Art & Rebellion, a Santa Cruz–based self-described resistance group, staged a peaceful theatrical protest at Pacific Scientific Energetic Materials Company in Hollister on Aug. 21.
Garbed in brilliant colors, goofy hats, glittery jackets, bright red noses, curly wigs and waving umbrellas, batons and plungers, the cast of clowns, in a circus-like roadside production, brought a message to the facility that has been linked to manufacturing components for MK-80 series bombs used by Israel in repeated airstrikes on Gaza.
Organizers said the action—called “Water Balloon Uprising”—was a symbolic response to the use of U.S.-linked munitions in densely populated areas including hospitals, schools and refugee camps.
Although the bombs are restricted by U.S. military guidelines for use near civilian populations, they have been used in Gaza with impunity and U.S. backing, organizers said.
The company, headquartered in Chandler, Ariz., did not immediately respond to a call for comment.
The company website states that Pacific Scientific manufactures detonators, laser firing units and pyrotechnic igniters, among other things.
The clowns used a tub full of colored water balloons to “serve as a disarming visual metaphor—a nonviolent counterpoint to the deadly payloads exported from within Rep. Jimmy Panetta’s congressional district.”
Brent Adams of Art & Rebellion said, “War profiteering has no place in our communities—even when it hides in ‘liberal’ districts like ours.”
He added that the group aims to highlight how bomb suppliers are embedded across nearly every congressional district to secure bipartisan compliance with militarized foreign policy, regardless of public sentiment.
Art & Rebellion says it is a grassroots group that uses symbolic performance, direct action and art to inspire action for justice and peace.
“We are here to issue a complaint to the operators and owners of the Pacific Scientific Energetic Materials Company,” Adams said. “We come to you not as politicians or pundits but clowns—yes clowns—representing the creative, peaceful heart of humanity in a time of world collapse.”
Adams added that the components manufactured at the plant have been identified in the destruction of hospitals, schools, refugee camps, residential towers and entire neighborhoods in Gaza.
“You, here in Hollister, are a link in that chain of devastation. We are not here to threaten you, but to expose your role,” he said. “You are a war profiteer, operating in a quiet town.”
