Welcome to Dispatch #27! This week let’s explore an overall strategy for social change that we can all align behind, how Serbian students used satire to overthrow their dictator, an artist helping activists around the world get more creative, new resources, and more!
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Easy Actions to Take
Why: Google & YouTube has accepted over $40 million to run Israeli propaganda on Youtube and other Google products. Google workers with No Tech for Apartheid call on the public to support internal organizing efforts by mass-reporting and flooding Google’s internal reporting systems. You can report the ads in the following languages (based on where the ads are currently targeted geographically): English, Spanish, Arabic, Polish, German, Turkish, and Italian! Organized by NoTechForApartheid
Why: Urgent intervention needed to prevent the demolition of the Youth of Sumud Centre in At-Tuwani, Masafer Yatta. The Jerusalem District Court has ordered demolition within 15 days. Organized by Newscord
Why: Since the beginning of Israel’s genocide against Palestinians in Gaza in October 2023, the US has given more than $30 billion in taxpayer-funded weapons to Israel to enable its atrocities. By introducing this bill, Members of Congress are proactively trying to block the Trump administration from delivering major US weapons to Israel–bombs, tank rounds, and artillery shells–which it has used in its mass killing of Palestinians in Gaza.
Little (Movement) Wins
Looking for actual effective ways to push back against attacks on the people and ideas you care about? Our friends at the Center for Artistic Activism are hosting a free workshop, Anti-Authoritarian Artistic Activism: What We Can Learn & Do, to help you boost your political effectiveness when under authoritarian control.
It's a 60-minute, fast-paced workshop designed to give you some creative tools and inspiring ideas from other movements in history so you can effectively level up your activism, because authoritarianism doesn’t stand a chance against collective joy, stubborn hope, some humor, and a little weirdness.
🗓 Wed, Oct 15 @ 3pm US Eastern Time on Zoom
How Serbians Weaponized Satire
Activist History
Otpor ("Resistance" in Serbian) was a Serbian student-led civil resistance movement founded in October 1998 to oppose the authoritarian regime of Slobodan Milosevic. The movement emerged from a coalition of a dozen student activists who were determined to challenge Milosevic in the face of violent repression through the police and military. Within just two years, Otpor’s support grew nationwide with tens of thousands of members and they played a pivotal role in mobilizing mass civil resistance that ultimately overthrew Milosevic.
What made Otpor's tactics particularly unique was their strategic use of humor, satire, and youth culture as weapons against oppression. By leveraging ridicule, rock music, and street theater they exaggerated the difference between the protestors and police, putting the government in a lose-lose situation: ignoring Otpor made them look weak, while cracking down on young activists using comedy made the regime look tyrannical.
For example, in 1999:
- August 1999 – Solar eclipse – the action “Telescope” was the first that appeared on the cover pages of the Serbian media and also received coverage by foreign media. Otpor activists built a five-meter telescope, at the end of which was an image of Milosevic shaped like a falling comet.
- September 1999 – The action “Tread on the system” – dropping flyers from the top of the building at Terazije 3. The flyers contained an image of President Milosevic and the request to the citizens to tread on it as it fell on the pavement.
- October-November 1999 – The action “A dinar for a change”. Otpor activists invited citizens to drop coins in a large metal barrel, which entitled them to punching the image of President Milosevic painted on the barrel. In the absence of a perpetrator to arrest, the police arrested the barrel.
Otpor's success lay in their systematic approach to undermining the regime's pillars of support. Creative actions empowered the masses to resist and brought international attention. Simultaneously, they worked methodically to erode police and army loyalty to encourage defection. They built broad coalition with pro-democracy and human rights advocates. But they combined all of this with direct action too. When Milosevic refused to accept his electoral defeat in 2000, Otpor helped organize a general strike that brought normal life to a halt. On October 5 2000, hundreds of thousands of Serbs descended on Belgrade to seize parliament in a dramatic, nonviolent triumph for democracy.
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Polycrisis
The Conscious Citizens Dictionary
Polycrisis (from the French word, polycrise) describes a situation in which multiple, distinct crises (economic, environmental, geopolitical, social, or technological) occur simultaneously and interact in ways that amplify each other, producing outcomes more severe than the sum of the individual crises. The term polycrisis was first introduced by French philosopher and sociologist Edgar Morin in his 1993 book Terre-Patrie, co-authored with Anne-Brigitte Kern.
According to Morin, each of the crises in a polycrisis are interwoven and amplify each other, creating a cascading effect that can only be resolved systemically rather than separately.
Strategizing for a Living Revolution
Connecting the Dots
Today we face a global polycrisis that is a combination of climate disaster, late-stage capitalism, uncontrolled AI development, global US hegemony, authoritarian leaders who leverage nationalism to take power, and more. It’s clear to many that the status quo has failed us and change is necessary.
Thankfully we aren’t the first ones to be in this situation. Many people throughout history have felt similar pressures and have organized together to overthrow their oppressors. History can be our greatest weapon if we make sure to listen to the lessons from the past.
We can rage, march, and share online as much as we want but what is most needed to win (and what is often missing), is an overall strategy to guide all of us. A unified strategy doesn’t mean we all have to follow the orders of a few key leaders, nor does it mean we can’t utilize a wide variety of tactics. A unified strategy for social change is powerful because it allows us all to move as one unit toward a new world despite a lack of clear leaders and a variety of leftist ideologies.
George Lakey, an activist and sociologist with decades of organizing experience, has taken inspiration from Otpor (and other nonviolent movements globally) and created a 5 stage strategic framework he calls a “strategy for a living revolution." The 5 stages are:
- Cultural preparation
- Organization-building
- Confrontation
- Mass political and economic noncooperation
- Parallel institutions
There are hundreds, even thousands, of tactics that could fit within this overall strategy, and crucially, in this framework, there are many roles that need to filled and there really is a place for everyone. We’ve created a Study Guide to help distill the major points of this essay and help it be more easily digestible to anyone. Please share widely!
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“Each and every one of you has a role to play. You may not know it, you may not find it, but your life matters, and you are here for a reason.”
–Jane Goodall, Famous Last Words on Netflix
Conscious Creatives: Steve Lambert
Steve Lambert is an American artist, activist, and educator who combines his creative artistic skills with a strategic activist mindset to engage the public on complex topics in unique and memorable ways. He is the founder of the Center for Artistic Activism (C4AA), the Anti-Advertising Agency, Add-Art (a Firefox add-on that replaces advertising with art), SelfControl (which blocks adults from distracting websites so they can get work done), and co-author of the incredible book, The Art of Activism (also available on Anna’s Archive). Through C4AA, Lambert has worked alongside 1,400+ artists and activists across 16 countries to guide them on how to use comedy, games, theater, satire, and art to craft political campaigns that more effectively change minds, promote critical thinking, and achieve real goals. Steve’s work is a powerful reminder that art and creativity, when combined with a clear strategy, can be one of activist’s greatest weapons in the fight against authoritarianism.
➡️ Visit Steve's Website | Check out the Center for Artistic Activism
Resources & Tools
Please share these links with anyone that might find them helpful:
- 🧠 How to Have Better Political Conversations with the Moral Foundations Theory | Watch our first YouTube video!
- 🧐 Ground News | A independent platform collecting and organizing news sources from around the world and across the political spectrum so we can see how a single story is covered.
- 🧩 Mapping Artistic Activism Project | An interactive map of individuals, collectives, and organizations in the field of activism across the globe, allowing everyday people to easily explore in detail different practitioners and organizations.
- 💰 As You Sow: Sustainable Investing Tools | A great online tool for anyone looking to invest more ethically. Search to find what's hidden inside your 401(k) or personal investments, then get the knowledge and tools you need to find alternative funds and start aligning your investments with your values.
- 🖥 Reading Duck | A directory of free reading worksheets aimed at improving literacy and reading comprehension for students made by experienced (and many retired) teachers.
- 🖥 The Wall: Anti-Israel Website Blocker | The Wall is a browser plugin to detect and block more than 19,000 Israeli-related websites and their social accounts. This is an easy way to avoid giving your attention and web traffic to Israel!
- 📓 The Ground-Zero Guide for Building Community | A practical and tactical community-building guide to help you find the clarity, confidence, and support needed to turn a disconnected neighborhood into a vibrant, safe, and connected community that adds value to your life.
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Till next time, do your best and take it one day at a time. Care for yourself and the people around you. Believe that the world can be better than it is now. Never give up. And remember, you're not alone. We always have each other.
Onward to the World We Deserve,
Elisa & Ray
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