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Electoral Guerrilla Theatre 111 ELECTORAL GUERRILLA THEATRE 011 Across the globe, in liberal democracies where the right to vote is 1 framed as both civil right and civic duty, disillusioned creative activists run for public office on sarcastic, ironic, and outrageous platforms. With little intention of winning in the conventional sense, they use drag, camp, and stand-up comedy to undermine the legitimacy of their opponents and call into question the electoral system itself. Electoral Guerrilla Theatre explores the recent phenomenon of the satirical election campaign, asking: • How does this playful genre reflect a grim frustration with corporate globalization’s impact on democracy, and how do voters respond? 0111 • What theatrical devices and aesthetic ideas do electoral guerrillas draw on for their satire? • How do electoral guerrillas create their personae and platforms? How are they playing to (or against) audiences? • How do parodies and the actual political performances they mock interact? How can this tactic backfire? Drawing on extensive archival and ethnographic research, L.M. Bogad examines satirical campaigns around the world, analyzing them in national, cultural, political, and legal contexts. Electoral Guerrilla Theatre offers an entertaining, enlightening, and informative read for citizens, 0111 activists, tricksters, and students in many disciplines, including perform- ance studies, social science, cultural studies, and politics. L.M. Bogad is Assistant Professor in the Department of Theatre and Dance at the University of California at Davis. His research focuses on activist performance, and he has worked with Reclaim the Streets and the Clandestine Insurgent Rebel Clown Army among others. His writ- 111 ings appear in TDR, Radical Society, and Journal of Aesthetics and Protest. 111 011 ELECTORAL 1 GUERRILLA THEATRE RADICAL RIDICULE AND SOCIAL MOVEMENTS 0111 L.M. BOGAD 0111 111 First published 2005 by Routledge 270 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016 Simultaneously published in the UK by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2005. “To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.” © 2005 L.M. Bogad All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Bogad, L.M. Electoral guerrilla theatre: radical ridicule and social movements/L.M. Bogad. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Political parties – Case studies. 2. Political satire – History – 20th century. 3. Political campaigns – Case studies. 4. Radicalism – History – 20th century. 5. Social movements – History – 20th century. I. Title JF2011.B63 2005 324.9172′2–dc222004025855 ISBN 0-203-40103-4 Master e-book ISBN ISBN 0–415–33224–9 (hbk) ISBN 0–415–33225–7 (pbk) 111 011 Wise fools: 1 To the front; in all directions! We are everywhere! 0111 0111 111 111 Contents 011 List of illustrations viii 1 Acknowledgments xi Introduction Electoral guerrilla theatre in recent democracies: Speaking mirth to power 1 1 A prank too far? The Kabouters’ electoral guerrilla theatre, Amsterdam 1970–71 43 0111 2 Sturm Und Drag: The fabulous camp-pains of Miss Joan JettBlakk 121 3 Electoral guerrilla theatre in Australia: Pauline Hanson vs. Pauline Pantsdown 165 Conclusion A tricky new play 202 0111 Notes 209 References 215 Index 222 111 Illustrations 1.1 Kabouters in the streets, protesting the housing shortage 65 © Coen Tasman 1.2 Two Kabouters and their children with gasmasks as a demonstration against environmental pollution, 15 August 1970 66 © Peter van Brandwijk 1.3 The little horse-drawn fruit wagon (the Kabouter Knetter Kar), with which the Kabouters of The Hague sold their organic food, August 1970 67 © Franklin van den Berg 1.4 The condom banner action of the Kabouters and Dolle Mina, 21 March 1970 76 © Coen Tasman 1.5 Policemen arresting a tree during the action “Wandelende Tak” (Wandering Branch) on 21 March 1970 77 © Coen Tasman 1.6 The interactive street theatre of the Kabouters, 31 May 1970 79 © Coen Tasman 1.7 Banner on a building occupied by the Kabouters in protest of the housing shortage 82 © Coen Tasman Illustrations ix 111 1.8 Symbolic conflict within the Kabouter movement 110 © Jan van Amerongen 1.9 “STOP THE PARLIAMENTARY CONFUSION!” The Kabouter-Kolonel resolves the electoral dilemma with dynamite 111 © Jan van Amerongen 1.10 The Kabouter movement chained to the heavy ball of parliamentary democracy 112 011 © Bert Griepink 1 2.1 The Queen of Chicago on the camp-pain trail 127 From Gomez and kydd 1991 2.2 Joan JettBlakk announces her candidacy for President, 17 January 1992 137 From Gomez and kydd 1994 2.3a Joan JettBlakk camp-pain flyer 140 2.3b Joan JettBlakk camp-pain stickers 141 0111 2.4 Joan at the IMPACT party, with bodyguards and her date, Jon-Henri Damski 143 From Gomez and kydd 1994 2.5 JettBlakk and Queer Nation/Chicago marching in the St Patrick’s Day Parade 147 From Gomez and kydd 1994 2.6 Joan declares her platform at the DNC in Stars and Stripes minidress 155 From Gomez and kydd 1994 0111 3.1 Pauline Hanson at the Mortdale Bowling Club, 24 September 1998 168 From footage for Send in the Clown: The Pauline Pantsdown Story, an unfinished documentary video (directed by Sally Regan and 111 Simon Hunt; produced by Sally Regan) x Illustrations 3.2 In the early morning of 4 October 1998, Pantsdown sat onstage at the big Sleaze Ball, next to the huge papier-mâché Hanson head 169 From footage for Send in the Clown: The Pauline Pantsdown Story, an unfinished documentary video (directed by Sally Regan and Simon Hunt; produced by Sally Regan) 3.3 Pauline Pantdsown campaign flyer 185 Courtesy of Simon Hunt and Kate Gilroy 3.4 “Racist rubbish, racist hate.” Pauline trashes Pauline 190 From the music video for “I Don’t Like It” (produced and directed by Greg Ferris and Justin Ball; courtesy of Simon Hunt) 3.5 Personae juxtaposed: “Seeing double” news shot with Pantsdown and Hanson heads 194 Videotaped from television for Send in the Clown: The Pauline Pantsdown Story, an unfinished documentary video (directed by Sally Regan and Simon Hunt; produced by Sally Regan) 111 Acknowledgments 011 This project would not have been possible without the inestimably 1 valuable advice and mentorship of Tracy Davis. Sara Monoson also provided crucial consultation and encouragement as I formulated the theory and parameters of “electoral guerrilla theatre.” Special thanks also to Talia Rodgers for her editorial guidance, her enthusiasm and support for this project, and her well-tested patience. Dwight Conquergood was a brilliant guide and teacher through- out my graduate studies and beyond. His integrity and dedication were inspiring; his untimely passing is an enormous loss to the field and to the communities that he befriended and for which he 0111 advocated. The Woodrow Wilson Foundation’s Charlotte W. Newcombe Dissertation Year Fellowship enabled me to focus on finishing this work in a timely manner. A Teaching Fellowship at Northwestern University’s Center for the Humanities provided me with much needed funding and a wonderful community of scholars with which to discuss my research. Travel grants from Northwestern’s Center for International Comparative Studies, and from the Graduate School, enabled me to make major research trips to Sydney and Amsterdam, respectively. As a Postdoctoral Teaching Fellow at 0111 Carnegie Mellon University’s Center for the Arts In Society, I was able to further revise and develop this work. An earlier version of Chapter 3 appeared in the Summer 2001 issue of TDR: The Drama Review. Without the translation skills of Saar Frieling and Anneliese Nassuth, my research on the Kabouters would have been impossible. 111 I am enormously indebted to my consultants in Amsterdam, Toledo, xii Acknowledgments Chicago, and Sydney, including Coen Tasman, Guy Kilian, Simen de Jong, Elspeth kydd, Gabriel Gomez, Simon Hunt, Garry Convery, and many others. Ben Shepard’s critical feedback on parts of this book was very helpful as well as harshly entertaining. The loyalty and warmth of all my friends sustained me through my many moves of the past few years; thanks to the Edison crew and all the tribe. Specifically for reading and encouragement, thanks to Andrew Buchman, Dean Campbell, Antonino D’Ambrosio, Scott Edelstein, Kerry Glennon, Philip Howard, Brad Krumholz, Tavia La Follette, Jason Montero, Kelly Moore, Daniel Mufson, and James Wengler. I am most grateful to my parents, Walter and Suzanne, to Marjorie Bogad (1907–2001), to Gail Evra and Eric Silver; and for the inspiration of my comrades in such high-powered, efficient, and solemn organizations as Reclaim the Streets, Absurd Response, Billionaires for Bush, and the Clandestine Insurgent Rebel Clown Army. 111 Introduction: Electoral guerrilla theatre in recent democracies Speaking mirth to power 011 Don’t vote – it only encourages them. 1 (Anon.) If voting could change anything, it’d be illegal. (Anon.) [Incumbent Sheriff ] Sherman Block has been working for the past thirty years to bring order to Los Angeles [. .] I’ve been working during that time to bring disorder. I’ll leave it to the voters to decide who’s done a better job. (Elisha Shapiro, Nihilist Party Candidate for 0111 LA County Sheriff, 1994) On 14 April 2000, guerrilla filmmaker Michael Moore and about forty supporters showed up at the New Jersey State Division of Elections in Trenton to register their chosen candidate for US Congress in the 11th District.
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