Authoritarians thrive on fear. They demand obedience, silence, and reverence. But history tells us something wild and thrilling: they crumble when we laugh.
From the court jesters of empires to the street clowns of Otpor! in Serbia, to Pussy Riot’s guerrilla punk in Putin’s Russia—ridicule has always been a weapon of resistance.1 Because no matter how many guns or judges a strongman commands, history shows he can’t survive being made a joke.2
Trump knows it. That’s why he’s marching through D.C. on his birthday in a puffed-up parade straight out of a dictator’s handbook. But we’re not clapping—we’re clowning.
Ridicule has toppled dictators, humiliated fascists, and ignited movements. It’s time we use it again.
— Women’s March
1 Saul Alinsky, Rules for Radicals (New York: Random House, 1971)
2 “To Defy a Dictator, Send in the Clowns,” Berggruen Institute
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