Editing Orange Alternative (section)

==Happenings==
[[File:Pomaranczowa alternatywa-dzien wojska.jpg|thumb|Poster for the [[Armed Forces Day (Poland)|Armed Forces Day]] on the 12th of October 1987 featuring armed dwarves]]
What brought the Orange Alternative the biggest fame were its street happenings which it organized throughout the second half of the 1980s. These actions gained it enormous popularity among the Polish youth, who joined the movement, seeing it an alternative to the opposition style presented by the Solidarity, which they viewed as more stiff and boring.

The first modest happening called the "Burning of Tubes" was organized as early as 1985 in Wrocław by Major Waldemar Fydrych accompanied by a small group of artists to which belonged: [[Krzysztof Skarbek]], [[Piotr Petyszkowski]], [[Andrzej Głuszek]], and [[Sławomir Monkiewicz]].<ref name="album" />

The breakthrough moment came in the fall of 1987, during the [[Open Theatre Festival]] in Wrocław, when the [[Village Voice]] reported the Orange Alternative's action known as "Distribution of Toilet Paper" – a happening that satirized the annoying lack of that consumer product at the time. After the publication of this article, the Orange Alternative became of interest to a number of Polish and foreign media.

The biggest happenings however took place in the years 1987 through 1989, with the "orange" wave spilling over Poland into cities such as Warsaw, Łódź, Lublin and Tomaszów Mazowiecki, following Major Fydrych's arrest on 8 March 1988.

The actions of the Orange Alternative – although its leaders and participants often expressed [[anarchistic]] viewpoints – were not inherently ideological. No serious demands were ever expressed. Rather, the slogans were surrealist in character (such as "Vivat Sorbovit", Sorbovit being a popular soft drink at that time) or "There is no freedom without dwarves". They often paraphrased slogans used by the Solidarity Union or the communists. Their role was to laugh at absurdities and pompousness of both sides of the system and provoke independent thinking.

{| align=right border=1
|[[Image:OrangeAlternative-big 4.jpg|250px]] || [[Image:OrangeAlternative-big 3.jpg|250px]]
|- align=left
| colspan=2 |<small>''PRECZ Z UPAŁAMI'' {{in lang|pl}} – '''"AWAY WITH SWELTER"''',if the person wearing letter 'U' shirt turns away<br /> the text says ''PRECZ Z PAŁAMI'' {{in lang|pl}} – '''"AWAY WITH BATONS"''' happening in [[Wrocław]], July 1988)</small>
|}

The open street formula allowed all individuals to take part in the happenings. This openness drew thousands of pedestrians to participate in the group's actions. In such a way, the majority of the happenings could assemble thousands of participants, of whom many were accidental passers-by. The culmination point in the movement's history was the action organized on 1 June 1988, known as the "Revolution of Dwarves", during which more than 10 thousand people marched through the center of Wrocław wearing orange dwarf hats.

The happenings usually terminated with the arrest of hundreds of participants, who did not manage to escape in time from the hands of the militia. At one point, the participants were even able to provoke the Communist militia to arrest 77 Santa Clauses or, on another occasion, anyone wearing anything orange.

For each of its actions, the Orange Alternative printed leaflets and posters, featuring slogans like "Every militiaman is a piece of Art" or "Citizen, help the militia, beat yourself up".<ref name="album" />