Tonight (Tuesday the 15th) the Laboratory of Insurrection Imagination Tour 05, including the Clandestine Insurgent Rebel Clown Army and The Vacuum Cleaner, are followed and featured in a film called “G8 – Can you here us”.

It will be on BBC4 @ 9pm (GMT)


(for those with out BBC4 or even better a Television - we'll try and get it on-line soon)


Please feel free to phone 08700 100222 (BBC comments, complaints etc) if you would like to say you enjoyed the programme, think it covered a usually ignored world etc. It's a recorded answer machine, but these comments are paid attention to - so people will take note, and if enough people say they liked the film, it could get rebroadcast on BBC2, and more importantly, it will become more normal to give coverage to the protest movement.

 http://labofii.net/tour05/
 http://clownarmy.org/
 http://thevacuumcleaner.co.uk/

james xx


"The Vacuum Cleaner, a man whose passing resemblance to Jesus surely isn’t unintentional..."

Of course this was a cynical piece of propaganda. Without exception the demonstrators were more or less portrayed as inneffectual, stupid and motivated by a combination of ignorance, "romantic" immaturity, naivete or "delusional" outdated ideology.

In order to discredit the entire protest they deliberately picked subjects that were, when shown comparatively, easy to lambast as being factionalist and incoherent without making any responsible effort to explain the political views they or their friends held. Police assaults and intimidation were called a "less concilliatory response" than normal cordoning and FIT team surveillance, without any discussion of whether the general police response was appropriate in the first place - this is typical pro-state BBC spin.

The whole documentary concealed a tone of "laugh at these tragic losers disturbing our nice consumer-capitalist People's meritocracy" under a veneer of objectivity. If you still believed that television was anything other than a dead medium and a propaganda organ, you might have thought it so banal that it might be better suited to BBC3 not BBC4.

I'm alarmed and somewhat suspicious at the naivete of people who still trust the capitalist media. I pity the scum who make these programmes for a living, and I pity those who trusted or abetted them. Those who are pleased that they are being discredited by satire instead of demonisation are lifestyle activists with no serious political agenda.

Organisations like the BBC do not deserve our deference. We don't need the capitalist media any more, in any way shape or form. If News Corp or MI5-style surveillance/propaganda is the choice, I'll have independent media or nothing!

If the BBC portrayed the protesters in the programme as super heroes would it have been different?

You have to admit, those clowns....well they basically are clowns, do they dress like that to collect their giros? At least the future of childrens parties are safe then eh?!

So what exactly did all the fuss and wrecking Scotland do for the protestors? A few fables and tales to tell the mates over a pint or two at the local?

I thought the pre-emptive police brutality and intimidation came over rather well. The political discussion between a Green and a Communist was incredibly boring though. Not enough coverage of the wonderful G8 Bike Ride but I enjoyed the space given to the Clowns.

Thanks to our clowning friends we have a programme, on what still seems to be media for the masses, showing the dedication and perseverence of activists in Britain and around the globe willing to make a stand against the G8 and it's policies.
The cops weren't shown as the brightest of lights either, in fact it's difficult to tell who were the clowns!
It's my belief that we should still engage with the mainstreamers, working towards raising the awareness of the sleepy or zombified masses and appealing to their sense of injustice BEFORE it hits them!
Thanks for being brave guys, much love,

Minor Indiscretion.

Bugger, missed this, oh well, I'll have to try and catch one of the repeats next week:

Tuesday 22 November
12:30am - 1:30am
BBC4

Tuesday 22 November
3:00am - 4:00am
BBC4

So tickling policemens noses with feather dusters and walking along a road shouting "left, left, right, left, right" is brave?

Yeah I'm sure the mass collection of retarded politicians and higher up echelon idiots are quaking in their boots at these "brave" clowns!

The BBC door knocked every organisation in town for people to be involved. The only three that would agree were a member of the CPGB (enough said), the clown army (what an apt title), and a member of the Green Party (or should I say the White Party). After finishing his cello performance and complaining that he had nowhere to secure his pushbike (oh the ordeals one must endure outside Hampstead) he had just enough time to be recorded on camera denouncing the demonstration as "a bunch of socialists".

Clowns brave? Yes, I think so. In fact I think the thing Tony Blair, George Bush and all the arseholes who are doing their damndest to consolidate power fear being laughed at more than anything else. In fact that is probably their main weakness - once we collectively no longer take them seriously, they will have no power over us. Bring on the clowns....