ANOTHER CIRCAS AND A DIFFERENT KITCHEN

Emerging from Mile End tube, I waited for the man with the playbills to finish convincing a young woman commuter to come and see the Laboratory of Insurrectionary Imagination show, before having him point me in the right direction. Down to CZWG Architects' award winning Green Bridge, which carries Mile End Park up and over the A11, turn right and you can't miss it.

Sure enough, charming hand written signs led to a bus and a caravan, outside of which stood a low stage (and a Dahon Helios folding bike). A sign above the stage, attached to an array of solar panels, assured us of the show's green credentials: lights + sound ''powered by the sun", vehicles "fueled by chip fat - for a fossil fuel free future." An audience of around 50 gathered expectantly on mats and cushions, below two strands of blue LED fairy lights strung between the two vehicles. Before the show, diverse clowns in camouflage battle gear trained various audience members in using a twig or leaf as camouflage - by hiding behind it!

First on the bill: CIRCA - the Clandestine Insurgent Rebel Clown Army  http://www.clownarmy.org - who began with a dialogue-free piece of powerful physical theatre called ''The 4th World War". A solitary, scary clown, in silk tie and banker's braces, surmounted an astroturfed platform, through which four hands of the downtrodden thrust toward the sky. Our evil protagonist proved that man cannot live by cash alone, by gobbling down copious quantities of coppers - which sure enough proved fatal, as the world went up in smoke, choking all life to death.

Before the show, clowns had handed out thin card heart shapes, printed with intriguing and inspirational quotes on liberation through imaginative creativity. Then in several sessions of subversive origami, they directed the audience in how to fold the hearts into hats, megaphones and chip cones, in which we were served up free organic chips in the interval - scrum-diddly-umptious, especially with the addition of any of a dozen sauces.

Visiting Chicago academic Dr Skip Justice Tallahassee treated us to a treatise on the history of civil disobedience, from Ghandi and King to the Alabama bus boycott and the Rebel Clown Army. The latter then gave a beautifully bizarre drilling demonstration using three clowns and a dozen life-sized puppets. The audience were then invited to participate in a "Ridiculous Recruitment Show", following such odd instructions as, "tickle your enemy," or "disguise yourself as a goat," or "follow your nose", to which they took like a duck to water.

We were treated to a performance artist/activist -- known variously as the Vacuum Cleaner and the Church of the Immaculate Consumption -- showing filmed examples of his art/actions via DVD, laptop and projector. In the Cathedrals of Conspicuous Consumption (colloquially known as department stores), he's been known to Praise the Product, Consecrate the Commodity and Beatify the Buyable. You can see what I'm on about (and lots else besides) on the Lab of Insurrectionary Imagination's "13 Experiments in Hope" DVD, from  http://www.labofii.net/tour05/dvd/ - at only £5+postage, a real bargain of artistic inspiration to take action against the capitalist globalizers who blight life the world over.

Under cover of darkness, out came the plan of campaign map - centred on the Gleneagles Hotel, where the G8 gang masters will be holed up in early July. A clown with a bull horn outlined Operation HAHAHAA - Helping Authorities House Arrest Half-witted Authoritarian [Androids | Arseholes]. Simply put, the Rebel Clown Army intend to help the cops and security forces in keeping some dangerous diplomats and poisonous politicians cooped up in their elitist country club ;-}

A hugely entertaining, thought-provoking and action-inducing evening concluded with an aptly symbolic co-operative game: keepy-uppy played with a large inflatable globe. Myself and the audience enjoyed ourselves tremendously all evening -- and if you get the chance to catch this free-thinking, free-wheeling, free show (with free chips!), I recommend you take it (see below for tour dates).

As well as the show, there's also a two day training available -- by the Rebel Clown Army and the Church of the Immaculate Consumption -- in clowning for social transformation, non-violent direct action and getting up to consciousness-raising mischief in shopping malls. You may even get a chance to practice a little of the latter in a Cathedral of Conspicuous Consumption somewhere near you! I took the training, learned a lot to add to my NVDA experiences, joined my local Clown Army battalion, and along with around 30 others, took to Praising the Product in Selfridges on Oxford Street: I commend this opportunity to you -- see below for tour dates, locations and how to book on to your local training; more info:  http://www.labofii.net/tour05/trainings/

The Lab of Insurrectionary Imagination are touring UK towns to drum up participation in the protests and counter-conferences happening in Scotland around the G8 summit of "world leaders" in early July 2005. For more details of the show and trainings, see:

Lab of Insurrectionary Imagination  http://www.labofii.net
CIRCA - the Clandestine Insurgent Rebel Clown Army  http://www.clownarmy.org
Church of the Immaculate Consumption  http://www.consume.org.uk/
___________________________________________

FORTHCOMING LAB OF II TOUR DATES

BIRMINGHAM - June 3rd – 5th
with Fierce Festival, A2RT and The Real Monument Company
The Caravan Show will be held on Friday 3rd – 8pm – Birmingham City Centre
The Clown Army and Church of the Immaculate Consumption Training will be held on Saturday 4th and Sunday 5th - 10am till 6pm
Decoy, 22 Green Street, Digbeth B12 0NE
Book training at  http://www.labofii.net/tour05/dates/#Birmingham
.........
SHEFFIELD - June 10th -12th
with Sheffield Social Forum and Peace in the Park Festival
The Caravan Show will be held on Friday 10th and Saturday 11th - 8pm – Sheffield General Cemetery, Cemetery Avenue, Sheffield, S11 8HT
The Clown Army and Church of the Immaculate Consumption Training will be held on Saturday 11th and Sunday 12th - 10am till 6pm
Plaza Function Room, 66 Spital Hill
Book training at  http://www.labofii.net/tour05/dates/#Sheffield
.........
MANCHESTER - June 14th –15th
with N.A.T.O and The Basement Social Centre
The Caravan Show will be held on Tuesday 14th
The Clown Army and Church of the Immaculate Consumption Training will be held on Tuesday 14th and Wednesday 15th - 10am till 6pm
The Basement, 24 Lever St (just off Piccadilly Gardens) M1.
Book training at  http://www.labofii.net/tour05/dates/#Manchester
.........
NEWCASTLE - June 17th -19th
with Why Don't You Collective
The Caravan Show will be held on Friday 17th and Saturday 18th
Top of Northumberland Street, Haymarket
The Clown Army and Church of the Immaculate Consumption Training will be held on Saturday 18th and Sunday 19th - 10am till 6pm
Venue TBC
Book training at  http://www.labofii.net/tour05/dates/#Newcastle
.........
ABERDEEN - June 21st - 22nd
with Peacock Visual Arts
The Caravan Show will be held on Tuesday 21st Tuesday 21st - 8pm - Castlegate, Aberdeen, AB24
The Clown Army and Church of the Immaculate Consumption Training will be held on Tuesday 21st and Wednesday 22nd - 10am till 6pm - The Tunnels (tbc)
Book training at  http://www.labofii.net/tour05/dates/#Aberdeen
.........
GLASGOW - June 24th - 26th
with Ya Basta
The Caravan Show will be held on Friday 24th and Saturday 25th
The Clown Army and Church of the Immaculate Consumption Training will be held on Saturday 25th and Sunday 26th - 10am till 6pm
The Phoenix Centre
201 St. James Road
Cowcaddens
Glasgow G4
Book training at  http://www.labofii.net/tour05/dates/#Glasgow
.........
EDINBURGH - June 28th - July 5th
with Reshape Edinburgh
Book training at  http://www.labofii.net/tour05/dates/#Edinburgh
___________________________________________

Lab of II are not the only anti-G8 show on tour - see also:

the 2012 show
 http://www.2012show.org
 http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2005/05/311763.html

The TRAPESE Roadshow (Take Radical Action - Popular Education and Sustainable Everything)
 http://network23.nologic.org/trapese
 http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2004/12/302463.html

For an astute analysis of the pitfalls that the current anti-globalisation movements present to the success of a global anti-capital revolution, I recommend the International Communist Current's anti-globalisation portal:  http://en.internationalism.org/taxonomy/term/87

In international solidarity,

Tim D Jones

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