Scott Englert, Politics Editor
Among the most pressing and troublesome topics in foreign policy today is the presence of dictators and authoritarian regimes. On Tuesday, November 27, Srdja Popovic attempted to address this problem in a lecture entitled, “How to Topple a Dictator.”
Popovic, one of Foreign Policy’s Top 100 Global Thinkers, reached fame as the founder of “Otpor!,” the Serbian youth movement that surged to over 70,000 members and eventually toppled dictator Slobodan Milosevic.
Currently, Popovic operates the Centre for Applied Non-Violent Action & Strategies (CANVAS), an organization he and others founded to encourage peaceful revolutions. Past and present clientele include numerous persons from hotspots including Iran and Venezuela. The lecturer joked that he and other “Serbian Militants” gained recognition after being “mentioned by Chavez after the referendum.”
Popovic began by describing his initial involvement in Serbia. “That was about the necessity,” he said. “You only have two choices: one–listen to the common sense and advice from your parents and leave, two–follow your heart and fight back.”
Popovic discussed 2011 as a year containing “events which reshaped the planet.” More specifically, it was a “Bad Year for Bad Guys.” Comparing the tumult to Monty Python and the Flying Circus, he asked the audience if they would have ever imagined “people in New York protesting liberal capitalism inspired by Arabs.”
Popovic remarked on the general futility of violent revolutions. “53 percent of nonviolent campaigns were successful. In contrast, only 26 percent of violent campaigns were successful,” he noted. According to Popovic, these statistics are especially understandable when one considers that while “there is no such thing as a copy-paste revolution…there are universal principles” for resolutions. He explained that “the way you win a nonviolent struggle is by gaining numbers.” Consequently, consider the following alternative scenario exemplary of attempts at violent revolutionaries: “who do you know who could spend a summer on the jungle during monsoon season?”
In marked contrast, Popovic described his own experience in Serbia, “if you are arrested, 50 grandmas immediately call every landline at the police station asking for your release,” he laughed.
The potential success of nonviolent resolutions becomes ever more apparent “when one considers other principles: the holy trinity [of such movements] is unity, planning, and nonviolent discipline,” Popovic explained. Moreover, “unlike serbs, who needed to learn step-by-step, you can learn faster now… we [the Serb revolutionaries] are officially the worst planners in the world.”
Popovic also expanded upon other peaceful revolutionary principles and, in doing so, corrected many of the myths often portrayed by the media. One such example is the perceived possibility of spontaneous protests. “There is no spontaneous and successful nonviolent revolution,” Popovic said. Regarding great revolutionary leaders, he acknowledged their potential to help but dismissed their presence as integral to success.
In addition to the “holy trinity,” Popovic described other elements of successful nonviolent revolutions, such as peer pressure. He mused that in Serbia, “if you haven’t been arrested, no one wants to play football with you.” Additionally, “laughtivism, the power of humor in nonviolent struggle,” can also mitigate the fear spread by authoritarian regimes.
Popovic himself employed laughtivism during his time in Serbia. He vividly described one particular scene, during which revolutionaries “put a coin in the barrel and get the chance to show your love for the president.” At first glance, persons paying to hit a picture of a dictator’s face attached to a barrel seems trivial; however, the scene escalated when the authorities became involved. “You bet they [the police] did the most stupid thing,” Popovic said. “They arrested the barrel.” The barrel being carried into the police vehicle became a mainstream story.
Another prominent example of laughitivism involved Russian citizens using LEGO and Kinder plastic toys holding signs protesting what they perceived to be a biased election. The next day, town authorities stopped the protest, commenting that the toys could not legally protest “because toys are made in China and are not citizens of Russia.”
During a question and answer session, Popovic further endorsed the need for ingenuity and nonviolent revolutions. Disappointed at the escalation of violence in Syria, he compared the rebels’ strategy to fighting Mike Tyson, “The guy will eat you alive. First, he will eat your ears,” Popovic joked. He added seriously, “you don’t want to fight Mike Tyson in boxing…you want to play him in chess.”
Despite these atrocities, Popovic believes that the future is bright, “We will keep hearing about ‘people power,’” he said. “And it will keep changing the world.”
Scott Englert is a senior political science and economics major. He encourages all persons to attend the annual Notre Dame Women’s Water Polo Blue-Gold game on Tuesday, December 4. Regardless of the score, the Irish will win! Contact Scott with comments or questions at senglert@nd.edu.
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