Transcript:

This photograph is from my book, Portraits of Struggle. It was taken during a mass protest at the G8 summit in Rostock, Germany, 2007. 

The clown standing in front of riot police was one of 80,000 demonstrators at the opening march in Rostock protesting the 2007 summit of the heads of the eight richest nations (G8) which was taking place in the old resort town of Heiligendamm close to Rostock. 

The summit was held behind a 12-kilometer-long fence topped with razor and barbed wire. The only access into the meetings was by helicopter or boat as over 10,000 protesters blockaded all main roads and train tracks into Heiligendamm. The fence alone cost over €12.4 million, and millions more were spent on security. 

And now the back story: sometimes the most powerful acts of defiance don’t look serious at all. They look like play. Way back court jesters teased their kings and got away with saying what no one else could. Later during World War 1, Dada artists fought despair with nonsense poems, and wild performances, turning chaos itself into a protest. Then in the 60s, the Yippies ran a pig for president to call out the absurdity of the Vietnam War. And now somehow it’s frogs, people in bright strange costumes showing up in the streets using humor instead of fear. 

Laughter can do that. It loosens the grip of fear. Sometimes it even changes history. Jesters kept truth alive in royal courts. The Dada’s turned grief into imagination. The Yippies forced America to see its own absurdity. These moments remind us that creativity can be its own kind of courage. A song, a joke, a costume…they have a way of disarming us. They make room for something human again. And today’s frogs in their strange defiance remind us that protest needs a sense of humor. 

In this episode of Field Notes, you saw it happen: a lone clown standing in front of riot police and one officer can’t help but smile.