Okay, call me inconsistent. But just as I’ve always nurtured a soft spot for Jeanne Kirkpatrick (link), I cherish fond memories of the late Saul Alinsky. Alinsky was a cheerful and mischievous radical, often as successful as Gandhi in deploying guile and ingenuity to turn power against itself. When Alinsky wanted to tie up a courthouse, for example, he would send his platoons into the public toilets—peaceful and orderly, but absolutely certain to, ahem, disrupt the ordinary life of the institution. Not exactly a sit-in, but close.In the Alinsky vein, back in the 60s, there were a bunch of Dutch anarchists
who succeeded in getting themselves busted for passing out blank leaflets—“blank” being the essence of anarchism because it permitted you to write your own protest. The same bunch undertook to leave all their bicycles unlocked so as to contribute them to the common fund (these days, they would just be stolen by furriners, but let that pass). Anyway, when the city council passed an ordinance forbidding unlocked bikes, the anarchists yielded and put on locks—all configured for the same key (and then they gave away the keys).
And now this: the zero rupee note.
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