ABSTRACT
This chapter examines several examples concerning the use of fantasia and simulacra in the service of creative direct action on the issue of climate change. The Oil Enforcement Agents (OEA) was conceived in 2006 as part of Jumpstart Ford, a campaign launched three years earlier by a coalition of the activist organizations Global Exchange, Rainforest Action Network, and the Ruckus Society. The manual described the history of American volunteerism, depicting the OEA as a proud part of that heritage. The OEA is also more tactically flexible than Billionaires for Bush because the theatrical premise allows for it. The OEA launched its first direct action in December 2006 at the Los Angeles Auto Show, which featured green, ecologically friendly cars of the future. The OEA continued its mass prefigurative gestures for several years all over the US, including at the New York Auto Show and outside Portland, Oregon city council meeting where plans for expansion of major highway were being considered.
