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Laughtivism
Laughtivism (a portmanteau of laughter+ activism) is strategic use of humor and mocking by social nonviolent movements in order to undermine the authority of an opponent, build credibility, break fear and apathy and reach target audiences. It has been defined, and predominantly practiced independently by two activist groups - The Center for Applied Nonviolent Actions and Strategies (CANVAS) based in Belgrade, Serbia (Executive Director Srđa Popović) as well as the New York-based team the Yes Men Some recent examples of Laughtivism include: The Yes Men creating a false movie production company comparing the Midwestern Tar Sands area to Mordor, and Egyptian comedian Bassem Youssef's satirical television show The B+ which made fun of events during the Egyptian Revolution in 2011. For more examples of Laughtivism see "Why Dictators Don't Like Jokes", by Srdja Popovic and Mladen Joksic. For a critical view of Laughtivism see "Two Cheers for Laughtivism", by Kei Hiruta. See a ...
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Centre For Applied Non Violent Actions And Strategies
The Centre for Applied Nonviolent Action and Strategies (CANVAS) is a non-profit, non-governmental, educational institution focused on the use of nonviolent conflict, based in Belgrade, Serbia. It was founded in 2004 by Srđa Popović and the CEO of Orion Telecom, Slobodan Đinović. Both were former members of the Serbian youth resistance movement, Otpor!, which supported the overthrow of Slobodan Milošević in October 2000. Drawing upon the Serbian experience, CANVAS seeks to educate pro-democracy activists around the world in what it regards as the universal principles for success in nonviolent struggle. Established in Belgrade, CANVAS has worked with pro-democracy activists from more than 50 countries,Rosenberg, Tina (16 February 2011''Revolution U – What Egypt learned from the students who overthrew Milosevic'' Foreign Policy. Retrieved 20 July 2011 including Iran, Zimbabwe, Burma, Venezuela, Ukraine, Georgia, Palestine, Western Sahara, West Papua, Eritrea, Belarus, Azerb ...
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Portmanteau
A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of wordsGarner's Modern American Usage
, p. 644.
in which parts of multiple words are combined into a new word, as in ''smog'', coined by blending ''smoke'' and ''fog'', or ''motel'', from ''motor'' and ''hotel''. In , a portmanteau is a single morph that is analyzed as representing two (or more) underlying s. When portmanteaus shorte ...
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Nonviolent Resistance
Nonviolent resistance (NVR), or nonviolent action, sometimes called civil resistance, is the practice of achieving goals such as social change through symbolic protests, civil disobedience, economic or political noncooperation, satyagraha, constructive program, or other methods, while refraining from violence and the threat of violence. This type of action highlights the desires of an individual or group that feels that something needs to change to improve the current condition of the resisting person or group. Nonviolent resistance is often but wrongly taken as synonymous with civil disobedience. Each of these terms—nonviolent resistance and civil disobedience—has different connotations and commitments. Berel Lang argues against the conflation of nonviolent resistance and civil disobedience on the grounds that the necessary conditions for an act instancing civil disobedience are: (1) that the act violates the law, (2) that the act is performed intentionally, and (3) that the ...
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Srđa Popović (activist)
Srđa Popović ( sr-Cyrl, Срђа Поповић, born 1 February 1973) is a Serbian political activist. He was a leader of the student movement Otpor! that helped topple Serbian president Slobodan Milošević. After briefly pursuing a political career in Serbia, he established the Centre for Applied Nonviolent Action and Strategies (CANVAS) in 2003 and published '' Blueprint for Revolution'' in 2015. CANVAS has worked with pro-democracy activists from more than 50 countries, promoting the use of non-violent resistance in achieving political and social goals. In October 2017, he was elected Rector of the University of St Andrews, succeeding Catherine Stihler. Early life Popović was born in Belgrade, where both of his parents worked in television. His mother, TV anchor Vesna Nestorović (1944–2017) narrowly avoided being killed during the NATO bombing of state television in Belgrade in 1999. He played bass guitar in a goth rock band called BAAL, which was fronted by Andrej ...
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Yes Men
The Yes Men are a culture jamming activist duo and network of supporters created by Jacques Servin and Igor Vamos. Through various actions, the Yes Men primarily aim to raise awareness about problematic social and political issues. To date, the duo have produced three films: '' The Yes Men'' (2003), ''The Yes Men Fix the World'' (2009), and ''The Yes Men Are Revolting'' (2014). In these films, they impersonate entities that they dislike, a practice that they call "identity correction." The Yes Men operate under the mission statement that lies can expose truth. They create and maintain fake websites similar to ones they intend to spoof, which have led to numerous interview, conference, and TV talk show invitations. They espouse the belief that corporations and governmental organizations often act in dehumanizing ways toward the public. Elaborate props are sometimes part of the ruse (e.g. Survivaball), as shown in their 2003 DVD release ''The Yes Men''. The Yes Men have collab ...
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Bassem Youssef (television Host)
Bassem Raafat Mohamed Youssef ( ar, باسم رأفت محمد يوسف, ; born 21 March 1974) is an Egyptian comedian, writer, producer, surgeon, doctor, media critic, and television host, who hosted '' El-Bernameg'' (''The Show''), a satirical news program, from 2011 to 2014. The press has compared Youssef with American comedian Jon Stewart, whose satire program '' The Daily Show'' inspired Youssef to begin his career. In 2013, he was named as one of the "100 most influential people in the world" by '' Time'' magazine. Youssef's current projects are ''Tickling Giants'', ''The Democracy Handbook'', and ''Revolution For Dummies''. Medical career Bassem Youssef graduated from Cairo University's Faculty of Medicine, majoring in cardiothoracic surgery, in 1998. He passed the United States Medical Licensing Examination and has been a member of the Royal College of Surgeons ( MRCS) since February 2007. He practiced as a cardiothoracic surgeon in Egypt for 13 years, until his mov ...
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Egyptian Revolution Of 2011
The 2011 Egyptian revolution, also known as the 25 January revolution ( ar, ثورة ٢٥ يناير; ), began on 25 January 2011 and spread across Egypt. The date was set by various youth groups to coincide with the annual Egyptian "Police holiday" as a statement against increasing police brutality during the last few years of Hosni Mubarak's presidency. It consisted of demonstrations, marches, occupations of plazas, non-violent civil resistance, acts of civil disobedience and strikes. Millions of protesters from a range of socio-economic and religious backgrounds demanded the overthrow of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. Violent clashes between security forces and protesters resulted in at least 846 people killed and over 6,000 injured. Protesters retaliated by burning over 90 police stations across the country. The Egyptian protesters' grievances focused on legal and political issues, including police brutality, state-of-emergency laws, lack of political freedom, civil ...
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Otpor!
Otpor ( sr-Cyrl, Отпор!, en, Resistance!, stylized as Otpor!) was a political organization in Serbia (then part of FR Yugoslavia) from 1998 until 2004. In its initial period from 1998 to 2000, Otpor began as a civic protest group, eventually turning into a movement, which adopted the ''Narodni pokret'' (the People's Movement) title, against the policies of the Serbian authorities under the influence of Yugoslav president Slobodan Milošević. Following Milošević's overthrow in October 2000, Otpor became a political watchdog organization monitoring the activities of the post-Milošević period of the DOS coalition. Finally, during fall 2003, Otpor briefly became a political party which, due to its failure to pass the 5% threshold needed to get any seats in the Serbian parliament, soon merged with another party. Founded and best known as an organization employing nonviolent struggle as a course of action against the Milošević-controlled Serbian authorities, Otpor gre ...
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Bringing Down A Dictator
''Bringing Down A Dictator'' is a 56-minute documentary film by Steve York about the nonviolent defeat of Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic. It focuses on the contributions of the student-led Otpor! movement. The film originally aired on national PBS in March 2002. It was narrated by Martin Sheen and won the George Foster Peabody Award. Other awards include: *ABCNews VideoSource Award --- The International Documentary Association *Silver Chris Award --- Columbus International Film and Video Festival *Bronze Plaque: Scriptwriting --- Columbus International Film and Video Festival *Silver Plaque --- The Chicago International Television Festival *Gold Remi --- Worldfest Houston International Film Festival *Best Documentary --- Sedona International Film Festival ''Bringing Down A Dictator'' was broadcast several times in the former Republic of Georgia in the fall of 2003 and was credited with helping the citizens there organize their nonviolent protest against the electoral ...
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Albert Einstein Institution
The Albert Einstein Institution (AEI) is a non-profit organization specializing in the study of the methods of nonviolent resistance in conflict. It was founded by scholar Gene Sharp in 1983, and named after Albert Einstein. Until 2000, the institute provided funding for Einstein Institution Fellowships for scholars, sometimes referred to as Einstein Fellows, and was also the funding body for the Program on Nonviolent Sanctions in Conflict and Defense at Harvard's Center for International Affairs. Jamila Raqib has been executive director since 2005. History The research institute is named after the physicist Albert Einstein, who was a committed pacifist, although not an "absolute pacifist"; he recognized that pacifism would not work against Hitler in 1933. It was founded by political scientist Gene Sharp, whose first book, about the methods of Indian pacifist Gandhi, included an article on nonviolence signed by Einstein as a preface. The AEI was incorporated in July 1983, ...
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Laughter
Laughter is a pleasant physical reaction and emotion consisting usually of rhythmical, often audible contractions of the diaphragm and other parts of the respiratory system. It is a response to certain external or internal stimuli. Laughter can rise from such activities as being tickled, or from humorous stories or thoughts. Most commonly, it is considered an auditory expression of a number of positive emotional states, such as joy, mirth, happiness, or relief. On some occasions, however, it may be caused by contrary emotional states such as embarrassment, surprise, or confusion such as nervous laughter or courtesy laugh. Age, gender, education, language, and culture are all indicators as to whether a person will experience laughter in a given situation. Some other species of primate ( chimpanzees, gorillas and orangutans) show laughter-like vocalizations in response to physical contact such as wrestling, play chasing or tickling. Laughter is a part of human behavior regu ...
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