Majken Jul Sørensen

Humour and Pockets of Resistance

Political humour has been perceived as both a form of subversion and a vent for frustration which cannot pose any “real” threat. The concept of “humorous political stunts” illustrates how some forms of publicly displayed humorous actions can indeed contribute to undermine the apparently powerful (for instance, when dominant ideas about what is true and right are ridiculed or turned upside down). Although such pockets of resistance might not have immediate effects, they can be attacks in the discursive guerrilla war which cannot easily be ignored. This chapter effectively explains how some research on political humour has neglected to take into account the research on power and resistance which are able to incorporate the ambiguity inherent in this form of communication.

Conclusion: Humour, Power and Nonviolent Resistance

Nonviolent resistance has been practised for centuries and studied within academia for decades, but understandings of the dynamics of nonviolent action are still rudimentary. Because nonviolence has been neglected and violent resistance glorified to such a degree, there is much history to recover and contemporary practice to document in order to provide reliable analysis of what impact nonviolent action can have on relations of power. When it comes to studying the use of humorous methods as part of a nonviolent campaign, hardly any research has been done previously.

Confronting the State Through Humorous Political Activism

In Norway, the group Kampanjen Mot Verneplikt (KMV) during the 1980s combined humorous and non-humorous activities during the 1980s in its struggle for a change in the law on conscientious objection. The case study explores how KMV and other groups have used humorous political stunts to create a spectacle that appeals to the mass media and results in favourable coverage. Additionally, KMV sued the Norwegian state for violation of the constitution and their human rights and together these strategies resulted in the desired outcome when the law was changed by parliament in 1990.

Facilitating Outreach, Mobilisation and a Culture of Resistance

Humorous political stunts can facilitate outreach and mobilisation and contribute to sustaining a culture of resistance. Examples of supportive, corrective and absurd stunts performed by the Swedish anti-militarist network Ofog serve as the starting point for examining these aspects of humorous political stunts. Although Ofog operates within a specific context, the conclusions regarding mobilisation and cultures of resistance are relevant for a much wider range of political situations. The Swedish activists’ experiences are compared with other studies about humour, in particular Serbian Otpor, which was decisive in ousting Slobodan Milosevic from power in 2000.

Humorous Political Stunts from Around the World

Humorous political stunts can be divided into five different types, depending on the way they position themselves in relation to the dominant discourses’ claim to rationality and truth. Although humour is always bound by a certain context and can only make sense to audiences that are familiar with the points of reference, humorous political stunts have been used in a range of different political situations. Ten examples from around the world, performed between 1974 and the present, illustrate what is meant by supportive, corrective, naive, absurd and provocative stunts. The theatre metaphor is used to analyse the examples and at the end of the chapter a table sums up what characterises the different types of stunts.

Humorous Political Stunts and Theory of Nonviolent Action

Humorous political stunts are one form of nonviolent action. Taking as a point of departure Stellan Vinthagen’s theory of nonviolent action, this chapter explores how humour interacts with each of the four dimensions of nonviolent action. The strength of humorous political stunts is their ability to temporarily or symbolically break power when pranksters for a moment take control of the political scene. Some types of humorous political stunts are also strong on the aspect of utopian enactment when they demonstrate a future with more room for spontaneity, generosity, love, carnival and fun. Many humorous political stunts, at least compared with a violent alternative, are also oriented towards facilitating dialogue. However, the communicative aspect is not aimed at the “opponent” as envisioned in Vinthagen’s theory but directed towards other audiences. Like most other temporary nonviolent actions, humorous political stunts do show signs of normative regulation, but their shortness prevents them from reaching their full potential.

Dilemmas and Risks in Humorous Political Activism

Activists experimenting with humour face dilemmas and potential risks linked to the use of humour. (1) There is a possibility that people who engage in humorous political stunts will not be perceived as serious about the issue. (2) Humour might be misunderstood and taken literally, especially when irony is used to say one thing but mean another. (3) Some activists consider it unwise to mix the humorous with the non-humorous, but in a world where rational argumentation persists to be the norm, it is difficult to experiment with humour without combining it with non-humorous activities. (4) Ridicule might be experienced as abuse, something which requires ethical considerations regarding when it might be acceptable to ridicule those who represent dominant discourses. Finally, (5) it has been claimed that satire might make people disillusioned rather than encourage them to take action.

Radical clowning: challenging militarism through play and otherness

Abstract During the last decade, radical clowning has become an increasingly popular tactic among participants in the global justice movement in the western world. In order to discuss how radical clowns differ from conventional clowns and what they have in common, radical clowning can be interpreted through the lenses of clown theory and the four concepts of play, otherness, incompetence, and ridicule. Ethnographic data from the Swedish anti-militarist network Ofog reveals how play and otherness contribute to radical clowns’ attempts to communicate nonviolent values, negotiate space, and recognize the human in the other. The findings demonstrate one way that humor can be rebellious and challenge established relations of power.