A “Barrel of Laughs” Brings Down a Dictator in Serbia

After Serbian dictator Slobodan Milosevic held power for nearly a decade, a group of students formed the movement Otpor! (“Resistance”) to drive him out of office using civil resistance. By 1998, Milosevic’s power was heavily entrenched which left the students little space to dissent within the system. Instead, they redirected their energy towards the tool they understood was most important for lowering fear and increasing participation from their fellow citizens: humor.

Otpor’s first act was to set up a barrel in a town square with a picture of Milosevic’s face on it. Passersby had the option to drop in a coin to support the dictator’s retirement, or, if they didn’t have any money because of the economic policies in place, they could beat the barrel with a bat. After some hesitation, a group of passersby formed around the barrel, taking turns with the bat. When the police showed up they were met with a dilemma: either arrest the every-day people around the barrel and risk causing a huge upset, or arrest the barrel itself and look ridiculous. They chose the latter, which the Otpor organizers captured photos of and shared via the opposition media, undermining the legitimacy of Milosevic's feared police force.

This was the first of Otpor’s many creative actions which focused on shifting the political culture by mobilising support outside of official channels. Their efforts continued for two years, until Milosevic was finally forced from power in October of 2000. Over those years Otpor also built a grassroots network that was ready for rapid response. In the event of political violence or repression, teams would reveal the attacks to a wider audience through images and bring legal defense to anyone targeted by the police. Activists also cultivated important international relationships through which they reframed the narrative of political repression in Serbia to a much wider audience. These processes were key to the longer effort of delegitimizing the regime and its strategies of maintaining power.

Reducing Outrage: The Milosevic regime worked to reduce outrage by making it seem as if there was no way the people could change the political system. The government relied on using fear to put out any resistance.

Otpor redirected their energy towards the tool they understood was most important for lowering fear and increasing participation from their fellow citizens: humor. In addition to the "barrel of laughs" action, they organized teams to respond to political violence by revealing the attacks to a wider audience through images and bringing legal defense to anyone targeted by the police. Activists also cultivated important international relationships through which they reframed the narrative of political repression in Serbia to a much wider audience.

Their efforts continued for two years, until Milosevic was finally forced from power in October of 2000. These processes of backfire were key to the longer effort of delegitimizing the regime and its strategies of maintaining power.

Photo credit: File:OTPOR Sign NoviSad 2001.jpg