Misplaced Pages

Tactical frivolity

Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.

Tactical frivolity is a form of public protest involving humour; often including peaceful non-compliance with authorities, carnival and whimsical antics. Humour has played a role in political protests at least as far back as the Classical period in ancient Greece. However, it is only since the 1990s that the term tactical frivolity gained common currency for describing the use of humour in opposing perceived political injustice. Generally, the term is used to denote a whimsical, nonconfrontational approach rather than aggressive mocking or cutting jokes.

#993006

85-399: The study of humour by social historians did not become popular until the early 1980s and the literature on this subject studying periods before the 20th century is relatively sparse. An exception is the frequently cited Rabelais and His World by Mikhail Bakhtin , a Russian scholar considered by some to be the most important thinker of the 20th century. The work discusses the life and times of

170-611: A higher doctoral degree , the Doctor of Sciences , and their motion was accepted with a narrow majority vote. However, following an assault on the institute published in the press at the time, and after six years of repeated revisions and deliberations, USSR's VAK decided Bakhtin would only receive the Candidate of Sciences degree (roughly equivalent to a research doctorate ). The book was eventually published in Russian in 1965, under

255-798: A cottage industry, centred on the old market towns moved to the West Riding where entrepreneurs were building mills that took advantage of water power gained by harnessing the rivers and streams flowing from the Pennines . The developing textile industry helped Wakefield and Halifax grow. The 19th century saw Yorkshire's continued growth, with the population growing and the Industrial Revolution continuing with prominent industries in coal, textile and steel (especially in Sheffield , Rotherham and Middlesbrough ). However, despite

340-402: A part of the collectivity, at which point they cease to be themselves. It is at this point that, through costume and mask, an individual exchanges bodies and is renewed. At the same time there arises a heightened awareness of one's sensual, material, bodily unity and community. In the grotesque body, emphasis is placed on the open, the penetrative, and the "lower stratum." The open (the mouth,

425-405: A quotation from Alexander Herzen : "It would be extremely interesting to write the history of laughter". One of the primary expressions of the ancient world 's conceptions of laughter is the text that survives in the form of apocryphal letters of Hippocrates about Democritus ( Hippocratic Corpus , Epistles 10–21). The laughter of Democritus had a philosophical character, being directed at

510-586: A separate kingdom. The Wessex Kings of England were reputed to have respected the Norse customs in Yorkshire and left law-making in the hands of the local aristocracy. In the weeks leading up to the Battle of Hastings in 1066 AD, Harold II of England was distracted by pushing back efforts to reinstate the kingdom of Jorvik and Danelaw. His brother Tostig and Harald Hardrada , King of Norway , having won

595-565: A small group specifically calling itself "Tactical Frivolity", which consisted of a Samba band plus thirteen women from Yorkshire dressed as pink fairies. Ten months later, a group of protesters dressed in carnival outfits and again calling themselves the Pink and Silver bloc, or Pink Fairies , used the term "tactical frivolity" to describe their own methods when protesting at the 27th G8 summit in Genoa . These included waving "magic fairy wands" at

680-583: A third of the population. When King Richard II was overthrown in 1399, antagonism between the House of York and the House of Lancaster , both branches of the royal House of Plantagenet , began to emerge. Eventually the two houses fought for the throne of England in a series of civil wars, commonly known as the Wars of the Roses . Some of the battles took place in Yorkshire, such as those at Wakefield and Towton ,

765-551: A trio of very prominent and popular summits (the Yorkshire Three Peaks ) which can be climbed in a challenging single day's walk. The highest point in the Yorkshire part of the Peak District is Black Hill (height 582 metres (1,909 ft)) on the border with historic Cheshire (which also forms the historic county top of that county). The hill ranges along the eastern side of Yorkshire are lower than those of

850-608: A vast expanse of the Yorkshire lowlands with the Pennines forming a backdrop. It was called the "finest view in England" by local author and veterinary surgeon James Herriot in his 1979 guidebook James Herriot's Yorkshire . The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds runs nature reserves such as the one at Bempton Cliffs with coastal wildlife such as the northern gannet , Atlantic puffin and razorbill . Spurn Point

935-471: A way that violates the tribe's egalitarian norms. Tribes observed to show this behaviour include the !Kung , Mbuti , Naskapi and Hazda. An example of a political protest making extensive use of humour in early modern times was the 17th century British movement, the Levellers . There is much more extensive literature covering the use of humour by the protest movements which emerged in the 20th century. In

SECTION 10

#1732798435994

1020-431: A whole: for every death, there is a birth, a renewal of the human spirit. This process allows for progress. Due to its inscription in time and its emphasis on bodily changes (through eating , evacuation , and sex ), the grotesque has been interpreted by some critics as a dimension of the body that allows perception of the historicity of man: in this reading it is used as a measuring device. Bakhtin opens this work with

1105-516: Is a narrow 3-mile (4.8 km) long sand spit . It is a national nature reserve owned by the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust and is noted for its cyclical nature whereby the spit is destroyed and re-created approximately once every 250 years. There are seaside resorts in Yorkshire with sandy beaches; Scarborough is Britain's oldest seaside resort dating back to the spa town -era in the 17th century, while Whitby has been voted as

1190-820: Is a scholarly work by the 20th century Russian philosopher and literary critic Mikhail Bakhtin . It is considered to be a classic of Renaissance studies , and an important work in literary studies and cultural interpretation. The book explores the cultural ethos of the Middle Ages and Renaissance as depicted by the French Renaissance writer François Rabelais , particularly in his novel Gargantua and Pantagruel . Bakhtin argues that for centuries Rabelais's work has been misunderstood. He attempts to redress this and clarify Rabelais's intentions through recovery of sections of Gargantua and Pantagruel that were previously either ignored or suppressed, and analysis of

1275-403: Is an area of Northern England which was historically a county . Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its original county town , the city of York . The south-west of Yorkshire is densely populated, and includes the cities of Leeds , Sheffield , Bradford , Doncaster and Wakefield . The north and east of

1360-400: Is connected with that of the grotesque . In the carnival, usual social hierarchies and proprieties are upended; emphasis is placed on the body in its open dimension, in its connection to the life of the community. This emphasis on the material dimension which links humans, rather than on the differences and separations between them, allows for the consciousness of the continuity of human life as

1445-504: Is not, as is sometimes claimed, the highest waterfall in England ( Hardraw Force in Wensleydale , also in Yorkshire, has a 30 metres (98 ft) drop for example). However, High Force is unusual in being on a major river and carries a greater volume of water than any higher waterfall in England. The highest mountains in Yorkshire all lie in the Pennines on the western side of the county, with millstone grit and limestone forming

1530-574: Is now York and renamed it Jórvík , making it the capital city of a new Danish kingdom under the same name. The area which this kingdom covered included most of Southern Northumbria, roughly equivalent to the borders of Yorkshire extending further West. The Danes went on to conquer an even larger area of England that afterwards became known as the Danelaw ; but whereas most of the Danelaw was still English land, albeit in submission to Viking overlords, it

1615-487: Is sometimes referred to as "God's own country". Yorkshire is represented in sport by Yorkshire County Cricket Club and Yorkshire Rugby Football Union . There are several ways of defining Yorkshire, including the historic county and the group of four modern ceremonial counties. The county boundaries were reasonably stable between 1182, when it ceded western areas to the new county of Lancashire, and 1889 when administrative counties were created, which saw some adjustments to

1700-620: Is supported by the fact that yew trees were once abundant in the area around York, and that the city was known for its skilled bow makers who used yew wood to make their bows. This became 'Eboracum' to the Romans , 'Eorfowic' to the Angles and then, most famously, 'Jorvik' to the Vikings . Secondly, and much less reliable, is that it may come from the Old English word "Eow", which referred to

1785-562: Is the Orange Alternative , a movement that emerged in Poland during the early 1980s as a part of the broader Solidarity campaign. They made extensive use of visual jokes and theatrical stunts to protest against oppression by the authorities. A common theme was to dress up as elves (sometimes translated dwarves or gnomes). Orange Alternative have been described as the most "influential of the solidarity factions", central to enabling

SECTION 20

#1732798435994

1870-550: The Battle of Fulford . The King of England marched north where the two armies met at the Battle of Stamford Bridge . Tostig and Hardrada were both killed and their army was defeated decisively. Harold Godwinson was forced immediately to march his army south, where William the Conqueror was landing. The King was defeated in what is now known as the Battle of Hastings , which led to the Norman conquest of England . The people of

1955-603: The Brigantes (known to be in the north and western areas of now Yorkshire) and the Parisi (present-day East Riding ). The Brigantes controlled territory that later became all of Northern England and more territory than most Celtic tribes on the island of Great Britain . Six of the nine Brigantian poleis described by Claudius Ptolemaeus in the Geographia fall within the historic county. The Parisi, who controlled

2040-688: The Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1536 led to a popular uprising known as Pilgrimage of Grace , started in Yorkshire as a protest. Some Catholics in Yorkshire continued to practise their religion and those caught were executed during the reign of Elizabeth I . One such person was a York woman named Margaret Clitherow who was later canonised . During the English Civil War , which started in 1642, Yorkshire had divided loyalties; Hull (full name Kingston upon Hull ) famously shut

2125-717: The North York Moors and Yorkshire Dales National Parks , and part of the Peak District National Park. Nidderdale and the Howardian Hills are designated Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty , as is the North Pennines (a part of which lies within the county). Spurn Point, Flamborough Head and the coastal North York Moors are designated Heritage Coast areas, and are noted for their scenic views with rugged cliffs such as

2210-901: The River Derwent rises on the North York Moors, flows south then westwards through the Vale of Pickering then turns south again to drain the eastern part of the Vale of York. It empties into the River Ouse at Barmby on the Marsh . In the far north of the county the River Tees flows eastwards through Teesdale and empties its waters into the North Sea downstream of Middlesbrough . The smaller River Esk flows from west to east at

2295-578: The Roman Empire from Eboracum for the two years before his death. Another emperor, Constantius Chlorus , died in Eboracum during a visit in 306 AD. Thereafter his son Constantine the Great , who became renowned for his acceptance of Christianity, was proclaimed emperor in the city. In the early 5th century, Roman rule ceased with the withdrawal of the last active Roman troops. By this stage,

2380-577: The Situationists . 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. Carnival against Capitalism , frequently known as J18 , is sometimes credited as being the first of the major international anti-capitalist protests. RTS have reported that many of their organisers were inspired by independently reading

2465-613: The governance section below. For most administrative purposes the county had been divided since the Middle Ages; the last county-wide administrative role was the Sheriff of Yorkshire . The sheriff had been a powerful position in the Middle Ages but gradually lost most of its functions, and by the twentieth century was a largely ceremonial role. It was abolished as part of the 1974 reforms to local government, which established instead high sheriffs for each modern county. Historically,

2550-533: The jet cliffs at Whitby, the limestone cliffs at Filey and the chalk cliffs at Flamborough Head. Moor House – Upper Teesdale, most of which is part of the former North Riding of Yorkshire, is one of England's largest national nature reserves . At High Force on the border with County Durham, the River Tees plunges 22 metres (72 ft) over the Whin Sill (an intrusion of igneous rock). High Force

2635-612: The 1960s and the Zapatista , which began operations in the 1990s. At the 2005 G8 summit in Scotland, tactical frivolity was again used by protesters such as the Clandestine Insurgent Rebel Clown Army a group whose theatrical and carnival like performances succeeded in attracting considerable media attention and were funded by Arts Council England . The large scale use of tactical frivolity at

Tactical frivolity - Misplaced Pages Continue

2720-462: The 2001 and 2005 G8 protests failed to deliver any tangible change in policy, but the method continued to be used, for example at protests held concerning air travel at Heathrow , England during 2007. Tactical frivolity was used at the 2011 London anti-cuts protest . Some of the tactical frivolity protestors integrated fully into the main march; others trailed in the wake of black bloc anarchists, while remaining non violent themselves. Adbusters ,

2805-867: The Houses of York and Lancaster respectively, were combined to form the Tudor Rose of England. This rivalry between the royal houses of York and Lancaster has passed into popular culture as a rivalry between the counties of Yorkshire and Lancashire , particularly in sport (for example the Roses Match played in County Cricket ), although the House of Lancaster was based in York and the House of York in London. The English Reformation began under Henry VIII and

2890-591: The Middle Ages the county was subdivided into smaller administrative areas; the city of York was a self-governing county corporate from 1396, and the rest of the county was divided into three ridings – North , East, and West . From 1660 onwards each riding had its own lord-lieutenant , and between 1889 and 1974 the ridings were administrative counties . There was a Sheriff of Yorkshire until 1974. Yorkshire gives its name to four modern ceremonial counties : East Riding of Yorkshire , North Yorkshire , South Yorkshire , and West Yorkshire , which together cover most of

2975-646: The North rebelled against the Normans in September 1069 AD, enlisting Sweyn II of Denmark . They tried to take back York, but the Normans burnt it before they could. What followed was the Harrying of the North ordered by William. From York to Durham , crops, domestic animals, and farming tools were scorched . Many villages between the towns were burnt and local northerners were indiscriminately murdered. During

3060-576: The Parliamentarians ("Roundheads") fought back, re-taking Yorkshire town by town, until they won the Battle of Marston Moor and with it control of all of the North of England . In the 16th and 17th centuries Leeds and other wool-industry-centred towns continued to grow, along with Huddersfield, Hull and Sheffield, while coal mining first came into prominence in the West Riding of Yorkshire . The wool textile industry, which had previously been

3145-463: The Renaissance social system in order to discover the balance between language that was permitted and language that was not. Bakhtin identifies two important subtexts: carnival , which he describes as a social institution, and grotesque realism , which he defines as a literary mode. Rabelais and His World examines the interaction between the social and the literary, as well as the meaning of

3230-565: The Romans enabled her to keep control of the kingdom; however, her former husband staged rebellions against her and her Roman allies. At the second attempt, Venutius seized the kingdom, but the Romans, under general Petillius Cerialis , conquered the Brigantes in 71 AD. The fortified city of Eboracum (now York) was named as capital of Britannia Inferior and joint capital of all Roman Britain . The emperor Septimius Severus ruled

3315-678: The United States, Abbie Hoffman , Jerry Rubin , and the Yippies were well-known users of frivolous tactics. Active in the 1960s and 1970s, their actions included dropping money onto the trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange, running a pig as a candidate for president, and "levitating" the Pentagon . One of the earliest protest groups whose use of humour has been specifically described as "tactical frivolity"

3400-628: The Western Empire was in intermittent decline. After the Romans left, small Celtic kingdoms arose in the region, including the kingdoms of Deira to the east (domain of settlements near Malton on Derwent ), Ebrauc (domain of York) around the north and Elmet to the west. The latter two were successors of land south-west and north-east of the former Brigantia capital. Angles (hailing from southern Denmark and northern Germany, probably along with Swedish Geats ) consolidated (merging Ebrauc ) under Deira, with York as capital. This in turn

3485-497: The anus, the vagina, etc.) and the penetrative (the nose, the penis, etc.) allow exchange between the body and the world (mostly through sex, eating, and drinking), but also to produce degrading material (curses, urine, feces, etc.). The lower stratum (belly, womb, etc.) is the place where renewal happens, where new life is forged, thus connecting degradation to renewal. The grotesque body is one of unashamed excess, anathema to authority and pious austerity. Bakhtin's notion of carnival

Tactical frivolity - Misplaced Pages Continue

3570-764: The area that would become the East Riding, might have been related to the Parisii of Lutetia Parisiorum , Gaul (known today as Paris, France). Their capital was at Petuaria , close to the Humber Estuary. Although the Roman conquest of Britain began in 43 AD, the Brigantes remained in control of their kingdom as a client state of Rome for an extended period, reigned over by the Brigantian monarchs Cartimandua and her husband Venutius . The capital

3655-482: The area was invaded and conquered for short periods by England between 927 and 954 before eventually being annexed into England in 954. It was closely associated with the much longer-lived Kingdom of Dublin throughout this period. An army of Danish Vikings , the Great Heathen Army as its enemies often referred to it, invaded Northumbrian territory in 866 AD. The Danes conquered and assumed what

3740-796: The area was split between North Yorkshire, South Yorkshire and West Yorkshire, which all kept the Yorkshire name. A large part of the east of the county went to the new county of Humberside , and an area in the north-east went to the new county of Cleveland . Some more rural areas at the edges of the historic county were transferred to County Durham, Cumbria , Lancashire and Greater Manchester , whilst South Yorkshire also included areas which had been in Nottinghamshire. Cleveland and Humberside were both abolished in 1996, since when there have been four ceremonial counties with Yorkshire in their names: East Riding of Yorkshire, North Yorkshire, South Yorkshire and West Yorkshire, which together cover most of

3825-573: The body. Bakhtin completed his book on Rabelais (titled Rabelais in the History of Realism ) in 1940. After several attempts to get the book published fell through, it was submitted as a dissertation for the Candidate of Sciences degree at the Gorky Institute of World Literature in Moscow. At the dissertation's defense in 1946, all three official opponents were in favor of awarding Bakhtin

3910-426: The booming industry, living conditions declined in the industrial towns due to overcrowding. This saw bouts of cholera in both 1832 and 1848. However, advances were made by the end of the century with the introduction of modern sewers and water supplies . Several Yorkshire railway networks were introduced as railways spread across the country to reach remote areas. Canals and turnpike roads were introduced in

3995-431: The boundaries with County Durham, Lancashire and Lincolnshire. After 1889 there were occasional adjustments to accommodate urban areas which were developing across county boundaries, such as in 1934 when Dore and Totley were transferred from Derbyshire to Yorkshire on being absorbed into the borough of Sheffield. More significant changes in 1974 saw the historic county divided between several counties. The majority of

4080-569: The conquest, only Bridlington , Pocklington , and York continued at a prominent level. In the early 12th century, people of Yorkshire had to contend with the Battle of the Standard at Northallerton with the Scots . Representing the Kingdom of England led by Archbishop Thurstan of York , soldiers from Yorkshire defeated the more numerous Scots. The population of Yorkshire boomed until it

4165-519: The county are more sparsely populated, however the north-east includes the southern part of the Teesside conurbation, and the port city of Kingston upon Hull is located in the south-east. York is located near the centre of the county. Yorkshire has a coastline to the North Sea to the east. The North York Moors occupy the north-east of the county, and the centre contains the Vale of Mowbray in

4250-480: The county councils. During the Second World War , Yorkshire became an important base for RAF Bomber Command and brought the county and its productive industries into the cutting edge of the war, and thus in the targets of Luftwaffe bombers during the Battle of Britain . From the late 20th century onwards there have been a number of significant reforms of the local government structures covering Yorkshire, notably in 1968, 1974, 1986, 1996 and 2023, discussed in

4335-436: The edge of the Yorkshire Dales National Park and flows along Nidderdale before reaching the Vale of York and the Ouse. The River Wharfe , which drains Wharfedale , joins the Ouse upstream of Cawood . The Rivers Aire and Calder are more southerly contributors to the River Ouse and the most southerly Yorkshire tributary is the River Don , which flows northwards to join the main river at Goole . Further north and east

SECTION 50

#1732798435994

4420-399: The existence of many Celtic placenames in Yorkshire today, such as Kingston upon Hull and Pen-y-ghent . As well as the Angles and Geats, other settlers included Frisians (thought to have founded Fryston and Frizinghall ), Danes , Franks and Huns . At its greatest extent, Northumbria stretched from the Irish Sea to the North Sea and from Edinburgh down to Hallamshire in

4505-422: The families and subsequent descendants of Danish Vikings, the leadership of the kingdom nonetheless passed into Norwegian hands during its twilight years. Eric Bloodaxe , an ex-king of Norway who was the last independent Viking king of Jórvík, is a particularly noted figure in history, and his bloodthirsty approach towards leadership may have been at least partly responsible for convincing the Danish inhabitants of

4590-439: The gates of the city on the king when he came to enter a few months before fighting began, while the North Riding of Yorkshire in particular was strongly royalist . York was the base for Royalists, and from there they captured Leeds and Wakefield only to have them recaptured a few months later. The royalists won the Battle of Adwalton Moor meaning they controlled Yorkshire (with the exception of Hull). From their base in Hull

4675-404: The group Billionaires for Bush would stage humorous events at US Republican conventions . 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. According to David Graeber , this upswell in the use of humorous protest tactics can be traced in part to the Yippies of

4760-441: The historic county. Yorkshire Day is observed annually on 1 August and is a celebration of the general culture of Yorkshire , including its history and dialect . Its name is used by several institutions, for example the Royal Yorkshire Regiment of the British Army, in sport, and in the media. The emblem of Yorkshire is a white rose , which was originally the heraldic badge of the British royal House of York . The county

4845-406: The historic county. There is a region called Yorkshire and the Humber which covers a similar area to the combined area of the four Yorkshire ceremonial counties, the exceptions being that the region excludes the parts of North Yorkshire which had been in Cleveland, but includes North East Lincolnshire and North Lincolnshire (which had been in Humberside). Until 2009 some government powers in

4930-541: The late 18th century. In the following century the spa towns of Harrogate and Scarborough flourished, due to people believing mineral water had curative properties. When elected county councils were established in 1889, rather than have a single Yorkshire County Council, each of the three ridings was made an administrative county with its own county council, and the eight larger towns and cities of Bradford, Halifax, Huddersfield, Hull, Leeds, Middlesbrough, Sheffield and York were made county boroughs , independent from

5015-401: The latter of which is known as the bloodiest battle ever fought on English soil. Richard III was the last Yorkist king. Henry Tudor , sympathiser to the House of Lancaster, defeated and killed Richard at the Battle of Bosworth Field . He then became King Henry VII and married Elizabeth of York , daughter of Yorkist Edward IV , ending the wars. The two roses of white and red, emblems of

5100-412: The life of man and at all the vain fears and hopes related to the gods and to life after death. Democritus here made of his laughter a complete conception of the world, a certain spiritual premise of the man who has attained maturity and has awakened. Hippocrates finally perfectly agreed with him. Yorkshire Yorkshire ( / ˈ j ɔːr k ʃ ər , - ʃ ɪər / YORK -shər, -⁠sheer )

5185-692: The magazine credited for starting the global Occupy movement , called for Occupiers to use tactical frivolity, though the method has only been used sporadically. 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". Klan marches reliably attract counter protests. Rabelais and His World Rabelais and His World (Russian: Творчество Франсуа Рабле и народная культура средневековья и Ренессанса, Tvorčestvo Fransua Rable i narodnaja kul'tura srednevekov'ja i Renessansa ; 1965)

SECTION 60

#1732798435994

5270-421: The north and the Vale of York in the south. The west contains part of the Pennines , which form the Yorkshire Dales in the north-west. The county was historically bordered by County Durham to the north, the North Sea to the east, Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire , Derbyshire , and Cheshire to the south, and Lancashire and Westmorland to the west. It was the largest by area in the United Kingdom . From

5355-468: The northern boundary of Yorkshire was the River Tees , the eastern boundary was the North Sea coast and the southern boundary was the Humber Estuary and Rivers Don and Sheaf . The western boundary meandered along the western slopes of the Pennine Hills to again meet the River Tees. In Yorkshire there is a very close relationship between the major topographical areas and the geological period in which they were formed. The Pennine chain of hills in

5440-449: The northern foot of the North York Moors to reach the sea at Whitby . To the east of the Yorkshire Wolds the River Hull flows southwards to join the Humber Estuary at Kingston upon Hull . The western Pennines are drained by the River Ribble which flows westwards, eventually reaching the Irish Sea close to Lytham St Annes . The countryside of Yorkshire has been called " God's Own County " by its inhabitants. Yorkshire includes

5525-417: The overall movement to prevail, due in part to the success their comedic "happenings" enjoyed in attracting the attention of the world's media. A protest movement described as partly responsible for popularising the contemporary use of "Tactical Frivolity" is Reclaim the Streets ( RTS ). They formed in 1991 in Great Britain, inspired in part by the anti-road protests of the previous decades and in part by

5610-452: The police and training "radical cheerleaders," as well as the deployment of a "revolutionary spaghetti catapult" designed to "splatter the leaders with pasta". The device failed to hit any leaders with spaghetti, but, according to journalist Johann Hari , the Pink Fairies did succeed in causing mass laughter among the crowds. In the early 21st century, tactical frivolity was often used at much smaller events than global summits; for example,

5695-421: The region to accept English sovereignty so readily in the years that followed. After around 100 years of its volatile existence, the Kingdom of Jorvik finally came to an end. The Kingdom of Wessex was now in its ascendancy and established its dominance over the North in general, placing Yorkshire again within Northumbria , which retained a certain amount of autonomy as an almost-independent earldom rather than

5780-426: The region were devolved to the Yorkshire and Humber Assembly ; since 2009 the region has been used primarily for presentation of statistics. Yorkshire is so named as it is the shire (administrative area or county) of the city of York , or York's Shire. The word "York" has an interesting etymology, first it is believed to have originated from the Celtic word "Eburakon", which means "Place of yew trees ". This theory

5865-404: The rivers in the Ouse system is the River Swale , which drains Swaledale before passing through Richmond and meandering across the Vale of Mowbray . Next, draining Wensleydale , is the River Ure , which the Swale joins east of Boroughbridge . Near Great Ouseburn the Ure is joined by the small Ouse Gill Beck, and below the confluence the river is known as the Ouse. The River Nidd rises on

5950-442: The south. Scandinavian York (also referred to as Jórvík ) or Danish/Norwegian York is a term used by historians for the south of Northumbria (modern-day Yorkshire) during the late 9th century and first half of the 10th century, when it was dominated by Norse warrior-kings; in particular, used to refer to York , the city controlled by these kings. Norse monarchy controlled varying amounts of Northumbria from 875 to 954, however

6035-483: The title Rabelais and Folk Culture of the Middle Ages and Renaissance . Its 1968 English translation by Hélène Iswolsky was given the title, Rabelais and His World . For Bakhtin, carnival is associated with the collectivity. Those attending a carnival do not merely constitute a crowd; rather the people are seen as a whole, organized in a way that defies socioeconomic and political organization. According to Bakhtin, “[A]ll were considered equal during carnival. Here, in

6120-434: The town square, a special form of free and familiar contact reigned among people who were usually divided by the barriers of caste, property, profession, and age”. The carnival atmosphere holds the lower strata of life most important, as opposed to higher functions (thought, speech, soul) which were usually held dear in the signifying order. At carnival time, the unique sense of time and space causes individuals to feel they are

6205-781: The underlying geology and producing distinctive layered hills. The county top is the remote Mickle Fell (height 788 metres (2,585 ft) above sea level) in the North Pennines southwest of Teesdale, which is also the highest point in the North Riding. The highest point in the West Riding is Whernside (height 736 metres (2,415 ft)) near to Ingleton in the Yorkshire Dales. Together with nearby Ingleborough (height 723 metres (2,372 ft)) and Pen-y-Ghent (height 694 metres (2,277 ft)), Whernside forms

6290-428: The use of humour for political protest even from Classical times, such as the play Lysistrata by ancient Greek dramatist Aristophanes , have been described as "Rabeleisan protest". Studies of hunter gather tribes thought to have systems of social organisation that have changed little since prehistoric times, have found that ridicule or anger is used by many tribes to oppose any individual who tries to assume authority in

6375-456: The way they wished to engage with the authorities. There was a "Yellow march" for traditional non violent protest, a "Blue march" for those who were up for physically taking on the police, and a "Silver and Pink" group which is described as employing "tactical frivolity", this group being the most successful in terms of penetrating the security cordon around the IMF meeting. Attending Prague was also

6460-612: The west is of Carboniferous origin. The central vale is Permo-Triassic . The North York Moors in the north-east of the county are Jurassic in age while the Yorkshire Wolds to the south east are Cretaceous chalk uplands. Yorkshire is drained by several rivers. In western and central Yorkshire the many rivers flow into the River Ouse which reaches the North Sea via the Humber Estuary . The most northerly of

6545-406: The west. The highest point of the North York Moors is Urra Moor (height 454 metres (1,490 ft)). The highest point of the Yorkshire Wolds , a range of low chalk downlands east of York, is Bishop Wilton Wold (height 246 metres (807 ft)), which is also the highest point of the East Riding. The view from Sutton Bank at the southeastern edge of the North York Moors near Thirsk encompasses

6630-468: The winter that followed, families starved to death and thousands of peasants died of cold and hunger. Orderic Vitalis estimated that "more than 100,000" people from the North died from hunger. In the centuries following, many abbeys and priories were built in Yorkshire. Norman landowners increased their revenues and established new towns such as Barnsley , Doncaster , Hull , Leeds , Scarborough and Sheffield , among others. Of towns founded before

6715-619: The work of Bakhtin. Large scale International anti-capitalist protests are widely seen as dawning between 1998 and 2000 with events such as the protests at the Birmingham 1998 G8 , J18 , the Seattle 1999 WTO protests and the Prague 2000 IMF protests . The 1999 Seattle demonstrations saw extensive violent clashes with the police. For the 2000 protest in Prague , demonstrators divided themselves into three broad groupings based in part on

6800-477: The writer and satirist François Rabelais with emphases on what the author considers to be the powerful role of humour in medieval and early times. Carnivals, Satire and the French folk custom of Charivari were discussed as mediums that allowed the lower classes to use humour to highlight unjust behaviour by the upper classes. These humorous protests were generally tolerated by the ruling authorities. Examples of

6885-465: The yew tree ( Taxus Baccata ). Yew trees were highly valued in ancient times for their durable wood, which was used for making bows, spears, and other tools. Over time, the word evolved into "York", and it eventually came to refer to the city of York in England. Either way, it is an evolved word for the magical 'Yew' tree. Early inhabitants of what became Yorkshire were Hen Ogledd Brythonic Celts (old north British Celts), who formed separate tribes,

6970-464: Was between the north and west ridings Isurium Brigantum (near Aldborough ) civitas under Roman rule. Initially, this situation suited both the Romans and the Brigantes, who were known as the most militant tribe in Britain. Queen Cartimandua left Venutius for his armour bearer, Vellocatus , setting off a chain of events that changed control of the region. Cartimandua's good relationship with

7055-509: Was grouped with Bernicia , another former Celtic - Brigantes kingdom that was north of the River Tees and had come to be headed by Bamburgh , to form Northumbria . Elmet had remained independent from the Germanic Angles until some time in the early 7th century, when King Edwin of Northumbria expelled its last king, Certic, and annexed the region to his Deira region. The Celts never went away, but were assimilated. This explains

7140-742: Was hit by the Great Famine of 1315. It did not help that after the English defeat in the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314, the Scottish army rampaged throughout northern England, and Yorkshire was no exception. During The Great Raid of 1322 , they raided and pillaged from the suburbs of York, even as far as East Riding and the Humber. Some like Richmond had to bribe the Scots to spare the town. The Black Death then reached Yorkshire by 1349, killing around

7225-745: Was in the Kingdom of Jórvík that the only truly Viking territory on mainland Britain was ever established. The Kingdom prospered, taking advantage of the vast trading network of the Viking nations , and established commercial ties with the British Isles , North-West Europe, the Mediterranean and the Middle East. Founded by the Dane Halfdan Ragnarsson in 875, ruled for the great part by Danish kings, and populated by

#993006