2025-11-06
6 分钟The Economist Hello, this is Jason Palmer,
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Bring plenty of flowers and musical instruments, such as bongos and tambourines.
Don't forget the sweets and paper halos to give to the police.
In the event of trouble, start dancing or in toning, Mary had a little lamb.
If a fight breaks out, send in trained seduces to charm the enemy mid-battle.
That last bit was a joke by Alan Ginsberg.
But the other ideas were among the poet's suggestions for turning a protest,
in this case an anti-war march in Berkeley in 1965, into a spectacle.
The event should embody an alternative psychology,
Ginsburg argued, and be an example of peaceable health.
He was onto something.
At its best, protest is a kind of art, framing its messages in street theatre and visual tableau.
The art form has its own motifs and canonical images,
and it is flourishing, as the frogs of Portland, Oregon show.
Earlier this year,
a shrewd protester there donned an inflatable frog costume for a demo at an immigration and customs enforcement building.