L.M. Bogad
– Artist’s Website –
You say that tactical performance is a “political crowbar or force multiplier” for movements. What do you mean? How can the skill sets and “rules” of theatre inform better creative activism?
Some of the skill sets of theatre can really help with this — thinking in terms of tension, surprise, symbolism, timing, “earning a moment” to make your point with a strong image, as well as obvious aspects like costuming, acoustics, sight lines, etc.
I think often our social movements — for human or civil rights, ecological/economic justice, etc., are resource-poor in comparison with our opponents — major corporations, governments, et al. Tactical performance — guerrilla theatre, creative and sociodramatic action, symbolic culture jamming, media pranks, etc — are relatively low-cost and medium-to-low-tech. But when deftly used, they can amplify the voice of the movement, acting like a political crowbar to leverage much greater pressure than would otherwise be possible.
I like to think of it as finding pressure points on the body politic the same way someone trained in aikido tries to find pressure points on the body of the opponent to move them around with minimal force and maximum effect. I share a lot of examples of this in the book and in talks/workshops, trying to learn from our history.
MayDay protests, San Francisco, 2008. (Credit: Xago Juarez)