THE YES MEN AND ACTIVISM IN THE INFORMATION ... - Index of

Furthermore, Jude Finisterra (whose name comes from a melding of the patron saint [Jude] of
impossible causes and the end [finis] of the earth [terra]) was discovered by the press to be a
concoction by the Yes Men. The news of the false Dow statement became the top story on
News.Google.com, along with Dow’s formal retraction. 58 Later that day, the Yes Men made news
again by issuing their version of Dow’s retraction, which stated that, “Dow will NOT commit
ANY funds to compensate and treat 120,000 Bhopal residents who require lifelong care . . . Dow
will NOT remediate (clean up) the Bhopal plant site . . . Dow’s sole and unique responsibility is
to its shareholders, and Dow CANNOT do anything that goes against its bottom line unless
forced to by law.” 59 The Yes Men made Dow acknowledge the Bhopal tragedy, and they also
succeeded in making the situation visible to many who might not have otherwise known about it.
But Dow has not wavered, nor have the citizens of Bhopal been compensated as the Yes Men
would like. 60 In fact, much of the press generated from the hoax paints the Yes Men in a negative
light, not only for fooling the relatively innocent BBC, but for also toying with the hopes of the
Bhopal victims. Senior journalists at the BBC were disheartened by the effect of the hoax on the
citizens of Bhopal, describing a scene where “initial admiration for the elaborate hoax was rapidly
dispelled after reports of how the euphoria in Bhopal’s ravaged community when the fictitious
58 Tom Vanderbilt, “Affirmative Action: Tom Vanderbilt on the Yes Men,” Artforum (February 2005)
http://www.artforum.com/inprint/id=8261, accessed February 18, 2005.
59 The Yes Men, “Dow,” The Yes Men, http://www.theyesmen.org/hijinks/dow.html, accessed on February 20,
2005.
60 Ibid.
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