GUEST: Larry Bogad, long time progressive activist, professor of Performance Studies at U.C. Davis, and author of a new book, "Tactical Performance: The theory and practice of serious play," talks about the use of art and drama in facilitating social change.
This was a fun interview. Using art and drama to oppose the empire often gets overlooked in our effort to turn out larger and larger crowds at progressive events. It's all about numbers. But that story has been done before, and even massive crowds fail to get much coverage in our media, obsessed with its two party system for engaging in political debate.
The two party system is paid for by the same corporations; there is very little debate allowed. There is no testing of the limits of dissent either. For demonstrations, it is "stay within these barricades and go home when we tell you to."
Tactical performances can liberate the resistance to economic exploitation, racism, and imperialism. Suddenly creativity and humor can be used against the state. Not that we are going to dress up like clowns and hug the cops. That is the enemy of an effective action, the mindless repetition of what has been done before. Maybe the true revolutionary process involves strategizing and planning unique responses to the authoritarian state.
