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Apr 10, 1968-1968

Russia

Napalming a Dog

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ACTIVISTS/ACT.GROUPS/DESCRIPTION OF THE GROUP

Steve Kiyoshi Kuromi and Michael Crisafi

TARGET

U.S government

WIDELY HELD BELIEF

Napalming should not be tolerated since it has killed many civilians during the war.

CASE NARRATIVE

Issue and Opponent: In 1968, the U.S. war against Vietnam created frustration among the anti-war veterans and the anti-war movement. This put the spotlight on the U.S. for the use of Napalm. This chemical would stick to the skin and cause horrible burns on a person’s body. During 1963 and 1973, the use of Napalm was highly used and dropped by U.S. military officials. Dilemma Action: On April 10, 1968, two anti-war activists, Steve Kiyoshi Kuromi and Michael Crisafi, created a horrible scenario in Philidelphia, United States where they would napalm a dog. Because they announced that this would take place, thousands of people showed up to this demonstration outraged about the dog. The goal of this demonstration was to give Americans an idea of what was happening during the war and advocate for the unnecessary use of Napalm. By switching the roles of humans and dogs it would give people a sense of humanity and help them see the harm that Napalm has created to those affected by Napalm during the war. Outcome: When people showed up to express their disagreement the two activists announced that they were not going to napalm a dog. They wanted people to understand that if they were that outraged about a dog being Napalmed then what difference does it make when the U.S. is napalming people during the war?

PRIMARY STRUGGLE/GOAL

Accountability / Corruption
Human rights
Peace

DA TACTICS USED

Banners/posters/displayed communications

CASE NARRATIVE WRITER

SUCCESS METRICS

8 / 12

(MC) Media Coverage

(MSYMP) Media coverage was sympathetic to the activists

(OR) Opponent response

(PS) Dilemma action built sympathy with the public

(REFR) Dilemma action reframed the narrative of the opponent

(RF) Dilemma action reduced fear and/or apathy among the activists

(SA) Dilemma action appealed to a broad segment of the public

Laugtivism

PART OF A LARGER CAMPAIGN

0 / 3

RESOURCES

Project documentation

Dilemma Actions Coding Guidebook

Case study documentation

Dilemma_Actions_Analysis_Dataset

CC BY 4.0 Deed, Attribution 4.0 International

SOURCES

Diener, Sam. 2014. “Napalming a Dog!?” Actipedia, December 11. Retrieved July 20, 2023.(https://actipedia.org/project/napalming-dog).

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