Viridian Note 0317: Political Activism

From: Bruce Sterling [bruces@well.com]
Sent: Monday, June 17, 2002 9:47 PM
Subject: Viridian Note 00317: Political Activism

Key concepts: infowar, politics, Campaign Exxon-Mobil, Citizens for a Sound Economy, Congress of Racial Equality, United People Resisting Oppression & Racism, CNSnews.com, Lee Raymond

Attention Conservation Notice: Very political, throughly disenchanting, also hilarious

Subject: Big Win @ ExxonMobil! Date: Wednesday, June 5, 2002 12:00 PM From: Campaign ExxonMobil <info@campaignexxonmobil.org>

EXXONMOBIL SHAREHOLDERS SHOW GROWING CONCERN ABOUT COMPANY'S LACK OF RENEWABLE ENERGY STRATEGY

Doubled Vote Total Boosts Efforts to Change ExxonMobil's Isolation on Global Warming

DALLAS, TEXAS–May 29, 2002–Buoyed by growing support from mainstream investors, religious shareholders challenging ExxonMobil's position on global warming saw record levels of support for their resolutions this Wednesday. A resolution urging ExxonMobil to adopt a plan for renewable energy resources garnered an impressive 20.3 percent of the vote, more than double the 8.9 percent vote the same resolution achieved in 2001.

"Mainstream investors are questioning whether ExxonMobil is really protecting shareholder value with its isolated position on renewable energy and global warming," said Peter Altman, national coordinator of Campaign ExxonMobil. "For the first time mainstream investors are saying to ExxonMobil that they need to see the rationale behind the company's strategy: the 'just trust us and don't ask questions' approach isn't going to work anymore."

"For too long ExxonMobil has refused to dialogue in a meaningful way on this issue," said Reverend Michael Crosby, the filer of the renewable energy resolution. "Now the question becomes – how many investors will it take to prod this company forward before it responds?"

"This is the year that the campaign against ExxonMobil on global warming truly achieved critical mass," said Sister Patricia Daly of the Tri-State Coalition for Responsible Investment. "We are now positioned as never before to move out to bring new and important pressure on ExxonMobil to face the facts about climate change. I have never been so encouraged about our prospects. We expect to see more new faces among institutional investors brought into our ranks in 2003 and beyond."

(((Sounds great, eh? But check this out. The Exxon-Mobil campaign suddenly finds that the streets of Dallas are cram-full of rightwing cranks who have been reading their email. Welcome to infowar, reverend.)))

Source: CNSnews.com Link: Cybercast News Service, the RIGHT news RIGHT now... heroically combats liberal media bias! http://www.cnsnews.com/

Dallas (CNSNews.com) – Anti-corporate protesters at ExxonMobil Corporation's annual shareholder meeting in Dallas Wednesday packed up and left after finding themselves outnumbered by free market demonstrators.

The anti-corporate protesters began arguing among themselves about how best to deal with the large number of free market demonstrators carrying banners such as "Yankee Rent a Mob Go Home," "Capitalism Rocks" and "Greenpeace Hates America." They quickly decided to pack up and leave.

"I think we rattled them. They're packing up their bags and they're leaving," stated Niger Innis of the Congress on (((sic))) Racial Equality, one of the free market groups conducting a counter-demonstration. "Victory is sweet," he added.

After determining that their message was not being heard over the free market promoters, Scott Crow of the group United People Resisting Oppression & Racism (UPROR) decided to call it a day.

With a chant of "Gone for now, but never forever," a woman in a "Proud to be a Bohemian" t-shirt retreated and other anti corporate protesters began to leave.

"The [anti-corporate] protesters are anti-American and anti-democracy, they are not just anti-ExxonMobil," stated Peggy Venable, the Texas State Director for the free market group Citizens for a Sound Economy (CSE.) "They had anarchist training seminars this past weekend," she added.

Link: CSE, a big, hairy Beltway outfit that lacks anarchist seminars http://www.cse.org/

Venable said the ExxonMobil protesters are "shipped in from elsewhere," while her group is from Texas. "We're people that work for a living," she said.

Other counter-demonstrators shared the same view. "We don't want environmentalists dictating the way we live," said Jose Muniz. "They want to reestablish socialism, which is what died in Russia. They want to shove it down our throats."

Carol Jones of the Texas branch of CSE carried a sign that read "Hitler Held Mock Trials Too," referring to Tuesday night's mock trial of ExxonMobil in which anti-corporate demonstrators ruled the corporate giant "guilty" for "crimes against humanity" and ordered the company's charter revoked.

The free marketers also held up signs saying the following: "Greens Suck," "Mother Nature Guilty of Climate Change," "Get Back in Your SUV & Drive Home," "Choose Capitalism Over Eco-Socialism," "Stop Global Whining," "Oil Employs, Anarchy Destroys," "No Poor Man Passes Out Jobs," "How Much Does Castro Pay You?" and "Greens are Red at Heart."

One ExxonMobil opponent, who would only give his first name, created a stir when he blamed the U.S. for the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

"I understand why [terrorists] did it. America has oppressed the rest of the world for 200 years or even before that when they took the land from the Native Americans and killed them, poisoned them and ran them off their land," Luigi shouted over jeers from the counter- demonstration.

Luigi also explained that "global capitalism is destroying the environment and it's destroying the earth. It's destroying the quality of life for everybody other than the upper crusts who are reaping the benefits." (((You gotta love ol' Luigi, even if the "reporter" made him up wholesale, which seems rather likely.)))

ExxonMobil chairman Lee Raymond told CNSNews.com that he was unfazed by the protesters. "We operate in over 200 countries around the world and for some reason that is bad," Raymond explained. He said ExxonMobil is a good corporate citizen throughout the world, hiring citizens from the countries in which it operates to satisfy 95 percent of its labor needs. (((Gosh, it certainly was good of Chairman Raymond to meet the free press here.)))

"If that is what they mean by globalization, then frankly everybody should support it," Raymond said. (((Everybody but the Bush Administration, which seems to have less use for "globalization" than the Black Bloc. No Kyoto, no war crimes court, and pretty soon, no WTO.)))

O=c=O O=c=O O=c=O O=c=O O=c=O
NO POOR MAN PASSES OUT JOBS...
UNLESS HE'S LIVING OVER A LAKE OF OIL
IN CONGO ANGOLA VENEZUELA COLOMBIA
THE CASPIAN, KAZAKHSTAN, UZBEKISTAN
RUSSIA AND MEXICO
O=c=O O=c=O O=c=O O=c=O O=c=O