Ebooks for the Classroom+Faculty

Humor and Nonviolent Struggle in Serbia
ISBN: 9780815653400
Platform/Publisher: Project MUSE / Syracuse University Press
Digital rights: Users: Unlimited; Printing: Chapters; Download: Chapters
Subjects: Government Resistance to; Political activists; Nonviolence; Wit and humor; Student movements; Protest movements;

In this highly original and engaging work, Sombatpoonsiri explores the nexus between humor and nonviolent protest, aiming to enhance our understanding of the growing popularity of humor in protest movements around the world. Drawing on insights from the pioneering Otpor activists in Serbia, she provides a detailed account of the protesters' systematic use of humor to topple Slobodan Milosevic in 2000. Protest newsletters, documentaries of the movement, and interviews with activists combine to illustrate how humor played a pivotal role by reflecting the absurdity of the regime's propaganda and, in turn, by delegitimizing its authority. Sombatpoonsiri highlights the Otpor activists' ability to internationalize their nonviolent crusade, influencing youth movements in the Ukraine, Georgia, Iran, and Egypt. Globally, Otpor's successful use of humor has become an inspiration for a later generation of protest movements.