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“Clowns organize themselves, clowns organize themselves” was heard on the police radio in relation to a group of clowns mocking some police officers. They call themselves the Clown Activists and appear in both demonstrations that they agree with and those that they oppose.
“The funniest thing of all is making fun of fascists,” says Robyn Hambrock, who was in Stockholm in mid-April for a course in clown activism.

In an alley by Medborgarplatsen in Stockholm, five people are standing and changing clothes. Off with a jacket and on red hats of various kinds. Last but not least, with the clown’s red nose. Once in the square, they set up a table top on which they are allowed to lean on an old suitcase, so that passers-by can read their ID: counting citizens.

– 1, 2, 3. Here we have three people that we can add to the stats. We help the government, which is to spend 500 million SEK on the census. We can do it for free, a clown yells at a bystander.

Most of the passers-by are laughing and playing. Some ask questions about the census. Others pass quickly. It’s just after lunchtime on a Thursday in the middle of April. The rain hangs in the air.

– Or do you belong to the shadow society? Another clown at the site says the government is trying to find them.

In the 2023 budget bill, the government describes the census as follows: “In order to better control who is in Sweden illegally and to combat welfare and organized crime, it is important that the state strengthen its control over the census.” In practice, it may be about examining what are considered “risk areas” to reach, among other things, the undocumented.

– It would be another extension of the Tedo government’s policy to, among other things, visit zones targeting certain areas, Camila says, before the start of the procedure.

– After the elections came a desperate feeling of wanting to do more. We do the here and now in our society and clowning is our tool.

Clown Rebel Army

The promotion is part of a four-day cycle and this event takes place during the final day of the Nomadic Clown Rebel Academy course. A four-day clown activity training course with 16 participants. Perhaps the first of its kind in Sweden. Anyway, this is the first course that Hilary Ramsden and Robyn Hambrock have held in that order. They are both British and have long planned a course in clown activity. Both have a long experience of combining their political involvement with clowning.

– I began to feel that my previous works in the theater ignore the ongoing crises in the world. Inside the theater, we made people feel good, but the outside world was on fire. So I started looking for a way to combine drama with activism and found CIRCA, which Hillary co-founded in 2003, says Rubin.

CIRCA, or The Clandestine Insurgent Rebel Clown Army, is a clownish anti-authoritarian and anti-capitalist activist group, originally from Great Britain. Through direct action and civil disobedience, activists in the group committed themselves to, among other things, against militarism, racism, and climateism.

– The group wanted to find a way to break the binary relationship between the protesters and the police and at the same time play with the tyrants. With clowning, you can have fun while angry at politics, Hillary says.

Link between protesters, police and spectators

Breaking the binary relationship between protesters and police is also about including those who stand by and watch the demonstration. The clown activists thus become the liaison between the onlookers, the protesters, and the police, Hillary explains.

In the early 2000s, even CIRCA was infiltrated by the British police, something that was publicized in connection with the “spy cop” scandal in the British media. An undercover officer, codenamed Lynn Watson, has been identified. Officers’ spying on and infiltration of left-wing groups is a longstanding and critical tactic of British police.

From court jester to great entertainer

Rubin tells how the clown was historically a political commentator and was often close to power, eg the court jester, but how today’s clown has been relegated to the realm of entertainment and formalized and capitalized.

– I’m starting to think about whether we can return the clown to politics. To comment, to challenge, to tease, to teach, to ridicule, and through laughter to change power relations. The clown today has a very low status, which makes it harmless. This, in turn, means that he can get very close to power.

She talks about a protest in Bristol, England. It was a peaceful protest and the police lined up to show their presence. Immediately the clowns went there. And they heard on the police radio that “clowns are organizing, clowns are organizing.”

One of the clowns asked if he could polish the policeman’s shoes. Another asked if the officers wanted to taste the nuts she had brought with her. The nut ran and injured one of the policemen. Immediately the clown threw himself on the ground and apologized.

– The rest of us said “It’s okay, we’ll punish her.” Should we kick or hit? What works best? The police became very uncomfortable. For us it was a way to show the stupidity of the police.

Another time they were on Labor Day in Porto, Portugal. Rubin says they thought long and hard about what they should have as input, because they shared the protesters’ views.

– but we didn’t want to come in there and just say “we agree”, so we dressed up as managers and said “thanks for all our winnings”. There was an interaction with protesters who yelled “boo” and us who said things like “but what, you get two days off a week”. This is an advantage of the clown, we can play the oppressor, the tyrant, says Rubin.

But there must have been times when the protesters reacted more negatively?

Yes, it can be sensitive. We often come from the side if we see an opening. The question is how do we make the serious issues slapstick so as not to undermine the message, Robin.

Another international example of clown activism is the Finnish Lordiers of Odin who go to the protests of Odin’s Nazi soldiers to mock them and their message.

– The thing he can make fun of most are the fascists. They are very serious and hate teasing. That’s why they’re perfect targets for clowns, says Rubin.

While the census was taking place at Medborgarplatsen, the other half of the course participants gathered at Södermalmstorg. On the sign it reads “The iceberg is melting” and in the square is a figure of a derailed swim school.

– When the water rises, you should be able to swim. Can you swim? They ask one of each person pouring in from the next subway station.

Sarah, one of the participants in the course, says she sees the clown as a force opposite to the performance community.

– The clown has no one and does not care about status. To me, the clown stands for play and we have very little play in our society, she says.

Andrea, also a course participant by the name of clown Görransson, tells how she didn’t feel completely at home in an activist context, but that it was an alternative she felt safe with.

– Through clowning, you can change norms and ideas, and you can change the conditions of reality through imagination, and at the same time invite others to play and interact, as you say.

Regulating clowns is actually against his nature. At least that’s what Camilla means.

– but the clown is also the ultimate anarchist. If someone tells you to do a certain way, do the opposite. The clown’s job in life is to stand up to the weak. In the political situation we are in, she says, it seems the time has come for us to come together.

It also deals with the importance of satire and the historical significance of the jester as a court jester.

Healthy communities see the value of satire. In dangerous societies, she says, power cannot be tampered with and that is what is happening here.