Laughter in the face of police brutality: an analysis of satirical memes on police brutality in Zimbabwe on August 16, 2019

ABSTRACT Zimbabwean state leaders have resorted to violent repression of mass protests to secure power. Mass protests, peaceful or not, have turned out to be too risky and impermissible despite the Zimbabwean constitution legalising peaceful protests. This article focuses on the Zimbabwean experience of violent repression and draws on the brutal experiences of protesters at the hands of the police on 16 August 2019. The principal focus of the article is on how ordinary Zimbabweans responded by creating and circulating satirical memes on social media, utilising humour to critique and ridicule police brutality. The analysis is informed by Scott’s concept of the weapons of the weak, the views of Barber on popular culture, by Fiske on popular pleasure and Mbembe on the commandement. I also draw from ideas on the concept of laughter and/or humour posited by Bakhtin, Singh and Taecharungroj and Nueangjamnong. I argue that laughter drawn from satirical memes offers comic relief to a people who have gone through violent repression. It is also a tool that empowers them to make meaning of police brutality, to expose the police’s vices and follies, and to condemn and show resentment towards state and police excesses.