June 20, 2017
Molly Wallace, writing for Waging Nonviolence, examines the role of humor in nonviolent activism, drawing on the recent article published by Majken Jul Sørensen in Peace & Change. Analyzing examples of activism in Sweden and Belarus, Sørensen uses the four dimensions of nonviolent action developed by Stellan Vinthagen (dialogue facilitation, power breaking, utopian enactment, and normative regulation) to show the ways in which humor can contribute to the effectiveness of nonviolent action in some dimensions, while detracting from it in others. Wallace concludes by referencing the contemporary context of activism in the United States since the inauguration of Donald Trump as President, and calls for Vinthagen’s dimensions of nonviolent action to be considered in the era of activism under the Trump Presidency.
Read more here: https://wagingnonviolence.org/2017/06/incorporate-humor-civil-resistance/.
Photo: Sergey Teplyakov/Vkontakte.
