In recent history – say, mid-20th Century on – it has become popular to mock powerful leaders. Is this a good idea, or like teasing a tiger? See if you remember these notable anti-dictator pranks and related events.

1. Mao Zedong was mad at Nikita Khrushchev, so he scheduled a summit meeting where?
   
   • In a swimming pool: Khrushchev couldn't swim, and Mao could.
   • On a beach, where everybody had to take off their shoes, and Khrushchev couldn't bang his on the table.
   • At a banquet where Chinese delicacies like hundred-year-old eggs and chicken claws were served.
   • In a steambath, where none of the leaders could wear clothes. (Mao looked buffer.)
2. What happened to Slobodan Milosevic's body after death?
   
   • It was interred in an Orthodox church, and he was declared a saint because the body didn't decompose.
   • It was stolen and sold on ebay.
   • It was exhumed by the Hague Court when pranksters claimed to be selling it on ebay.
   • It was dug up by a vampire hunter, who drove a stake through the heart.
3. What did Swedish activists drop from a plane over Minsk in 2012?
   
   • Comic leaflets.
   • Free mobile phones.
   • Teddy bears.
   • Copies of Alexander Lukashenko's memoirs.
4. On 22 January, 1941, a group of people met in the woods in Maryland, USA. What was their purpose?
   
   • To put a voodoo curse on Hitler.
   • To put a voodoo curse on FDR.
   • To endow Winston Churchill's cigars with magical powers.
   • To cause Japan to sink into the ocean.
5. When Ukrainian football fans chant, 'Putin Khuilo!', what sentiment are they expressing?
   
   • Support for their football team, Kiev Khuilo.
   • Extreme dislike for the Russian head of state.
   • A historical reference to the Battle of Sevastopol.
   • Nothing: it's just nonsense syllables.
6. In 2007, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was invited to speak at Columbia University. What happened?
   
   • Picketers closed the venue.
   • Somebody pulled the fire alarm.
   • They let him speak, but heckled throughout.
   • The university gave him an honorary doctorate.
7. During the Second World War, people in Berlin called air raid sirens 'Meyer's Hunting Horns', to mock Hermann Goering, the Nazi official (and head of the hunting office) who was famed for having said, 'If one bomb reaches Berlin, my name is Meyer.' What is remarkable about this quote?
   
   • He said it on the radio in 1939.
   • He said it on television in 1939.
   • There's no record he said it at all.
   • He said it to Hitler just before D-Day.
8. At the end of the Second World War, the emperor of Japan was required to do something unusual for the future of his country. What was it?
   
   • Declare that Japan wasn't the centre of the universe.
   • Admit that he wasn't a god.
   • Proclaim that Japan recognised the existence of other countries.
   • Recognise the superiority of Western music.
9. Jumping back a bit in history, Madame de Stael was a witty writer in the days of Napoleon Buonaparte. She made Napoleon mad, especially since her jokes were better than his. How did Napoleon react?
   
   • He wrote a scathing essay against her.
   • He sent a hit man to terminate her with extreme prejudice.
   • He exiled her to 200 km from Paris.
   • He used all her books for fireplace lighters.
10. Is humour an important weapon against dictators? The Center for Applied Nonviolent Actions and Strategies, (headquarters Belgrade) thinks so. What term did they coin to describe political action using humour, pranking, and mockery?
    
    • Chaplinism
    • Groucho Marxism
    • Laughtivism
    • T-shirt revolution

Not sure? Click the picture for answers.

Click for answers.

Dmitri Gheorgheni

21.05.18 Front Page

Back Issue Page