Tactical frivolity

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Swedish anti-war protestors blocking a road while dressed as clowns Clown Army (6029797786).jpg
Swedish anti-war protestors blocking a road while dressed as clowns

Tactical frivolity is a form of public protest involving humour; often including peaceful non-compliance with authorities, carnival and whimsical antics. Humour has played a role in political protests at least as far back as the Classical period in ancient Greece. However, it is only since the 1990s that the term tactical frivolity gained common currency for describing the use of humour in opposing perceived political injustice. Generally, the term is used to denote a whimsical, nonconfrontational approach rather than aggressive mocking or cutting jokes.

Contents

History of humour in political protest

Major Waldemar Fydrych founder of the Orange Alternative, seen wearing the movement's trademark elf hat at Krakow Book Fair October 2006 Waldemar Major Fydrych.JPG
Major Waldemar Fydrych founder of the Orange Alternative, seen wearing the movement's trademark elf hat at Kraków Book Fair October 2006

The study of humour by social historians did not become popular until the early 1980s and the literature on this subject studying periods before the 20th century is relatively sparse. [1] An exception is the frequently cited [1] Rabelais and His World by Mikhail Bakhtin, a Russian scholar considered by some to be the most important thinker of the 20th century. [2] The work discusses the life and times of the writer and satirist François Rabelais with emphases on what the author considers to be the powerful role of humour in medieval and early times. Carnivals, Satire and the French folk custom of Charivari were discussed as mediums that allowed the lower classes to use humour to highlight unjust behaviour by the upper classes. These humorous protests were generally tolerated by the ruling authorities. Examples of the use of humour for political protest even from Classical times, such as the play Lysistrata by ancient Greek dramatist Aristophanes, have been described as "Rabeleisan protest".[ citation needed ] Studies of hunter gather tribes thought to have systems of social organisation that have changed little since prehistoric times, have found that ridicule or anger is used by many tribes to oppose any individual who tries to assume authority in a way that violates the tribe's egalitarian norms. Tribes observed to show this behaviour include the !Kung, Mbuti, Naskapi and Hazda. [3] An example of a political protest making extensive use of humour in early modern times was the 17th century British movement, the Levellers. [4] There is much more extensive literature covering the use of humour by the protest movements which emerged in the 20th century. [1]

In the United States, Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin, and the Yippies were well-known users of frivolous tactics. Active in the 1960s and 1970s, their actions included dropping money onto the trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange, running a pig as a candidate for president, and "levitating" the Pentagon.

One of the earliest protest groups whose use of humour has been specifically described as "tactical frivolity" [5] is the Orange Alternative, a movement that emerged in Poland during the early 1980s as a part of the broader Solidarity campaign. [1] They made extensive use of visual jokes and theatrical stunts to protest against oppression by the authorities. [6] A common theme was to dress up as elves (sometimes translated dwarves or gnomes). Orange Alternative have been described as the most "influential of the solidarity factions", central to enabling the overall movement to prevail, due in part to the success their comedic "happenings" enjoyed in attracting the attention of the world's media. [7] A protest movement described as partly responsible for popularising the contemporary use of "Tactical Frivolity" is Reclaim the Streets (RTS). [8] They formed in 1991 in Great Britain, inspired in part by the anti-road protests of the previous decades and in part by the Situationists. As the 1990s advanced, RTS inspired splinter groups in other countries across the world, and was heavily involved in organising the international Carnival against Capitalism—an anti-capitalism event held in many cities simultaneously on June 18, 1999. Carnival against Capitalism, frequently known as J18, is sometimes credited as being the first of the major international anti-capitalist protests. RTS have reported that many of their organisers were inspired by independently reading the work of Bakhtin. [2]

In international anti-capitalist protests

A tactical frivolity float, surrounded by protestors at the 2011 London anti-cuts protest TacticalFloat2011London.jpg
A tactical frivolity float, surrounded by protestors at the 2011 London anti-cuts protest

Large scale International anti-capitalist protests are widely seen as dawning between 1998 and 2000 with events such as the protests at the Birmingham 1998 G8, J18, the Seattle 1999 WTO protests and the Prague 2000 IMF protests. [2] [9]

The 1999 Seattle demonstrations saw extensive violent clashes with the police. For the 2000 protest in Prague, demonstrators divided themselves into three broad groupings based in part on the way they wished to engage with the authorities. There was a "Yellow march" for traditional non violent protest, a "Blue march" for those who were up for physically taking on the police, and a "Silver and Pink" group which is described as employing "tactical frivolity" [9] , this group being the most successful in terms of penetrating the security cordon around the IMF meeting. [8] Attending Prague was also a small group specifically calling itself "Tactical Frivolity", which consisted of a Samba band plus thirteen women from Yorkshire dressed as pink fairies. [10]

Ten months later, a group of protesters dressed in carnival outfits and again calling themselves the Pink and Silver bloc, or Pink Fairies, used the term "tactical frivolity" to describe their own methods when protesting at the 27th G8 summit in Genoa. These included waving "magic fairy wands" at the police and training "radical cheerleaders," as well as the deployment of a "revolutionary spaghetti catapult" designed to "splatter the leaders with pasta". The device failed to hit any leaders with spaghetti, but, according to journalist Johann Hari, the Pink Fairies did succeed in causing mass laughter among the crowds. [11] [12] [13]

In the early 21st century, tactical frivolity was often used at much smaller events than global summits; for example, the group Billionaires for Bush would stage humorous events at US Republican conventions. According to David Graeber, this upswell in the use of humorous protest tactics can be traced in part to the Yippies of the 1960s and the Zapatista, which began operations in the 1990s. [14]

At the 2005 G8 summit in Scotland, tactical frivolity was again used by protesters such as the Clandestine Insurgent Rebel Clown Army [15] a group whose theatrical and carnival like performances succeeded in attracting considerable media attention and were funded by Arts Council England. [16] The large scale use of tactical frivolity at the 2001 and 2005 G8 protests failed to deliver any tangible change in policy, but the method continued to be used, for example at protests held concerning air travel at Heathrow, England during 2007. [17] [18]

Tactical frivolity was used at the 2011 London anti-cuts protest. Some of the tactical frivolity protestors integrated fully into the main march; others trailed in the wake of black bloc anarchists, while remaining non violent themselves. [19] Adbusters, the magazine credited for starting the global Occupy movement, called for Occupiers to use tactical frivolity, though the method has only been used sporadically. Author and academic Luke Bretherton has suggested that tactical frivolity allows protestors to represent the otherwise inexpressible sacred power of imagination, which is achieved partly through the "use of huge puppets, dance and street theatre". [20]

Ku Klux Klan counter protests

Klan marches reliably attract counter protests.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Orange Alternative</span> Polish anti-communist underground movement, started in Wrocław

The Orange Alternative is a Polish anti-communist underground movement, started in Wrocław, a city in south-west Poland and led by Waldemar Fydrych, commonly known as Major in the 1980s. Its main purpose was to offer a wider group of citizens an alternative way of opposition against the authoritarian regime by means of a peaceful protest that used absurd and nonsensical elements.

<i>Indymedia</i> Global open publishing network of activist journalist collectives

The Independent Media Center, better known as Indymedia, is an open publishing network of activist journalist and extremists collectives that report on political and social issues. Following beginnings during the 1999 Carnival Against Capital and 1999 Seattle WTO protests, Indymedia became closely associated with the global justice movement. The Indymedia network extended internationally in the early 2000s with volunteer-run centers that shared software and a common format with a newswire and columns. Police raided several centers and seized computer equipment. The centers declined in the 2010s with the waning of the global justice movement.

The WOMBLES were a loosely aligned anarchist and anti-capitalist group based in London. They gained prominence in the early 2000s for wearing white overalls with padding and helmets at May Day protests, mimicking the Italian group Tute Bianche.

Carlo Giuliani was an Italian anti-globalization protester who was shot dead while attacking a Carabinieri van with a fire extinguisher, by an officer who was inside the van, during the anti-globalization riots outside the July 2001 G8 summit in Genoa, Italy, making his the first death during an anti-globalization demonstration since the movement's rise from the 1999 Seattle WTO protests.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tute Bianche</span> Italian militant social movement

Tute Bianche was a militant Italian social movement, active from 1994 to 2001. Activists covered their bodies with padding so as to resist the blows of police, to push through police lines, and to march together in large blocks for mutual protection during demonstrations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Protest</span> Public expression of objection, typically political

A protest is a public expression of objection, disapproval or dissent towards an idea or action, typically a political one. Protests can be thought of as acts of cooperation in which numerous people cooperate by attending, and share the potential costs and risks of doing so. Protests can take many different forms, from individual statements to mass political demonstrations. Protesters may organize a protest as a way of publicly making their opinions heard in an attempt to influence public opinion or government policy, or they may undertake direct action in an attempt to enact desired changes themselves. Where protests are part of a systematic and peaceful nonviolent campaign to achieve a particular objective, and involve the use of pressure as well as persuasion, they go beyond mere protest and may be better described as a type of protest called civil resistance or nonviolent resistance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peoples' Global Action</span>

Peoples' Global Action (PGA) was the name of a worldwide co-ordination of radical social movements, grassroots campaigns and direct actions in resistance to capitalism and for social and environmental justice. PGA was part of the anti-globalization movement.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">27th G8 summit</span> 2001 inter-governmental political summit held in Genoa, Italy

The 27th G8 summit was held in Genoa, Italy, on 20–22 July 2001 and is remembered as a highpoint of the worldwide anti-globalization movement as well as for human rights violations against demonstrators.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rhythms of Resistance</span>

Rhythms of Resistance, sometimes abbreviated to RoR, is a network of percussion bands that play at demonstrations and direct actions that fall within the broad definition of 'anti-capitalist'. Since RoR London was formed in 2000, similar groups have arisen around the world; while not all such bands use the Rhythms of Resistance name, they generally share the same ideology, described on the RoR website:

  1. We are a transnational anti-hierarchical anticapitalist, antisexist and antiracist network fighting for social and ecological justice.
  2. We are activists using tactical frivolity as a form of political action to confront any system of domination.
  3. We also directly support everybody experiencing or struggling against exploitation, discrimination and oppression, without compromising our principles.
  4. Our tactics include drumming and dancing inspired by samba and carnival.
  5. We reject any false opposition between militancy and creative forms of resistance.
  6. Even if we are different bands operating in a decentralized fashion, we aim to maximise participation in our collective process.
  7. We are an open network to any people who share our principles.
  8. Come with us! We have everything to play for!
<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dissent!</span>

Dissent! was the name taken for an international network of local groups, which came together to organise opposition to the G8 summit held in Gleneagles Hotel, Perthshire, Scotland in July 2005. Most groups shared an anti-capitalist orientation and anti-authoritarian organizing methods and the network declares itself to be open to anyone prepared to work within the Hallmarks of Peoples' Global Action, an international co-ordination of radical social movements and grassroots campaigns. Dissent acted as a networking tool and created infrastructure which was used by groups with methods of protest ranging from anti-border city tours and street parties to road blockades, graffiti and confrontations with the police.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clandestine Insurgent Rebel Clown Army</span>

The Clandestine Insurgent Rebel Clown Army is an anti-authoritarian left-wing activist group that uses clowning and non-violent tactics to act against corporate globalisation, war, and on other issues. The group originated circa 2003 in the United Kingdom.

Pigasus, also known as Pigasus the Immortal and Pigasus J. Pig, was a 145-pound (66 kg) domestic pig that was nominated for President of the United States as a theatrical gesture by the Youth International Party on August 23, 1968, just before the opening of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Illinois. The youth-oriented party was an anti-establishment and countercultural revolutionary group whose views were inspired by the free speech and anti-war movements of the 1960s, mainly the opposition to United States involvement in the Vietnam War.

The Carnival Against Capital took place on Friday 18 June 1999. It was an international day of protest timed to coincide with the 25th G8 summit in Cologne, Germany. The carnival was inspired by the 1980s Stop the City protests, Peoples' Global Action and the Global Street Party, which happened at the same time as the 1998 24th G8 Summit in Birmingham. The rallying slogan was Our Resistance is as Transnational as Capital.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anti-globalization movement</span> Worldwide political movement against multinational corporations

The anti-globalization movement, or counter-globalization movement, is a social movement critical of economic globalization. The movement is also commonly referred to as the global justice movement, alter-globalization movement, anti-globalist movement, anti-corporate globalization movement, or movement against neoliberal globalization. There are many definitions of anti-globalization.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Diversity of tactics</span> Social phenomenon

Diversity of tactics is a phenomenon wherein a social movement makes periodic use of force for disruptive or defensive purposes, stepping beyond the limits of nonviolent resistance, but also stopping short of total militarization. It also refers to the theory which asserts this to be the most effective strategy of civil disobedience for social change. Diversity of tactics may promote nonviolent tactics, or armed resistance, or a range of methods in between, depending on the level of repression the political movement is facing. It sometimes claims to advocate for "forms of resistance that maximize respect for life".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Redneck Revolt</span> American far-left political group

Redneck Revolt is an American far-left socialist political group that organizes predominantly among white working-class people. The group supports gun rights and members often openly carry firearms. Its political positions are anti-capitalist, anti-racist and anti-fascist. Founded in Kansas in 2009, members were present at several protests against Donald Trump and against the far-right in 2017.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Dennis Bos and Marjolein 't Hart (2008). Humour and Social Protest. Cambridge University Press. pp. 1–12, 141–147. ISBN   978-0-521-72214-8.
  2. 1 2 3 John Carter and Dave Morland (2004). Anti-capitalist Britain. New Clarion Press. pp. 7–12, 84, 85, 90, 91. ISBN   1-873797-43-5.
  3. ↑ Eleanor Burke Leacock and Richard B. Lee (1982). Politics and history in band societies. Cambridge University Press. p. 10. ISBN   978-0-521-28412-7.
  4. ↑ Sammy Basu (2007). ""A Little Discourse Pro & Con": Levelling Laughter and Its Puritan Criticism". International Review of Social History. 52 (S15): 95. doi: 10.1017/s0020859007003148 .
  5. ↑ In the 2007 book Complexity and Social Movements: Protest at the Edge of Chaos by Graeme Chesters and Ian Welsh, but speaking of the methods employed in the 1980s
  6. ↑ Bronislaw Misztal (March 1992). "Between the State and Solidarity". The British Journal of Sociology. 43 (1): 55–78. doi:10.2307/591201. JSTOR   591201.
  7. ↑ Romanienko, Lisiunia A. (2007). "Antagonism, Absurdity, and the Avant-Garde: Dismantling Soviet Oppression through the Use of Theatrical Devices by Poland's "Orange" Solidarity Movement". International Review of Social History. 52 (S15): 133–151. doi: 10.1017/S0020859007003161 . ISSN   1469-512X.
  8. 1 2 Lees, Loretta (2004). The Emancipatory City?: Paradoxes and Possibilities. Sage Publications Ltd. pp. 91–106. ISBN   0-7619-7387-7.
  9. 1 2 Desmond Tutu and Theodore H. MacDonald (2005). Third world health: hostage to first world health. Radcliffe Publishing Ltd. pp. 12, 111. ISBN   1-85775-769-6.
  10. ↑ Vidal, John (September 23, 2000). "Carnivalistas slink in with a pink revolution". The Guardian. London. Retrieved September 6, 2009.
  11. ↑ Hari, Johann (July 30, 2001). "The failure that led to Carlo's death". New Statesman . Retrieved September 6, 2009.
  12. ↑ Rae, Robert (March 6, 2005). "Avoiding the road to chaos". The Scotsman. Edinburgh. Retrieved September 6, 2009.
  13. ↑ Hari, Johann (June 17, 2005). "Johann Hari: These G8 protests are vital for the world, so we must avoid the violence of Genoa". The Independent. London. Retrieved September 6, 2009.[ dead link ]
  14. ↑ Graeber, David (January–February 2002). "The new anarchists". New Left Review . New Left Review. II (13).
  15. ↑ Skrimshire, Stefan (2008). Politics of fear, practices of hope. Continuum International. p. 156. ISBN   978-1-84706-075-4.
  16. ↑ G8 Can You Hear Us? (TV documentary). UK: BBC 4. 2005.
  17. ↑ John Harris (2007-08-17). "Turbulent times". The Guardian . London. Retrieved 2009-09-09.
  18. ↑ Potter, Mitch (August 18, 2007). "Activists target Heathrow; Plan 'tactical frivolity' to disrupt airport, put focus on eco-damage caused by air travel". Toronto Star .
  19. ↑ Mason, Paul (2012). "Chpt. 3" . Why It's Kicking Off Everywhere: The New Global Revolutions. London,Verso. ISBN   978-1-84467-851-8.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  20. ↑ Luke Bretherton (2011-10-29). "The Real Battle of St Paul Cathedral: The Occupy Movement and Millennial Politics". Huffington Post. Retrieved 2012-02-18.
  21. ↑ Ivins, Molly (May 1, 1993). "The Fun's in the Fight". Mother Jones.
  22. ↑ Wing, Nicky (November 12, 2012). "White Supremacist Rally In North Carolina Met By Clown Counter-Protest, 'Wife Power' Signs". Huffington Post.
  23. ↑ Collins, Ben (July 22, 2015). "Meet the Man Who Beat the KKK With a Tuba". Daily Beast.

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