Corporate watchdogs, poker aficionados and concerned citizens
will all have reason to delight in The Ruckus Society's newest bid
to expose the ''War Profiteers'' who benefit from combat at the
expense of Iraqis and Americans alike, engagingly rendered on a
harmless-looking set of playing cards.
Their tone is humorous, but make no mistake: these cards are an
essential weapon. Their faux-camouflage finish makes them perfect
for stealth viewing on the bus or at work. And while you may never
actually come face-to-face with the enemy, they ensure that you'll
be well armed.
They're an inspired spoof of the ''Iraq's Most Wanted'' deck,
which was issued to coalition troops in April by the U.S. Defense
Department and included photos and descriptions of individuals
integral to Saddam Hussein's regime. Soon the flag-buying segment of
the American public had another product to covet, and sales
skyrocketed.
Ruckus is a well-respected progressive organization that
specializes in training others in the latest in activism tools from
internet organizing to rope climbing but its latest project is
homegrown. The deck focuses on the multitude of incestuous
relationships between oil, gas, military and defense corporations,
government officials, and media groups, the conflicts of interest
they evoke, and their lucrative involvement in Operation Iraqi
Freedom.
The ''shadow governments'' of world policy top this stacked deck,
with the WTO, IMF and World Bank as the ace of spades, clubs and
diamonds, respectively. Henry Kissinger (''Architect of Evil'')
reigns as the Queen of Hearts, with Dick Cheney as his King, and
humorous photos of Tom Ridge and Donald Rumsfeld accompany
enlightening facts about their political careers. Players can learn
how Monsanto and Lockheed Martin are in bed together and how deep
Bechtel and ExxonMobil's special interests go. And there's only one
''Jerk'' (Joker) in this deck ''Petty Dictator'' George W. Bush.
The scheme was born under typical circumstances for Ruckus.
Mojgone Azemun, the group's training director, first approached
fellow activist and graphic designer Innosanto Nagara about the
project at a ChevronTexaco civil disobedience action in mid-April.
She pitched it in the time it took for him to get arrested.
''He disappeared for a couple of days after that,'' recalls
Azemun. ''But he got out and asked me, 'Remember that idea? Let's do
it.''' Together they spawned a plan for a different way to educate
the public about corporate abuses, one that would probably not
result in anyone's arrest.
As it happened, fellow activists Pratap Chatterjee and Jeff
Conant of the Hesperian Foundation had been planning the same
project. They fused their creative efforts and individual expertise
with those of Gopal Dayaneni, a trainer with Ruckus; John Sellers,
Ruckus' executive director, and others. Some worked nights and
weekends, staying up till 2 AM; they found a local unionized print
broker, used recycled paper with soy-based inks. The cards went from
concept to product in less than four weeks.
But they weren't the only ones with a good idea. Several
similar-minded spoof decks emerged in the meantime, including one
from Gatt.org with pictures of officials they recommended be
''removed from power'' to ensure real world peace; sarcastic
''Republican Chickenhawk'' cards (officials and pundits who have
avoided serving their country); Greenpeace's ''Nuclear Solitaire
Game;'' far-out ''Psychedelic Republicans;'' and from the right,
''The Deck of Weasels,'' taking jabs at The Dixie Chicks, Hans Blix,
Jacques Chirac and others.
Ruckus is keeping the cards' price down in the interest of
selling as many as possible through the War Profiteers website, http://www.warprofiteers.com/,
for a $10 donation to the nonprofit.
The site also acts as a portal to other activist organizations,
divided up by suit (e.g. hearts for government officials ''because
they love you''). It's no coincidence that many of the
''profiteers'' are associated with institutions that activists have
been focusing on. And clicking on a card online reveals extra
intelligence on companies and officials.
Compiling that information was an important part of the project
for Azemun. As they were working, ''I was finally being educated
about the players that some people only hear about. Take Sam Nunn,
for instance. A lot of people recognize his name from Congress, but
now he has positions on three or four executive boards,'' she
explained.
The cards also give crucial attention to influential but
lesser-known right-wing groups, such as editor William Kristol's
Project for a New American Century, or the Grace News Network, a
Christian media group that was handpicked by the Bush administration
to produce Arabic TV news for Iraq.
Early response to the cards has been overwhelming. Ruckus is
printing 10,000 decks due to the volume of orders; the website gets
3,000 hits a day, many of which are from different countries in
Europe. They've heard from art galleries, magicians, high school
history teachers, and even a California woman who ordered several
decks for her poker club. Democracy Now's Amy Goodman cracked up as
she read them out on the air.
In short, they've become the perfect ''culture jamming'' tool.
''We should be putting our messages on vectors of culture to exploit
our message, the same way Pepsi does with hip-hop,'' said Azemun.
Ruckus may create a new international deck featuring Tony Blair,
Hamid Karzai and other figures complicit in the exploitation of the
Iraq war.
There's also talk of sending them to members of Congress.
Chatterjee, a journalist who created the text for the military and
defense-themed cards, calls them ''a good political education tool
for youth'' that could have a dual use in the 2004 elections. At a
recent peace conference in Indonesia, he passed along several decks
to activists from Afghanistan and Iraq ''To see if they caught any
of the criminals.''
The cards' sly, comic flavor does not detract from the
seriousness of the issues they're concerned with. ''If you can poke
fun at something, it's no longer taboo to talk about,'' Sellers
asserts. He says it was important to him that there be humor, which
was almost too easy to do: ''These are the best straight guys in the
world.''
At the same time, remarks Nagara, ''I don't see global capitalism
capitulating to humor. Ultimately, we're going to have to get people
organized on a much larger scale.''
While the deck can be used to play any cardgame, from
''bullshit'' to bridge, there is an obvious candidate.
''I've been using them to play War with my friends,'' said
Dayaneni, who compiled the information on the oil, gas and energy
companies. ''Once in a while you have to stop and say, 'Wait a
minute: Paul Wolfowitz is an 8 and [Boeing CEO] Philip Condit's a 9?
Let's reconsider this.' It makes you think.'''
Julia Scott is a San Francisco-based freelence writer and
Associate Editor with Independent Arts and
Media.