Marching and Laughing: the Rebel Clown Army reaches Egyp
by kyle Tuesday, Oct. 16, 2012 at 7:04 PM

The Amsterdam Rebel Clowns have been invited to introduce the 'Rebel Clown Army' in Egypt. A week of performances, a presentation and a Basic Rebel Clown Training. Loads of interviews, media attention, problems and challenges. The Red Nose Arabic Spring in Egypt has only begun!

Arrival at Caïro Airport on a warm night. A bus brings the rebel clowns to Giza, but first we see the city of Caïro, the river Nile and other spots we only knew from pictures. Giza is a place south of Caïro, close to the Pyramids and the Great Sphinx. The Amsterdam Rebel Clowns stay in a lively neighbourhood: cafés and shops are open till late. Much poverty, much spirit and many super friendly people! Thursday, Oct 4th: The night of the opening of the CIRCAÏRO Festival which invited us. In the night the clowns arrive at Abdin Square. The square is close to government buildings. Maybe one of the reasons it wasn't easy to get permission to have the festival there. It took even till Oct 4th till it was sure the festival should go on. First of all the festival is a circus festival, but has also some political cultural components. In an earlier edition they invited a very political Palestinian group of clowns, this year it's Rebelact. The plan is to be a living connection between the neighbourhood and the festival area. Especially a country like Egypt needs a 'Rebel Clown Army'! The place to change clothes and to clown make up is a tent on the Abdin Square. But... when people of the festival discovered the clown army jackets a big bomb exploded! "This uniform cannot be shown at the opening of the festival! We might get troubles from security, the festival might get troubles, the relation between Egypt and the Netherlands could get bad, we even cannot tell what consequences it might have!". What happened was a big surprise, because during the preparations the festival organisation clearly asked to bring the 'Rebel Clown Army' to Egypt and yeahhh... pimped uniforms are part of it! What to do in this situation? For the time being the clowns who all were wearing uniforms stayed in the tent, internal discussions followed. Public was waiting outside, got the request to adapt from the organisation. In the meantime Egyptian media entered the tent. Making films and pictures of the rebel clowns in army dress! A perfect moment to start marching in the tent and spread our message by the media! Visits and negotiations in the tent. Several people of the organisation came in the tent and asked to don't wear the uniforms. Police and security should be on the square. But several clowns said we didn't came to Egypt to just be a clown! Finally it looked like we got a permission to have a small round on the Abdin Square in our beautifoool pimped uniforms... But then another person entered the tent and the whole discussion started all over again. The European women didn't introduce herself, but the way she behaved it looks like she was the boss of the festival. She wasn't! After a while one of the clowns asked who she is. An employee of the Dutch Embassy... (probably afraid the performances should damage the Egyptian-Dutch relationship) Shortly after these talks we got a definitive no. Some of the clowns protested by staying in the tent, others made a short round without army jackets in the backstage area. Again confusion. Some people of the organisation stopped the clowns in their way to the public. Finally the public could be reached. It didn't take long. All clowns returned to the tent. Introducing the 'Rebel Clown Army' in Egypt wasn't easy that night! 3. sınıf Türkçe proje görevi ve değerlendirme ölçeği