How to Use Strategic Humor as a Recruitment Tool in Social Movements
Channel: PeaceVoiceTV
Date: 2013-05-14

http://www.warpreventioninitiative.org/ Janjira Sombutpoonsiri, Ph.D., Thammasat University, discusses the use of strategic humor as a tool for recruiting new activists into the Serbian, student-led social movement Otpor! (Resistance) in order to oust former president of Yugoslavia Slobodan  Milošević in 2000.  By strategically creating humorous and fun activities, as opposed to only mass demonstrations and direct action, the organizers were able to compel new participants into their movement who may not have had strong feelings about politics or political ideology.  Sombutpoonsiri discusses marketing and branding strategies of Otpor based on her doctoral thesis on humor and nonviolence (La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia) with some emphasis on the Serbian revolution of 2000.  

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This video interview was conducted at the International Peace Research Association conference of 2012 in Japan.

Interviewer: Tom Hastings 
Editor: Erin Niemela