Clandestine Insurgent Rebel Clown Army
Roll up, roll up - ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, friends and foes - welcome to the unparalleled, the unexpected, the perfectly paradoxical, the grotesquely beautiful, the new-fangled world of the Clandestine Insurgent Rebel Clown Army (CIRCA).
This self-described “obscene body of deviant soldiers” has an inspiring manifesto, the essence of which is launching an absurd war on absurd war - because what else can a person be in a foolish world, other than a clown, and how better to undermine authority than by mocking it?
CIRCA emerged in 2003, as a direct action planned against the invasion of Iraq, specifically targeting President Bush’s visit to the UK. Armed with feather dusters and water pistols, they target not only leaders, but preconceptions of radical activists (and the preconceptions held by radical activists.) They also aim to diffuse tense situations with authorities during protests by simply clowning about.
They gained prominence at G8 protests, and in the following years, similar groups have sprung up in Ireland, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Denmark, Germany and Israel, making for a formidable list of allies.
You can keep up with them by visiting their Clown Logs.
Photos courtesy of CIRCA.
