Biotic Baking Brigade

Biotic Baking Brigade

The Biotic Baking Brigade is a political activist group that gained prominence in the late 1990s for their unique form of protest known as "pieing." This article will provide an overview of the group's history, their methods of protest, notable actions, and their impact on the political landscape.

History

The Biotic Baking Brigade was founded in 1997 by a group of activists in San Francisco, California. The group's primary goal was to use non-violent direct action to draw attention to social and political issues. They believed that throwing pies at public figures and corporate executives would serve as a form of symbolic protest, highlighting the need for change.

Methods of Protest

The Biotic Baking Brigade's main method of protest involved throwing pies at their targets. These pies were typically made from organic and vegan ingredients, aligning with the group's environmental and ethical values. The act of pieing was seen as a way to humiliate and disrupt the public image of those in power, while also providing a humorous and non-violent form of protest.

Notable Actions

Throughout their existence, the Biotic Baking Brigade carried out numerous pieing actions targeting various individuals and organizations. Some of their notable actions include:

• In 1998, they pied Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates during a conference in Brussels, Belgium. This action was aimed at criticizing Microsoft's monopolistic practices and their impact on the software industry.

• In 2000, the group targeted the World Trade Organization (WTO) by pieing WTO Director-General Mike Moore during a meeting in Seattle, Washington. This action was part of the larger protests against globalization and the perceived negative effects of international trade agreements.

• In 2003, the Biotic Baking Brigade pied former U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld during a press conference in Atlanta, Georgia. This action was a form of protest against the Iraq War and the Bush administration's foreign policy.

Impact

The Biotic Baking Brigade's pieing actions garnered significant media attention and sparked public discourse on the issues they were protesting. While some criticized their methods as juvenile or ineffective, others saw them as a creative and attention-grabbing way to challenge the status quo.

The group's actions also inspired other activists and protest movements to adopt similar forms of non-violent direct action. The use of pieing as a protest tactic has since been replicated by various groups around the world, further highlighting the influence of the Biotic Baking Brigade.

See Also

• Non-violent direct action
• Political activism
• Protest movements