentence. Please write to him at: Randall Mark #09528-023 FDC unit FC PO Box 13900 Seattle, WA 98198 If you are sending books (you can send used books) do not include anything else in the package, such as a letter etc. also write on the package "As approved by BOP" and "3 books etc." If anyone wants to visit, they have to fill out a form from the prison and wait weeks for approval. He is getting out early (June 8th) for some reason. They may be trying to screw him by forcing probation on him rather than letting him finish his term. @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ Clowns Told to Get Custard Pie Insurance LONDON (Reuters) - Circus clowns were told on Thursday to take out custard pie insurance against the risk of being sued by spectators who fail to see the joke. ``With an increasingly litigation-crazy public... the ethics and legal implications of 'splatting' and 'sloshing' are expected to be hotly debated under the Big Top,'' Clowns International said in a statement from its annual convention. Although no clown has yet been sued by the recipient of a face-full of custard pie, the organization fears it may be just a matter of time. Martin ``Zippo'' Burton, the group's honorary vice-president, said only fellow clowns and celebrities should be chosen, a white-faced clown must never be hit, and careful judgement should be used to ensure that those targeted were not averse. @@ @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ "Disobedience, in the eyes of any one who has read history, is man's original virtue. It is through disobedience that progress has been made, through disobedience and through rebellion." --Oscar Wilde The Biotic Baking Brigade.....coming soon to a pie-o-region near you. bbb@asis.com http://www.asis.com/~bbb/ Friends of the BBB: c/o POB 40130, San Francisco, CA 94140, Amerika -------------- Dessert Storm - an international month of pie-ing now has open publishing news section - indymedia style - for your photos, text, video of piesploits!! ((( globalise the pie! ))) http://www.dessertstorm.org @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ # distributed via <nettime>: no commercial use without permission # <nettime> is a moderated mailing list for net criticism, # collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets # more info: majordomo@bbs.thing.net and "info nettime-l" in the msg body # archive: http://www.nettime.org contact: nettime@bbs.thing.net