Indivisibles,

Last month, Leah wrote a great piece -- The Case for Hope. Since then, Mar-a-Lago was raided, inflation has dropped, gas prices have plummeted, the polls shifted in our direction, Democrats passed the largest climate bill in American history, and President Biden wiped out billions of dollars of student loan debt. The case for hope looks pretty darn good right now. 

I want to take it a step beyond hope: the case for fun. But bear with me, this is serious. Fun is one of the most powerful tools we have to defeat the fascists. Fun takes the fascists down a peg, gets free advertising for our pro-democracy movement, brings more people into the fold, and makes it easier on all of us to keep up the fight.

I’ll share some of the fun on the campaign trail I’m seeing around the country, and I’ll ask you to share some of your fun with me. If you want to reach out to me directly I’m over at @ezralevin on Twitter. Ok enough throat-clearing. Let’s have some fun.

Fun vs fascism

Let’s take fun seriously. 

Even before Indivisible, Leah and I would talk about the success of Otpor! -- the Serbian pro-democracy movement that successfully took down the dictator Slobodon Milošević in the early 2000s. As we were writing the original Indivisible Guide, one of the books I had at my side was by a leader of the Otpor movement Srdja Popović, Blueprint for Revolution. It has a funny, long, and descriptive title: How to Use Rice Pudding, Lego Men, and Other Non-violent Techniques to Galvanise Communities, Overthrow Dictators, Or Simply Change the World. It’s an insightful work on the power of creativity, irony, ridicule, and generally humorous nonviolent confrontation in the fight for democracy and against repressive political power. More recently, Popović and international affairs professor Sophia McClennen published another book on the topic -- Pranksters vs Autocrats -- which has informed Indivisible’s work this year to bring media attention to MAGA extremism.

With a little thought and planning, fun can be truly powerful. This is from McClennen and Popović’s article on the subject: Don’t Fight the Fascists. Laugh at Them:

The best counter to the aggressive and delusional anger of the right is creative, playful, often humorous counterprotests. Strange as it may seem, there is a lot of evidence that proves that the lighthearted, fun-loving, ironic challenges to Nazis are more effective than anger.

“Laughtivism” accomplishes three big things:

1. It gets media! Media likes fun stuff -- it gets clicks and eyeballs. People enjoy reading, watching, and hearing about fun stuff, so the media is more likely to cover it.
2. It gets people! Who wants to be part of a sad and serious movement? Think of the radical pro-union activist Emma Goldman -- “If I can’t dance, I don't want to be part of your revolution.” Make your movement fun and cool, and your movement will grow.
3. It puts the fascist in a bind. Successfully pulled off, laughtivism takes the fascists down a peg -- they look ridiculous or humorless or both. And while fascists can afford to be hated, they can’t afford to be a laughing stock.

How to have fun while beating the fascists

Fun ain’t easy. These are fascists we’re talking about. They’re doing despicable things. They’re attacking us, our loved ones, our schools, our communities, our democracy. It’s no laughing matter.

In their book, McClennen and Popović explain that effectively implementing fun isn’t just about spontaneity. It’s serious stuff that “requires…strategic components to prepare, design, and perpetuate a constant stream of creativity to stay in the news, headlines, and tweets, as well as to maintain a movement’s momentum.” 

In nearly six years of Indivisible history, we’ve done a lot of the hard work to have fun at the expense of the fascists. Some examples:

• Indivisibles in Michigan orchestrated a widely attended public town hall, and in place of their no-show GOP congressman, they brought a live chicken on stage to represent him. (The congressman retired rather than seek re-election).
• Colorado Indivisibles paraded a “Cardboard Cory” throughout the state -- the joke being that, unlike the MAGA senator Cory Gardner, the cardboard version actually showed up to talk to constituents. (The Senator lost re-election).
• Indivisibles across the country held early retirement parties for their MAGA reps -- a friendly and fun little nudge out the door ahead of the blue wave. (Dozens of those MAGA members lost re-election). 

One of my favorites came just this last month. You might have seen Mehmet Oz’s ridiculous video of him shopping for “crudite” (somehow his own campaign released this video making him look out of touch). Stories like this can fizzle out quickly -- the media will move on. In an effort to prolong the story with some chuckles, Indivisible: Mayday in Pennsylvania donned enormous broccoli costumes and traveled around the state, carrying signs like “Veggies for Fetterman.”

They got a ton of press for their little stunt: John Fetterman embraced them at a rally, and his campaign ended up cutting an ad featuring their work. How’s that for some fun? 

This kind of fun isn’t a replacement for traditional tactics for building power -- it’s an additive. Indivisible Mayday themselves understand this well:

What fun are you having?

There are a lot of reasons to be concerned right now. President Biden’s brilliant speech last week on the MAGA threats to democracy laid out the stakes clearly and compellingly. He called on all of us to be part of the fight for our democracy. We’re with him in this.

And we know that we’ve got to find joy in this work. When we can, we’ve got to find a way to be happy warriors in this struggle for democracy. For the cause, for the movement, and for ourselves, it’s important. So I want to hear from you. In big and small ways, how are you having fun in this campaign? How are you keeping your local group engaged and energized? How are you sticking it to the fascists? What songs are you singing, what games are you playing, what jokes are you telling, what shenanigans are you orchestrating? Send me a quick note here -- we can use it to inspire others. 

It’s the fun newsletter, so I’ll end with a song, an old Woody Guthrie classic: All You Fascists Bound to Lose. 

I'm gonna tell you fascists
You may be surprised
The people in this world
Are getting organized
You're bound to lose
You fascists bound to lose

In solidarity,
Ezra

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Ezra Levin Co-Executive Director Pronouns: He/him

PS: At 22 months old, our son Zeke is an expert at fun. Be like Zeke.