By The Yes Men
WikiLeaks begins to publish today over five million e-mails obtained by Anonymous from "global intelligence" company Stratfor. The emails, which
reveal everything from sinister spy tactics to an insider trading scheme with Goldman Sachs (see below), also include
several discussions
of the Yes Men and Bhopal activists. (Bhopal activists seek redress for
the 1984 Dow Chemical/Union Carbide gas disaster in Bhopal, India, that
led to thousands of deaths, injuries in more than half a million
people, and lasting environmental damage.)
Many of the Bhopal-related emails, addressed from Stratfor to Dow and
Union Carbide public relations directors, reveal concern that, in the
lead-up to the 25th anniversary of the Bhopal disaster, the Bhopal issue
might be expanded into an effective systemic critique of corporate
rule, and speculate at length about why this hasn't yet
happened—providing a fascinating window onto what at least some
corporate types fear most from activists.
"[Bhopal activists] have made a slight nod toward expanded activity, but
never followed through on it—the idea of 'other Bhopals' that were the
fault of Dow or others," mused Joseph de Feo, who is listed in one
online source as a "Briefer" for Stratfor.
"Maybe the Yes Men were the pinnacle. They made an argument in their way
on their terms—that this is a corporate problem and a part of the a
[sic] larger whole," wrote Kathleen Morson, Stratfor's Director of
Policy Analysis.
"With less than a month to go [until the 25th anniversary], you'd think
that the major players—especially Amnesty—would have branched out from
Bhopal to make a broader set of issues. I don't see any evidence of
it," wrote Bart Mongoven, Stratfor's Vice President, in November 2004.
"If they can't manage to use the 25th anniversary to broaden the issue,
they probably won't be able to."
Mongoven even speculates on coordination between various activist campaigns that had nothing to do with each other. "The
Chevron campaign
[in Ecuador] is remarkably similar [to the Dow campaign] in its
unrealistic demand. Is it a follow up or an admission that the first
thrust failed? Am I missing a node of activity or a major campaign that
is to come? Has the Dow campaign been more successful than I think?"
It's almost as if Mongoven assumes the two campaigns were directed from
the same central activist headquarters.
Just as Wall Street has
at times let slip their fear
of the Occupy Wall Street movement, these leaks seem to show that
corporate power is most afraid of whatever reveals "the larger whole"
and "broader issues," i.e. whatever brings systemic criminal behavior to
light. "Systemic critique could lead to policy changes that would
challenge corporate power and profits in a really major way," noted
Joseph Huff-Hannon, recently-promoted Director of Policy Analysis for
the Yes Lab.
Among the millions of other leaked Stratfor emails are some that reveal
dubious financial practices, including an apparent insider trading
scheme with Goldman Sachs Managing Director Shea Morenz, who joined
Stratfor's board of directors and invested "substantially" more than $4
million in the scheme, called StratCap. "What StratCap will do is use
our Stratfor's intelligence and analysis to trade in a range of
geopolitical instruments," wrote Stratfor CEO George Friedman in
September 2011. StratCap was designed through a complex offshore share
structure to appear legally independent, but Friedman assured Stratfor
staff otherwise: "Do not think of StratCap as an outside organisation.
It will be integral... It will be useful to you... We are already
working on mock portfolios and trades." (StratCap has been due to launch
in 2012, though that could now change.)
Other emails show Stratfor techniques of a truly creepy Spy vs. Spy
sort: "[Y]ou have to take control of him. Control means financial,
sexual or psychological control," wrote CEO Friedman recently to an
employee, Reva Bhalla, on how to exploit an Israeli intelligence
informant providing information on Chavez's cancer. (Stratfor's
"confidential intelligence services" clients include, besides Dow and
Union Carbide, the US Department of Homeland Security, the US Marines,
the US Defense Intelligence Agency, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman,
and Raytheon.)
Perhaps most entertainingly of all, the email trove reveals that
Stratfor's "Confederation Partners"—an unethical alliance between
Stratfor and a number of mainstream journalists—are referred to
informally within Stratfor as its "Confed Fuck House." (Another
discovery: Coca Cola was spying on PETA. More such gems are sure to
surface as operatives sift through the 5.5 million emails.)
A number of the remaining Yes Men-related emails take the form of
reports on public appearances by the Yes Men, such as one that describes
one audience comprised of "art students on class assignments and free
entertainment." Another notes that "The Yes Men tweeted about the US
Chamber of Commerce 'plotting forged emails, documents to trick (AND
smear) opponents,'" a reference to an
apparent plot
to discredit Chamber opponents using forged documents, as revealed when
thousands of emails were recently leaked by Anonymous from
cyber-security firm HB Gary. Yet another discusses Alessio Rastani, the
Wall Street trader
widely mistaken
for Yes Man Andy Bichlbaum, who proclaimed, live on the BBC, that
"governments don't rule the world, Goldman Sachs rules the world."
"Rastani was right," said the real Andy Bichlbaum five months later.
"But it's now very clear that it doesn't have to be that way anymore."
The Yes Men and representatives from the Bhopal Medical Appeal will join
Julian Assange of Wikileaks at a press conference at noon today, Feb.
27, at the Frontline Club in London.
See Wikileaks files here
