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--></style><title>Bicycle Hoax Highlights Soulless
Cycle</title></head><body>
<div><b>FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE</b><br>
October 5, 2017<br>
</div>
<div><b>Bicycle Hoax Highlights Soulless Cycle</b><br>
<a
href=
"https://www.facebook.com/WAAR-Weareallrefugees-collectif-1917362761859678/"
><i>Belgian collective</i></a><i>, in cahoots with refugee groups and
the </i><a href="http://yeslab.org/refugreenergy"><i>Yes
Lab</i></a><i>, hits hard at European policy towards refugees, false
market solutions, assholes</i><br>
</div>
<div>Reveal video <a
href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebTQ-hvCWZs&feature=youtu.be"
>here</a> (in French)</div>
<div>Photos and posters <a
href="https://www.refugreenergy.org/communication-material/">here</a><br
>
Hoax <a href="http://www.refugreenergy.org/">website</a>, <a
href="https://www.facebook.com/484729738569248/videos/485298468512375/"
>promotional video</a>, <a
href="https://www.facebook.com/Refugreenergy-484729738569248/"
>Facebook</a>, <a
href="https://twitter.com/refugreenergy">Twitter</a></div>
<div><a
href=
"http://bx1.be/news/refugies-creer-de-lelectricite-a-velo-sagissait-dun-canular/"><span
></span>Selected</a> <a
href=
"https://www.rtbf.be/info/medias/detail_faire-pedaler-les-migrants-pour-1-60-jour-un-coup-prepare-avec-les-yes-men?id=9726318"><span
></span>media</a> <a
href=
"https://parismatch.be/actualites/societe/78857/refugreenergy-la-mauvaise-blague-du-refugie-qui-pedale"><span
></span>coverage</a></div>
<div>Contact: Hélène Collin or Alexandre Dewez, <a
href="mailto:contact@refugreenergy.org">contact@refugreenergy.org</a><br
>
</div>
<div>Hundreds of spectators witnessed a bizarre spectacle Saturday,
when a slick new tech startup called <a
href="http://www.refugreenergy.org/">RefuGreenErgy</a> held a
three-hour launch event in central Brussels. The event featured four
"RefuGreens" (actual refugees) happily pedaling
battery-filling bikes while "company representatives"
(actually activists) described to tourists and others how the refugees
were producing "green" electricity they could buy; the
refugees, in exchange, would get 24-hour periods of amnesty and 1.60
euros per day. "It's a guilt-free way to help others,"
explained one representative.<br>
</div>
<div>Reactions ranged from quiet approval to horror. The hoax was
finally exposed when, after two "company officials"
explained the concept to an assembled crowd, a member of the public, a
man who works with refugees, spoke up emotionally against the concept,
and the "officials" admitted it was a hoax. (<a
href="https://youtu.be/CAztDt3iN0o">See footage here</a>.) At that
point, Saïd Elouizi, a member of Brussels collective <a
href="http://lavoixdessanspapiers.eu.org/">Voix des
Sans-Papiers</a> (Voice of the Undocumented), spoke of the
importance of taking action as citizens: "We need to react to
every speech and act, and not remain passive consumers....
Solidarity is our power."<br>
</div>
<div>www.refugreenergy.org<br>
</div>
<div>The hoax, by <a
href=
"https://www.facebook.com/WAAR-Weareallrefugees-collectif-1917362761859678/"
>WAAR</a> (We Are All Refugees, a group of "artivists" from
Belgium and abroad, working in cahoots with refugee groups and the Yes
Men) was carried out in the capital city of Europe in part
because refugees are constantly threatened, deported, and locked
up by many European states, including Belgium. One Belgian politician,
Theo Francken, has even brought agents from Sudan-whose president is
under an international arrest warrant-to identify Sudanese refugees
so that they can be deported back to the danger they fled.<br>
</div>
<div>The hoax was designed to call attention to the moral
responsibility of countries like Belgium for the so-called
"refugee crisis."<br>
</div>
<div>"There are increasing numbers of climate refugees-perhaps 250
million by 2050," said WAAR member Zelda, referring to a <a
href="http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=48201#.WdUUOxNSyRs"
>United Nations report</a>. "Climate change is caused by the
industrial countries, and they bear responsibility for it."<br>
</div>
<div>"If we want to look at deeper causes of the wars and
violence that force refugees to flee, it's not a big stretch to see
our colonial history as a root cause," said WAAR member
Hélène.<br>
</div>
<div>Another WAAR member noted that European colonial
history continues as companies cause large-scale conflicts that
force citizens to flee, <a
href=
"https://ceasefiremagazine.co.uk/blood-uranium-frances-mali-intervention-terrorism/"><span
></span>as in the case of Areva in Mali</a>.</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>"Our objective was to highlight the logic by which
capitalism deals with and takes advantage of crises-even those that
it's caused," the activist explained. "Faced with the
ecological crisis of climate change, many companies respond with
solutions that serve the objective of profit, without having any
concrete effect on the problem itself. A horrible idea like
RefuGreenErgy is sadly plausible, thanks to the 'Uberization' of
society, 'greenwashing,' and the utopian view that the
unregulated market can fix the world."<br>
</div>
<div>The hoax has so far received coverage in <a
href=
"http://bx1.be/news/refugies-creer-de-lelectricite-a-velo-sagissait-dun-canular/"><span
></span>several</a> <a
href=
"https://parismatch.be/actualites/societe/78857/refugreenergy-la-mauvaise-blague-du-refugie-qui-pedale"><span
></span>Belgian</a> <a
href=
"https://www.rtbf.be/info/medias/detail_faire-pedaler-les-migrants-pour-1-60-jour-un-coup-prepare-avec-les-yes-men?id=9726318"><span
></span>media</a> <a
href=
"http://www.levif.be/actualite/belgique/refugreenergy-la-fake-news-qui-voulait-sauver-le-monde/article-normal-733211.html"><span
></span>outlets</a>. WAAR also launched a <a
href="http://www.refugreenergy.org/">website</a>, a <a
href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GG4C0-9vCOk">promotional
video</a>, and <a
href="https://www.facebook.com/Refugreenergy-484729738569248/"
>Facebook</a> and <a
href="https://twitter.com/refugreenergy">Twitter</a> accounts.
The hoax was developed during a week-long workshop with <a
href="http://yeslab.org/refugreenergy">The Yes Lab</a> at <a
href="http://www.lafabrique.be/">La Fabrique de
Théâtre</a> as part of the Brussels <a
href="http://www.cifas.be/en/workshops/signal">SIGNAL</a> festival,
and was carried out with the participation of refugee-activists from
several organizations.<br>
</div>
<div><a
href=
"https://www.facebook.com/WAAR-Weareallrefugees-collectif-1917362761859678/"
>WAAR</a> requests that you:<br>
</div>
<ul>
<li><x-tab> </x-tab>
<li>Support collectives and organizations that help the <a
href="http://lavoixdessanspapiers.eu.org/">undocumented</a> in
their quest for work and legal status.
<li><x-tab> </x-tab>
<li><a href="http://www.jenelabouclepas.org/">Support airplane
passengers</a> who oppose the deportation of refugees by air, who
are now being prosecuted by the Belgian justice system.
<li><x-tab> </x-tab>
<li>If you are in Belgium, <a
href="http://www.bxlrefugees.be/">welcome a refugee</a> from
Maximilian Park (Brussels) into your home to allow him/her to rest,
and to protect him/her from police raids.
<li><x-tab> </x-tab>
<li><a href="http://regularisation.canalblog.com/">Visit asylum
seekers</a> in Belgian refugee centers.</ul>
<div><b>Media contacts:</b> <a
href="mailto:contact@refugreenergy.org">contact@refugreenergy.org</a><br
>
Hélène Collin, +32 474 99 31 33</div>
<div>Alexandre Dewez, +32 498 33 88 62</div>
<div> </div>
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