CIRCA: Clandestine Insurgent Rebel Clown Army

CIRCA (The Clandestine Insurgent Rebel Clown Army) is a very loosely organized group that creates protests, actions, events, etc, that are political (and clowny) in nature. They protest at events such as the G8 Summit, Presidential visits, and other events that they think might make a difference. Their aim is to take the ideas and actions of the clown out of the circus ring, birthday party, and stage, and bring them to the street as a method of protest. Or as they say as part of their manifesto:

"CIRCA aims to make clowning dangerous again, to bring it back to the street, restore its disobedience and give it back the social function it once had: its ability to disrupt, critique and heal society. Since the beginning of time tricksters (the mythological origin or all clowns) have embraced life's paradoxes, creating coherence through confusion - adding disorder to the world in order to expose its lies and speak the truth."

They hold training events for non-clowns to learn their techniques (both clown techniques and civil disobedience techniques), and offer advice to groups looking to form. The groups (called gaggles) are autonomous, and do their own actions and events. CIRCA provides some basic ideas about things to do at a protest, but each group is responsible for their own work.


The group seems to be mostly European based, with many of the actions that they list happening in London, and in Europe. Because of the loose structure & clandestine nature of the group, it's hard to say who is actually a member, and who is dressed at a clown as part of a protest.

To find out more about this group, and how to start a gaggle of your own, visit their website listed below:

http://www.clownarmy.org