tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19833734.post6234013724051094630..comments2024-02-22T19:21:40.330-05:00Comments on Muhlberger's World History: Something's happening here...Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19833734.post-12988747288199752552011-02-19T20:18:56.103-05:002011-02-19T20:18:56.103-05:00RE teddy bears and Gong. There's probably som...RE teddy bears and Gong. There's probably some connection between that and one of Gong's most delightful songs: "Squeezing Sponges Over Policemen's Heads"Phil Painehttp://www.philpaine.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19833734.post-51436014800589941122011-02-18T19:18:19.124-05:002011-02-18T19:18:19.124-05:00That's actually really encouraging, and it'...That's actually really encouraging, and it's not often I can say that about something in the media. Thankyou for posting it. I was especially struck by this bit:<br /><br /><i>The most famous stunt involved an oil barrel painted with Milosevic's picture. Otpor rolled it down a busy street, asking people to insert a coin in a slot for the privilege of whacking Milosevic with a bat. This was Otpor's favorite kind of prank, a dilemma action: It left the regime damned either way. If the government had let the barrel roll, it would have looked weak. But when the police stepped in, the optics were no better: The Otpor members fled, and the opposition TV the next day showed pictures of the police "arresting" a barrel and loading it into the police van. The country sniggered at these pranks -- and signed up for Otpor.</i><br /><br />This reminds me immediately of a story from the Paris riots of 1968, which I have from a Gong album sleeve (because rock music was revolutionary once as you know). I've never been sure it isn't completely made up, but it's still illustrative. (See: medievalist in action...) My apologies if I've quoted this here before, but it's much more relevant now I'm sure:<br /><br /><i>Unfortunately this early incarnation of Gong came to an abrupt end during 'Les Evenements' of Spring '68. Rather than hurl rocks, Daevid handed out teddy bears to the police in the Latin Quarter. At the time, they didn't know how to react, but when they saw how dumb they looked on the 6 o'clock news, they did. Daevid and Gilli never knew their time was up and split for Deya less than 48 hours before the police trashed their apartment.</i><br /><br />Similar and yet different: the crucial difference the actions your link points out is that that was spontaneous, not part of any larger plan and unavoidably high-cost. But what they come up with instead is gorgeously neophile. Robert Anton Wilson would have loved it. Here's hoping for a political triumph of laterally-thinking public-minded cleverness, eh?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com