Shawyer dissertation May 2008 final version - The University of ...

already in Chicago, and prepared to not only demonstrate but also have fun while doingso.The Pigasus performance also gave those who were disenchanted with the officialDemocratic candidates a mock candidate to rally around. The editors of RampartsMagazine wrote that “the effect of [the Yippies’] theatrical performances (like the pigincident), their charisma, and their ability to create a loose framework for people tofunction in, was to bring together the group in Lincoln Park into a form of community”(“Decline and Fall” 24). Although it was silly, the pig became a symbol of the kind oftraditional party politics that the Yippies abhorred for not being participatory enough. Asthe demonstrators gathered in Lincoln Park a few days later, Abbie Hoffman’s speechreminded them of the power of Yippie-style revolutionary action-theater not only to makechange, and attract media attention, but also to bring together participants in a powerfulsense of belonging and community action. He rallied the crowd with the words: “we’reall one huge happy family” (“Media” 51). 67 There was the communitas between hippieand activist that the Yippies sought: rallying around Pigasus, gathered together by thethousands in Chicago parks, and eager to send their anti-war message to the conventiondelegates and the world, the “huge happy family” of the Yippies anticipated theconvention with a hopeful idealism.Oh, where were you in Chicago?67 Always tongue-in-cheek, Hoffman relied on an Establishment metaphor of family harmony even as hereminded his Leftist colleagues of their unity of purpose in Chicago.173