Tactical frivolity

One of the earliest protest groups whose use of humour has been specifically described as "tactical frivolity"[5] is the Orange Alternative, a movement that emerged in Poland during the early 1980s as a part of the broader Solidarity campaign.

Orange Alternative have been described as the most "influential of the solidarity factions", central to enabling the overall movement to prevail, due in part to the success their comedic "happenings" enjoyed in attracting the attention of the world's media.

As the 1990s advanced, RTS inspired splinter groups in other countries across the world, and was heavily involved in organising the international Carnival against Capitalism—an anti-capitalism event held in many cities simultaneously on June 18, 1999.

[8] Attending Prague was also a small group specifically calling itself "Tactical Frivolity", which consisted of a Samba band plus thirteen women from Yorkshire dressed as pink fairies.

These included waving "magic fairy wands" at the police and training "radical cheerleaders," as well as the deployment of a "revolutionary spaghetti catapult" designed to "splatter the leaders with pasta".

Similar actions and pranks were staged in Australia during the 2004 federal election by the John Howard Ladies’ Auxiliary Fan Club, named for the country's conservative Prime Minister.

[15] At the 2005 G8 summit in Scotland, tactical frivolity was again used by protesters such as the Clandestine Insurgent Rebel Clown Army[16] a group whose theatrical and carnival like performances succeeded in attracting considerable media attention and were funded by Arts Council England.

Author and academic Luke Bretherton has suggested that tactical frivolity allows protestors to represent the otherwise inexpressible sacred power of imagination, which is achieved partly through the "use of huge puppets, dance and street theatre".