<nettime> Pie Times News Digest #2

[Biotic Baking Brigade <bbb@asis.com>]

Some BBB groups have diversified their tactical portfolio:

PUIL HIT BY A TONNE OF MANURE
This Transit Strike Really Stinks!!

At 5 AM Tuesday morning Translink Chair George Puil received an early
delivery of 1 tonne of fresh BC manure.  The manure was placed outside of
his home at 1866 Ogden St. in Kitsilano with a sign reading "Hey George-
The Bus Strike Stinks- Day 145."

"This transit strike really stinks," said Agent Cow Pie of the Biotic
Bullshit Brigade.  "We're laying the bullsh*t right where it ought to be,
on the steps of the man responsible for it, George Puil."

"The smelly excuses of Vancouver politicians are no longer good enough!",
said Agent Crappy.  "We will continue to take action until they start
acting like adults rather than the bickering privatizing excuse-making
weasels that they are!"

The transit strike hits day 145 today- 145 days of inconvenience and
impossibility for seniors, the working poor and the disabled.  Puil, as
chair of the Translink board has the power to force the Coast Mountain bus
company to accept the mediator's terms.

On Tuesday afternoon city council will meet- will they avoid the issue?
Will more bullsh*t fly?  Tune in for more.....

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Israel main radio channel reported on July 4 about the pieing in the
parliament building, done by a female activist.

The action was part in the struggle against privatization and
monopolization of TV cable system. The pied minister, member of the ruling
nationalist party, promote the transfer of the rights to monopoly owned by
the five leading capitalist families owning the main media.

He was pied when he went out of the parliament economy comity working on
preparing the needed changes in the media communication low.

The report in the radio news about the leaflets distributed and statement
to the media points to the local PGA anti-authoritarian group of
activists.

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For Immediate Release:  June 21st, 2001 Summer Solstice

CEO of Enron, Jeffrey Skilling, ... royally pied

San Francisco- Inspired by the former actions of the Biotic Baking Brigade
(BBB) and other pie wielding individuals across the nation, Agent
Chocolate Supreme generously delivered a Blueberry tofu cream pie to the
CEO of the Enron Corporation, Jeffrey Skilling, this evening at The Common
Wealth Club, where he was sceduled to speak on "The Roles and
Responsibilities of the Energy Industry."  Agent Chocolate Supreme gave
Jeffrey Skilling his just deserts with the announcement, "This is for the
millions you've stolen from California's real working people.

The Enron Corperation, a Texas-based energy conglomerate, is one of the
largest beneficiaries of California's energy crisis. They reported an
income of $777 million in the fourth quarter of 2000, while citizens were
simultaneously facing substantial rate hikes and rolling blackouts.  "Mr.
Skilling, who personally made $132 million this year, creamed us - so I,
Agent Chocolate Supreme, felt obligated to cream him." The accomplished
entarture added, "energy companies, such as Enron, are the ones who
lobbied for deregulation. they bought off our politicians to make laws in
their favor, and are now getting rich off us, everyday working people, as
our rates are going up up up."

As proclaimed before by the Biotic Baking Brigade, "The BBB is a movement
rather then a group.  We have no members, though there is an underground
network of militant bakers who provide us with nothing but the best vegan
and organic pies.  The BBB is not elitist or sectarian. In Fact, says
Agent Lemon Meringue of the famous Cherry Pie Three, "Anyone with a pie
and a vision of a better world can be a member of the BBB." The focus of
the current pastry uprising, says Agent A La Mode, is to hold corperate
crooks, and their lackeys in government, accountable.  "Our track record
shows that unlike them, we don't just promise 'pie in the sky' - we
deliver."

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PEI Pie Brigade - Communique - June 21, 2001

Pies Fly in PEI in support of pie-throwers everywhere and against the
criminalization of dissent

CHARLOTTETOWN, PEI - On Saturday, June 9, a swarm of masked pie-slinging
anarchists descended on the city of Charlottetown en masse. The group was
joined by members of the PEI Pie Brigade for a day of pie-rect action in
support of pie throwers everywhere and against the criminalization of
dissent.

A variety of criminal institutions were targeted, including multinational
corporations and the provincial legislature building. Relevant messages
adorned the bottoms of the pie plates, and remained stuck to the targets
long after the pie-petrators had left the scene of the cream.

For a warm-up the group met in front of Province House (PEI's provincial
legislature building) and pied one another as an act of solidarity with
Evan Brown, who was sentenced to 30 days imprisonment for gently placing a
sweet and soft cream pie in the face of Prime Minister Jean Chretien (in
defence of people and safe food) last August. On the bottoms of these
solidarity pies were the words "Cream is not a Crime", "Jail Chretien NOT
Brown", and "Pieing is not a Crime".

The front doors of the provincial legislature building were next,
receiving 3 pies in rapid succession. The messages on these plates read
"In Support of Injured Workers" (referring to the 36 day-and-counting
hunger strike protest by Blair Ross), "TRASH BINN$" (referring to PEI
creamier Pat Binns), and "Smash the State" (referring to our corrupt
corporate-government system of control, dominance, and repression.

Next, a pie bearing the message "R.I.P. Greenwich" was deposited on a
large sign of 'development' corporation APM, which is responsible for a
number of ecologically destructive projects on the Island. Recently, APM
has worked with MP Lawrence MacAulay, the provincial government, and Parks
Canada to play an instrumental role in laying the groundwork for the
'development' and destruction of the unique and fragile Greenwich Beach,
which has been turned into a National Park in order to facilitate a
massive increase of tourists to the area, without consideration of the
ecological impacts - a death warrant for this ecosystem.

A McDonalds restaurant was the next on the agenda, receiving a volley of
pies. This frenzy of action targeted McDonalds windows and signs for their
blatantly obvious, greedy, capitalist, cold-blooded torture and murder of
animals, union busting actions, and lying to children. The messages
included "McProfits", "McCruelty", and "poison on a sesame seed bun".

Irving was fourth on the hit-list receiving a pie to the head (office
sign) for their long term dedication to the destruction of the environment
and exploitation of workers, and taking handouts of taxpayers' money.
Their message read "Corporate Welfare".

The final PEI target (for now) was a Shell Oil sign and the messages read
"Killing Nigerian Natives" and "Remember Ken Saro-Wiwa", in reference to
Shell's instrumental role in the murder of numerous Ogoni people and
grotesquely polluting their land and water without cleanup or
compensation.

Across the water in Sackville, New Brunswick, there were other solidarity
actions. $40 was raised at a pie sale and everyone but the warden of
Dorchester Penitentiary was sympathetic to Evan Brown and Pie-rect Action.
Pies were sold from 9 to 12, then Sackville pie throwers pied each other.
Next they were pied by some tourists. They also handed out postcards
saying "Can't You take a Joke Jean?" with a picture of Evan Brown giving a
peace sign and the Pie Minister looking all crazy with pie on his face. A
lot of people signed the postcards and sent them on to the good ol Crime
Minister demanding Evan be pardoned. Twas a Great day for pieing!

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PIE INTERNATIONAL STRIKES AGAIN IN POLAND!

For a pie in the face of Prime Minister Buzek in Wroclaw two people were
arrested but released pending trial.

Equally in Wroclaw neo-liberal politician Olechowski was luckier, he came
away with a smeared suit.

In Szczecin, Geremek was hit by a pie while lecturing about the European
Union. In these two cases the pie throwers were not arrested.

In Lublin, Italian EU delegate Prodi got two eggs against his car, for
which two people were arrested. In Bialystok, several people await trial
in connection with the pieing of the city vice-president in December.

The pie struggle continues!

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Pastry servings have continued to rise up around the world, and also this
past weekend (June 2) at a meeting of G8 the Science Ministers in
Montmagny, Québec. The meeting was to discuss issues such as cloning,
experiments on human embryos, patents on life, etc. and protesters were
met by 10 counter-demonstrators from the 'Raéliens' (a religious sect in
favor of cloning and who believe that we are descendants of aliens).

All 10 'Raéliens' were pied in a flurry that would have made The Three
Stooges proud. The 'Raéliens' were not happy and left.

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South Korean protesters threw raw eggs at US Deputy Secretary of State
Richard Armitage on May 9 as he was driven from his hotel for a round of
meetings with South Korean cabinet ministers.

At least six activists were arrested after pelting Armitage's car with
eggs as he was driving out of the Grand Hyatt Hotel following breakfast in
the hotel's coffee shop, witnesses said.

"We're not happy with this coming to Korea," said the Reverend Mun
Jeong-hyun, a leader of a group that objects to US plans for a global
missile defense system. "He's trying to force Korea to accept the missile
defense," Mun said.

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On May 16, British Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott was attacked and
wrestled to the ground last night after punching an egg-throwing
demonstrator in Wales. The Deputy Minister, the political equivalent of an
American Vice President, lashed out in response to being hit in the face
by the egg thrown at close range from an angry crowd of protesters. The
ugly fracas capped a day in which the launch of a Labour Party manifesto
was overshadowed by a series of episodes in which senior politicians from
all parties faced public abuse and hostility.

A man sporting long hair and a blue shirt hurled the egg as Mr Prescott
passed him on his way from battlebus to Rhyl theatre.  Television pictures
showed Mr Prescott turning and jabbing out at the man with his left hand.

The man then lunged at Mr Prescott across a crowd-control barrier, and the
pair became locked in a struggle in which Mr Prescott was pinned to the
ground. He was held there for several seconds before four police officers
and two Labour officials could separate them.

A second man also tried to confront Mr Prescott after the initial
assailant was led away and arrested. The Deputy Prime Minister was then
hustled inside, egg dripping from his face and jacket.

The local Conservative candidate promptly called for him to resign.  
Brendan Murphy, standing in the Vale of Clwyd which includes Rhyl, said:
"What sort of role model is he for young people? Throwing eggs is almost a
time-honoured tradition in this country. It might hurt and sting your face
a bit, but it doesn't harm you. If politicians can't put up with things
like that they shouldn't be in the job."

The man who threw the egg was later named as Craig Evans, a "countryside
contractor". A woman thought to be his girlfriend said:  "He's a placid
lad who has never been in trouble.

The raw egg is a common form of political protest in British campaigns.
"There is a long and honorable tradition of throwing eggs at politicians,"
said Malcolm Rifkind, the leader of the Conservative Party in Scotland.

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On May 17, the day after the Prescott incident, Former President Bill
Clinton was jeered by anti-globalization protesters and attacked by an
egg-throwing anarchist Thursday while visiting Poland's capital as part of
a European speaking tour. The egg struck Clinton's sleeve as he walked
through Warsaw's Old Town district.

According to reports, the president laughed at the matter, saying, "It's
good for young people to be angry about something."

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Egging of top SWP in Bristol, England - 26th May

A top man from the Socialist Worker Party, Alex Callinicos got a
politician’s welcome in Bristol at the Resistance Conference on 26th May.
Parachuted in to further the bandwagon jumping antics of the Socialist
Worker Party (SWP), he must have thought that the Party was getting in
with the anti-capitalists and everything was going to plan.

However, inspired by the egging of "Two Jags" Prescott, the opportunity
was too good to miss - and neither did the eggs! The obvious first
question from the floor was "Are we gonna let the SWP parasites dominate
the anti-capitalist movement?!" Mr. Callinicos (callous?) was left with
egg on his face, wondering who exactly is the "we" that he was so keen to
talk about. We clearly have a different recipe for making omelettes, which
involves breaking eggs and getting hands dirty.

Despite their best efforts, the SWP is not the friend of the anti -
capitalist movement. We won’t be seeing Mr. Callinicos and chums on the
streets when the shit hits the fan. Instead, they’ll retreat to a safe
distance to their books and petitions, behind the banner of respectable
leftism and help stifle any real change.

The strength of the anti - capitalist movement is diversity and
imagination - i.e. not thinking the same or doing the same dull, boring,
routine demos. Decentralised action with no leaders is something the SWP
cannot handle. They want to be in control. Over and over again we’ve seen
what their real agenda is about. There’s more to real change than slogans,
paper selling and following the party line with trendy buzzwords.

Organisers of the conference were angry at the SWP’s attempts to
infiltrate and exploit their hard work as their interests became clearer.
A local anarchist from the Vote Nobody campaign was not popular with the
party, which attempted to veto him speaking. Hopefully this action will
spell it out to the toytown revolutionaries of the SWP that true
revolution will make authoritarian parties defunct, and that they are just
as much a part of the problem.

We will not let them take over. This action was easy to organise, fun and
effective. Try it sometime!

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Jail term for pie attack on Premier Saturday 9 June 2001

The man who pushed a cream pie into the face of New South Wales
(Australia) Premier Steve Bracks was jailed yesterday for one month by a
Melbourne magistrate.

Marcus Brumer, an unemployed journalist and self-proclaimed "non-violent
activist", had pleaded guilty to a charge of unlawful assault as a result
of the incident just moments before the opening of the Melbourne Museum
last year.

Brumer, from Upwey, was also fined $750 after he was found guilty of a
charge of offensive behavior.

But Brumer has appealed against the jail sentence and was last night
granted bail pending a County Court appeal on August 1.

Imposing the sentence, magistrate Noel Purcell said Brumer's actions were
"disgraceful and disgusting". Brumer had taken the law into his own hands,
he said.

"You upset a particularly important occasion ... and created a melee and
something of a debacle," he said.

Brumer's lawyer, Dyson Hore-Lacy, QC, told the court his client had "pied"
Mr Bracks to draw attention to alleged acts of police violence outside the
World Economic Forum in September last year.

Brumer told the court the act was political and not intended to cause
injury or offence. "It was a statement about how I felt about the extreme
police violence."

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[Editor's note: I couldn't help including this one because though it lacks
in pies, it's such a classic culture jam and reflective of the spirit in
which the BBB came to fruition in San Francisco.]

Anarchists Steal "News" Award at the Webby's by sf indymedia July 19 2001
Full story and picture at: http://sf.indymedia.org/display.php?id=101848

ANARCHISTS STEAL NEWS AWARD AT THE WEBBY'S SAN FRANCISCO - Corporate media
was both glorified and protested tonight at the Webby Awards in San
Francisco, CA. Billed as the "Oscars" of the internet, the Webby's is a
high-glitz awards show designed to highlight and promote websites and the
web industry. Many of the highly-visible sponsors and nominees represent
corporate media and media consolidation, including CNN, ABC News, and
more.

Indymedia was nominated for an award in the "Activism" category. An
anarchist who showed up at the awards ceremony spoke anonymously, saying
that "indymedia is news, and it shows the corporate media takeover of the
internet to say that indymedia is activism, not news." Another anarchist
present said that if Indymedia is an activist site, mainstream media like
CNN or ABC are "activists for corporations and rich elites." A vocal
minority in the crowd, wearing masks associated with anarchist black blocs
at recent anti-capitalism protests, loudly booed when CNN and other
corporate media conglomerates, like Microsoft, were mentioned.

As the winner was announced for the "News" category, two masked people ran
onto the stage. One, wearing a gasmask, grabbed the "News"  award from the
host, and shouted, "fuck corporate media!" Then he ran off the stage,
taking the award with him. The host fumbled and said, "someone just took
off with the award..." The other person, wearing a bandana mask, took
pictures and identified himself as an Indymedia reporter. Sam Donaldson,
ABC News personality, was sitting a few rows away and could only shake his
head in confusion.

Another anonymous anarchist present said, "corporate media does not belong
on the internet. As dot-com valuation continues to plummet, we hope to
save our wonderful co-operative global network from insidious,
patent-grabbing, idea-owning megacorporations which despise free speech
and privacy."

Featured speakers also included San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown, who
gloated in the changes that the dot-com industry have brought to the city.
Mayor Brown is frequently targeted by housing activists for allowing
dot-com companies to illegally rent residential spaces, creating one of
the worst housing crises in San Francisco since the 1906 earthquake.

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"Little Jack Horner, sat in the corner Eating his Christmas pie. He put in
his thumb and pulled out a plum, And said, "What a good boy am I"

According to Jane Yolen's Mother Goose Storybook, this rhyme supposedly
celebrates the pie-litical act of Thomas Horner, a steward to an abbot of
Glastonbury Cathedral.  The abbot sent Horner with a pie baked with deeds
for 12 large estates to be given to King Henry VIII.  On the way, Horner
stole one of the deeds.  His descendents still live in that mansion.

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"Disobedience, in the eyes of any one who has read history, is [hu]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

Operation Dessert Storm: http://www.dessertstorm.org

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