The Social Circus Contributions Towards Peace

written by Martha Llanos Zuloaga, GTW - Perú

Continuing with this trilogy on social circus initiatives in conflict zones, I will share my 2019 experience in Beirut's Shatila, the oldest Palestinian refugee camp. Setting up circus tents there was not possible because the streets were extremely narrow. I visited only one school for young children, a seven-story building constructed on a footprint of just 50 square meters due to the severe limitations on available space.

Social circus in Beirut serves as a tool for transformation and psychosocial support for vulnerable communities, particularly Syrian and Palestinian refugees and Lebanese children living in poverty. This methodology employs juggling, acrobatics, and clowning to foster self-esteem, resilience, confidence, and social cohesion in areas affected by socioeconomic crises and the trauma of war.

To reach these communities, the social circus movement in Beirut operates through two geographical models: a central training hub and mobile outreach missions. Shatila is one of the primary locations where social circus trainers conduct these mobile workshops and community-based programs.

1.     The Central Hub: Jisr El Wati

The capital’s most significant and well-structured social circus school is Cirquenciel, part of the renowned Lebanese NGO (Non-Governmental Organization) Arcenciel. Its headquarters and training facilities are located in the Jisr El Wati neighborhood. There, they have a dedicated space for regular classes in acrobatics, trapeze, and juggling.

2.     Mobile Missions: Shatila, Burj El Barajneh, and Mar Elias

Because of overcrowding and extreme conditions within the camps on the outskirts of Beirut, permanent infrastructure is difficult to establish. As a result, social circus trainers travel to these locations to bring their programs to the communities they serve.

Intermittent Workshops

Local organizations, such as the Children and Youth Center in Shatila or the Women's Humanitarian Organization, partner with circus collectives or foundations like Les Enfants de la Méditerranée. Together, they organize traveling art and circus-theater workshops in community centers, on rooftops, and in the small courtyards of the camps.

Visits by International Clowns

When international brigades such as Clowns Without Borders or independent clowns visit Lebanon, Shatila is a key stop on their emergency performance tours.

Excursions Outside the Camp

Shatila serves as a key site for community-based interventions aimed at healing trauma among Palestinian and Syrian refugee populations. Given the cramped conditions within the camp, many NGOs take children to circus venues and festivals in the city center, allowing them to experience the freedom of open spaces. The power and impact of circus activities in confronting trauma and strengthening the human spirit reveal the unique character of each circus initiative.

Ukraine (The Response to the All-Out War Emergency)

Ukraine boasts one of the most rigorous academic circus schools in the world. With the outbreak of full-scale war, social circus initiatives took two urgent paths. On one hand, traditional companies and educational projects moved into metro stations and underground shelters to alleviate children's panic during bombings. On the other, collectives like Circus Cortex and solidarity foundations arranged humanitarian visas and tours abroad to protect artists from the dangers of the battlefront.

Palestine (Art as a Cultural Trench)

Unlike in Beirut, where the circus heals internal wounds within the urban fabric, the Palestine Circus School fuses contemporary circus with traditional folk dances like the *Dabke*. Its goal is not only psychological healing but also the preservation of national identity in the face of the challenges posed by occupation and territorial isolation.

Beirut (The Bridge Between Nationalities)

Beirut’s unique characteristic is the melting pot of identities that exist within its margins. Here, social circus serves as a tool for Syrian, Palestinian, and Lebanese children to momentarily forget the geopolitical borders that divide the capital's streets and to learn solidarity by supporting one another in a human pyramid.

Social circus represents a balance between two disciplines: performing arts enriched by social sciences. These disciplines are organized into an engaging and innovative methodology that transforms a pedagogical and artistic process into socio-political action for peacebuilding and conflict resolution.

The Body as the Primary Territory of Peace

In contexts of chronic crisis, such as Beirut, Palestine, or Ukraine, violence is not merely a political concept; it is a reality that becomes embedded in the body, stiffens posture, and causes a child's heart to race. Fear paralyzes and isolates.

• The Concept: Social circus recognizes that the mind cannot be healed unless the body is first set free.

• The Power: By hanging from a trapeze, supporting a partner's weight, or mastering a unicycle, young people rediscover their bodies, not as targets for bombs or discrimination, but as sources of strength, beauty, and control. Circus disarms the physical effects of fear and transforms it into a sense of possibility.

The Sovereignty of Play (The Sacred Right to Play)

War and extreme poverty rob children of their most valuable possession: the right to play without consequences.

• The Concept: The element of play in circus acts as a zone where reality is temporarily suspended.

• The Power: Inside the tent or on the practice mat, play reclaims its sovereignty. Playing in the circus is not a waste of time; it is a rehearsal for life in a safe environment. When children play at being clowns or jugglers, they temporarily set aside the weight of the outside world. Play restores their freedom to be vulnerable, to laugh, and to fail without punishment.

The Aesthetics of Wonder vs. The Narrative of Despair

Armed conflicts and humanitarian crises saturate young people's identities with labels of pity, trauma, or threat. The world begins to view them solely as "victims" or "refugees."

• The Concept: Circus art operates through the poetics of the impossible.

• The Power: The circus breaks the narrative of despair and replaces it with wonder. Seeing a young person living in a refugee camp perform a backflip or balance on a tightrope can radically shift the collective perspective. The community no longer sees a helpless child; it sees a creator of visual miracles. Wonder restores community pride and grants young people a sense of dignity that no one can take away.

Key Messages

Social circus goes beyond international peace treaties and military budgets; it does something deeper: it heals the human fabric that must sustain that peace in the future. While geopolitics divides and erects walls, social circus trains bodies to leap over them and build bridges in the air.

Participants fly as a reminder that gravity is not an unchangeable destiny. They support one another because solidarity is the only way to survive. They laugh and play because joy is the most powerful victory over despair, and dignity, rooted in profound creativity, is among the strongest tools for building hope and resilience.