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The Yes Men Snafu Oil Giants at Largest Petrol Industry Trade Show in Canada

The Yes Men have struck again! In a brilliant performance on June 15, Yes Men Andy Bichlbaum and Mike Bonanno posed as oil executives at the GO-EXPO - Canada's largest oil industry trade show which was held at Stampede Park in Calgary, Alberta. This year’s conference attracted more than more than 20,000 visitors and exhibitors from around the world.

Posing as ExxonMobil and National Petroleum Council (NPC) representatives, the Yes Men introduced Vivoleum to a 300+ crowd of oil execs. Vivoleum, they explained, was human flesh converted into oil, a future oil product that will capitalize on the catastrophe of global warming and the many deaths that it will cause.

The speech was accompanied by a 3-D rendering of the process of creating vivoleum.

During the presentation, candles were distributed throughout the crowd and attendees were asked to light the candles – supposedly made of Vivoleum -- in memorium to Reggie, a former ExxonMobil janitor. As the suit-clad listeners set about lighting their candles, the Yes Men played a video tribute to Reggie the Janitor.

It was the video that finally tipped-off organizers. As security guards ushered the Yes Men away from the stage they were swarmed by journalists to whom they continued to explain the process of rendering human flesh into oil.

"We're not talking about killing anyone," Andy Bichlbaum said to reporters, "we're talking about using them after nature has done the hard work. After all, 150,000 people already die from climate-change related effects every year. That's only going to go up - maybe way, way up. Will it all go to waste? That would be cruel."

The Yes Men were taken into custody by Calgary police and later released without charges.

Check out the photographs and press coverage at their website.

These guys are heroes!

Originally by Marisa Olson from Rhizome.org.


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