Circus Of The Invisible: Review

Wednesday October 20 certainly proved to be a memorable day in the Ctrl.Alt.Shift calendar. As middle aged men, suited and booted in various shades of grey, lined the benches of Westminster, Ctrl.Alt.Shift alongside Platform2 [1] volunteers had other more colourful priorities. As the government prepared to announce that Britain would soon experience the worst budget cuts since World War 2, a grey cloud was cast ominously over Parliament.

Outside on the streets of London however, sunlight streamed down over Westminster and the river Thames, as we decided to pull out all the stops; taking to the streets to unveil the greatest masquerade of all.

The circus of the Invisible was upon us.

'We were all committed to standing up and acting on our convictions. We were all smeared in face paint and draped in eye-catching fancy dress'

We wanted to make some noise about the issues that some want us to passively accept without questioning. We called on the public and our MPs to take notice of climate and tax justice for developing countries.

Perhaps society’s greatest and most powerful illusions are the unfair systems, injustices and shady practices that you can’t actually see... that most of us are barely even aware of. Our mission was to bring these invisible injustices into the spotlight.

We wanted to highlight the seriousness of climate change. Carbon emissions may be invisible, but they’re going to have an unprecedented impact on the state of our planet, and most of all, on the world’s poor.

We wanted to expose the scandal of tax dodging; a practice which sees multi-national companies reap profits to the tune of £160 billion a year in developing countries all over the world; a figure which far exceeds the entire UK aid budget. If these companies operated ethically, they would pay taxes directly to the developing countries in which they work; providing valuable resources for health, education and development.

Young people from all over the UK had come together to smash the greatest myth of the 21st century - that the system works and there’s nothing we can do to change it.

As we began to gather in the basement of Methodist Central Hall, something strange began to happen. The drab colours you would normally associate with parliament and politics began to fade into the background, and were replaced by rainbow hues, striking stripes and neon facepaint.

A ring master on roller-skates sprang out from behind a pillar. Clowns began cackling and juggling invisible balls. A gaggle of white faced mimes were fighting for mirror space in the girl’s bathroom to adjust their makeup... And a sinister invisible man lurked among us as we prepared to take to the streets.

An eclectic band, a dancing tribe in colourful costumes, and a fantastic turnout of young and impassioned circus activists took to the streets.

'Young people from all over the UK had come together to smash the greatest myth of the 21st century: that the system works and there’s nothing we can do to change it'

We were all committed to standing up and acting on our convictions.

We were all smeared in face paint and draped in eye-catching fancy dress.

As we paraded from Westminster to Trafalgar Square, chanting and dancing all the way, cars and taxis hooted in support. The public gaped open mouthed, and school kids giggled in wander at this colourful army of jokers. It’s fair to say we caused more than a bit of a stir.

As we reached our destination of Trafalgar Square, the circus sprang into life.

There was invisible fire juggling tournaments.

There was a nasty invisible lion on the loose that needed to be tamed.

And there was a pretty tense moment when we all nearly fell off the invisible tightrope.

As we danced around Nelson’s Column, we had the unwavering attention of a whole host of passers-by. Tourists were confused... but snapped away with their cameras anyway. Bus drivers giggled at our outlandish costumes and (faultlessly professional) invisible circus skills as they drove past.  Even the police rode upon their motorbikes to check out what was going on... but quickly skulked off and left us to it anyway. Perhaps they were scared of the invisible lions.

During the afternoon, our colourful crew of acrobat activists prepared to lobby our MPs. We wanted to set in motion a chain of political events that would lead to the resolution of these monumental climate and tax injustices; and the best way to do that was to raise the issues directly with those in power.  It is, after all, their job to care about their constituent's opinions.

As we lined up in our various constituencies, the invisible circus split, dispersed, and was suddenly no longer the multicoloured army it once was. Many of us found ourselves the solitary clown amidst a sea of queuing adults in civilian clothing; properly attired to go through security into the ancient buildings of Parliament to meet their MPs.

'Young people have the ability and the innovation to find creative and enjoyable ways of campaigning; raising awareness amongst people of all ages, inspiring others to act, and having silly amounts of fun in the process'

Even in the queue, we successfully managed to communicate our unique message. The encouraging comments, inquiring questions and warm smiles from fellow lobbyists were enough  to make me think the day’s events were a roaring success (just like the invisible lions... ahem...)

The simple fact is this: if we want to make a difference for the developing world, we need to stand up and protest against the policies enforced by our own politicians, on home ground. 

Young people have the ability and the innovation to find creative and enjoyable ways of campaigning: raising awareness amongst people of all ages, inspiring others to act, and having silly amounts of fun in the process.

At the Circus of the Invisible yesterday, we proved that’s exactly what Ctrl.Alt.Shift and Platform2 does best.

Words: Eva Baker

Photos: Holly Davis, Ctrl.Alt.Shift