Suprise Attack from the Rebel Alliance

Here, "the revolution" is anything but a party. Dancing hippies, drum circles and four-story high puppets are notably absent from the recent mass mobilizations that have rocked Bolivia for the past two weeks. There are no breaks for concerts, no hemp clothing for sale. You are not an individual, but a part of your contingent, and from them you do not stray. In stark contrast to the large-scale demonstrations in the US that have characterized the burgeoning anti-globalization movement, marches here in Bolivia are supreme examples of discipline and seriousness. Rigidity replaces fluidity; unity replaces individualism; rash actions are rare. The marchers have anger and determination in their hearts but reign that in for the sake of the long-term struggle. Their intensity is in their expressions, chants and willpower - not in violent behavior. Sure, some bring their whips, dynamite is abundant, and I saw one man yesterday wielding a cactus. But most of the time these are symbols of strength, rather than weapons for destruction.

 http://narcosphere.narconews.com/story/2005/6/7/212555/4105

Bolivia and Western Europe are at a totally different stage in social and political struggle. They have different levels of development in terms of capitalism and those involved in social movements are totally different to those involved in Bolivia. We, for one, do not have a large 'indiginous' population living in one particular area of the country doing mining with access to explosives.

I may share your worry about the turn in 'frivolity' and 'clowns' (though I think that these styles of protesting certainly DO have their merits), but your criticism of them based on what is going on in Bolivia is pretty stupid. All social movements arise out of different contexts, with different appeals to various narratives, styles, sub-cultures, ways of organising and coordinating. The idea of the grassroots globalisation movement IMO is that we celebrate the differences between us as manifestations of the diverse situations in which anti-authoritarian resistance to capital can take place. Criticising people who may well go to prison for dressing up as clowns when we are protesting against the G8 is simply old-leftist holier-than-thou posturing.

have a nice day.

Yeah, well I think most of us understand that the recent protests in Bolivia show a level of militancy that isn't normally found in the USA, UK or Western Countries in general. We agree about the need to work towards achieving this (even if we might disagree with the need to follow the organisational approaches held by many of those in Bolivia). Realistically though, we're in a different situation from Bolivia - the Indians in Eastern Bolivia do not need to be made aware of the links between capitalism and their daily situation, but raising awareness at this basic level is exactly the type of thing that we in the West do need to do.

Our assessment of what tactics we use has to be based upon our position at present (as well as our desires for the future) and not what works or doesn't work in Bolivia or other countries. Personally, I'm not particularly personally into the dressing up/street theatre side of things, but I can see why it might play a necessary role and that it doesn't mean that the people doing it are not serious. How do you know the effort they put in and the effect they have on people? Anyway, I'd rather have clowns in a protest than "rigidity" and "unity [replacing].. individualism" - let's not get carried away and assume everything that happens elsewhere is automatically better and makes more sense than what we're doing here, eh??

Moreover, let's not assume that militancy and "seriousness" are automatically the best way ahead if every situation. Anyone for criticism-self-criticism sessions and the Days of Rage?

Shi, Krop, you must have just beaten me to it...

Situations are different the world over,YES, but, the main obstacles and opposition are the USA and Capitalism, whatever guise it is in.

RESIST - Any which way you can............NVDA OK.

"And I will never rest, until all oppression is ended, and I will never rest, until all oppression is dead"
"I swear to the people with power, that I HAVE POWER TOO, Power to stand and to defend our land - with love and compassion and truth".

HUGE thanks and congratulations to those energetic and persistent pink sambistas and RORS, the Mohican guy and the young girl with the whistle.....and all, in Sheffield June 2005.

THANKYOU - For your resistance, courage and energy.

The seeds of resistance continue to grow.

Seedsowing.

Indeed it is true that social struggles must take place in the context they are placed within, but I'm really not convinced that dancing clowns are going to take down capitalism - fat cats look out of their windows and laugh. If their windows had been bricked, however, they wouldn't have any to laugh out of!

These events are great, don't get me wrong, but they need to be part of something bigger. If we danced in the streets for the next 10 years nothing would happen, except an increase in the sale of face paint and a few sore feet. We are all fighting for something but we won't get there unless we actually FIGHT for it... not dance.

Just my opinions, though. ^__^

I am proud someone else reads narconews and follows the events in Latin America. Here as an American i can see to a point the street theater idea to protests, but nearly every person i know who is not politically active says such things often are a major reason they do not get involved. The clowns, odd theater, etc is ok with me, but to the average person i talk to on the street, its a major deterrent for increased involvement. People tend to dismiss the entire protest as "weirdos" or "freaks" without giving thought to the seriousness of the situation. This, most people here tell me, is because it seems that we do not take ourselves seriously in such situations either and the message is lost in the odd street theatrics that a certain people take upon themselves to bring. I feel that more seriousness to a point would greatly help us here in the USA that are fighting for a better world and i know so many people just that i have met or talked to that would be far more open to what we fight for if some of the more alienating theatrics could be done away with or at least not be a central point of the movement.

There are way too many holier-than-thou protestors who think they have a monopoly on defibing what is good activism and bad activism. What happened to 'unity and diversity'? I'm all up for the clowns - they are fantastic and they really achieve a whole lot more by their foolery than most others have achieved.

Of course it's culturally different in Bolivia to Sheffield - what a ridiculous thing to say! As westerners we have been brought up with an emphasis on our individuality. We have the opportunity to use this as a strength in our activism. Use it. Don't let your individuality be a weakness and don't wear nike to express your individuality no matter what the marketing says!

Also, I did see the circa/clown army movie, and saw the amazing actions they achieved including shutting down an army recruiting centre and setting up a clown army recruiting centre out the front! fantastic job! See it and your heart will be swayed.

MAKING PEOPLE LAUGH IS NEVER A BAD THING,
MAKING THEM CHANGE IS HARDER.
RESISTANCE BASED IN CREATIVITY AND SATIRE ARE OUR TOOLS FOR LEVERING CHANGE.
OUR TOOLS FOR OPPOSING TYRANNY.
WEAPONS AND VIOLENCE ONLY CREATE MORE OF THE SAME.
BRING ON THE CLOWNS.

I am in favour of the clowns but I think this is a serious objection.

I think it has partly to do with the nature and context of protest. In Britain you are unlikely to get a large crowd of trabajadores turning out to stop the G8. The sad fact is apparently that most people don't feel themselves to be directly threatened by the actions of the G8, and unless they themselves are threatened, the average person isn't always going to get out of bed and go marching for someone on the other side of the world, even if they think that justice demands it, and they may not even think that justice demands it. When people's own livelihoods are threatened, then you get mass action, as in the miners' strike in 1984, or the Liverpool dockers, and at such times there are no clowns to be seen. In Bolivia (perhaps), as with the miners and dockers in Britain, everyone knows what the grievance is and what the issues are, and the point is to show mass mobilisation with power and discipline etc.

Anti-G8 protests fulfil a different function. Rightly or wrongly, clowning is seen as a way of achieving it. In the anti-G8 protest, the point is that the issues and grievances aren't known about at all. There is no mass mobilisation and in that sense you have no power to show. The point is to draw attention to the issues and hopefully recruit people to activism. Antics like street theatre and clowning are just about the only way I know in which a small group of people without resources can get publicity without using violence. It is also a good way of taking the mickey, undermining power and turning a situation round person-to-person, which is why I admire it.

There are dangers which is why I hesitate. Publicity may be negative. This applies whether you are using violence or street theatre as your method. Those who use violence get their violence reported; those who use street theatre and other antics get their antics reported; if there's a way of getting the media to pay attention to the CONTENT of protest rather than the METHOD, I don't know what it is.

Certainly I think there is a big risk that clowning etc, alienates more people than it attracts. It's seen as self-indulgent nonsense, especially (perhaps) by miners and dockers!

Relatedly, a lot of campaigning in Britain a lot of the time - sadly - isn't intended to appeal to miners and dockers. The point seems to be to enlist more liberal middle-class people. You can have an impact as a campaign without majority support; what you need is a large, active, vocal minority, ideally with more passive support from a majority. Perhaps this works up to a point, but in fact I think the danger is that campaigning in Britain can end up in this class ghetto. I know people from both working class and middle class backgrounds who are involved in campaigns and they think the same. It is certainly a problem.