The Portland Chicken Has a Degree in Game Theory
The Power of Humor, and Resistance Actions as “Coordination Games”
“I think, at some point, I just I tied my own fate into that of the movement…The place this is going to go is such a departure from the world I thought I would have as a kid, and I would much rather do anything that I can to prevent that world from happening rather than just sit around selfishly and do nothing.”
This heartfelt statement by Jack Dickinson, better known as the Portland Chicken, is just what we need as the October 18 No Kings protests approach in America. It reminds us that our choices today shape the future we will have and that anyone can take actions that model their values and encourage others to do the same.
The Portland Chicken, along with the Portland Frog and other cartoon characters, has given visibility and support to peaceful protests in Portland, Chicago, and elsewhere against ICE and its abuses of power. The Donald Trump administration is staging shows of force to produce the images it needs to argue that Portland and other Democrat-run cities are “Antifa” hellholes.
The cartoon characters use visual excitement to draw people of all ages into the dramatic events unfolding, and their presence underlines the absurdity of the state’s claims that cities are overrun by terrorists, jihadis, and leftist revolutionaries and require a militarized response.
The cartoon characters also provide a repertoire of counter-images that can inspire others to stand up, speak out, and be present as more people are silenced and disappear. The sight of a giant frog confronting heavily armed agents, the joyful dance scenes, and flowers being paraded in front of ICE masked agents, all disrupt government propaganda about who we are, why we protest, and what our communities are like.
Department of Homeland Security head Kristi Noem recently traveled to Portland to capture more propaganda footage of “dangerous subversives,” even taking up a classic COIN or urban warfare position on the roof of the ICE building to be able to monitor the enemy below.
Far-right media personality Benny Johnson dutifully circulated the footage which backfired on the regime. Instead of Noem courageously confronting the “Antifa army,” viewers saw her keeping a safe distance from a few people milling about —including the Portland Chicken.
It’s yet another example of how humor and satire figure in effective resistance strategies.
Dickinson displays wisdom beyond his years –he is 26—as he reflects on “the purpose of bringing a costume to an authoritarian consolidation”:
“What they rely on is fear. So by coming out in an absurdist manner, it speaks to them, to some extent, that we’re actually not that afraid. It also dismantles their narrative a little bit. When they try to describe this situation as ‘war-torn,’ it becomes much harder to take them seriously when they have to post a video saying [Secretary] Kristi Noem is up on the balcony staring over the Antifa Army and it’s, like, eight journalists and five protesters and one of them is in a chicken suit.”
Protests as Coordination Games
As someone who studies the role of collective actions in making or unmaking autocracies (coups in the first case, and resistance movements for the second) I found it interesting that Dickinson has an undergraduate degree in math from Oregon State University and did a graduate degree in economics focused on game theory.
This reminded me that resistance actions can be considered an example of what in game theory is known as a “coordination game.” Individuals join in actions based on what they believe others will do. They have more incentive to participate if they think others have the intention of doing the same. There is less risk if others are also involved. The degree of belief that the operation will succeed also matters. The physical presence of many people at protests indicates a collective belief that this action can make a difference, leading even more people to participate.
Naunihal Singh has an excellent analysis of coups as coordination games in his book Seizing Power: The Strategic Logic of Military Coups, but the analytical frame can be applied to protest as well. One reason autocrats use propaganda to create a façade of mass conformity is so people come to believe that “no one” is dissenting, and thus it is too dangerous for any one person to try.
Activists and scholars of protest know the importance of breaking through that wall. In Resistance and Rebellion: Lessons from Eastern Europe, Roger Petersen examines the importance of “first actors” –the first people out on the streets—in building momentum so that people who had an outward stance of “neutrality” decide to join them, leading to “widespread but unorganized and unarmed resistance.”
There is psychological and physical safety in numbers, both for grassroots protesters and for the “pillars” of society (finance, faith institutions, business, labor) who can weaken regimes if they “defect,” or withdraw their public support of the leader and back the opposition. Nonviolent protest is essential to convincing elites to take such actions and for increasing the numbers of protesters in general, as Erica Chenoweth and Maria Stephan detail in their terrific book How Civil Resistance Works.
“It feels like we’re winning this,” Dickinson told the Willamette Week. “They’re not getting the footage they’re looking for. They look ridiculous…And I think that the work that a lot of people have put in to building a culture of discipline and a culture of whimsy and a knowledge of how they operate has really helped us.”
Discipline and whimsy: staying peaceful even in challenging circumstances, and finding ways to convey the humanity that ICE and the Trump regime want to crush. Using humor and creativity to get eyes on our actions so we can reclaim the truth about our communities and people.
We are precious beings who deserve good governance, not misrule by thugs who trample on our rights and our bodies to demoralize us and get us to internalize the eternal strongman message: “I am everything and you are nothing.”
As we engage in nonviolent righteous protest on October 18, we can know that our actions will inspire others around us to stand up for justice and freedom in America and the world.
Love the ideas of having/ using whimsy and humour during protests
Love the notion of "coordination games."