How the police joined the Clandestine Insurgent Rebel Clown Army.

I met a dear old friend today and we reminisced about direct action in the past. She recalled getting to know 'Lynn' or 'Officer A' whilst getting involved in the politics of Leeds. Lynn, an undercover police officer, joined the Clandestine Insurgent Rebel Clown Army, and regularly attended action with a big red nose, white makeup and big floppy shoes. You don't get more undercover than that.

The point of the clown army is to mock the powers that be, but to do so openly and with humour. It seems such a pity that the police felt the necessity to put on the wigs, but ultimately, not to get the joke. As Lynn infiltrated the clowns, she began to be a parody of the institution she represented.

All this would be laughable if it were not for the fact that Lynn and the police help set up 'The Common Place' in Leeds. My friend told me that Lynn was instrumental in the setting of it up. Instead of it being a place of liberty and fraternity - it began as a place of infiltration and state manipulation. It has all backfired. Their very actions have resulted in a costly mockery of the murky world of state spying. The Common Place has been a place that has created much more resistance to the crimes of capitalism than the state would have ever wanted.

The last laugh is with the resisters, not the deceivers.