How do Youth and Social Circus (YSC) organizations use circus as a tool of resilience in the face of global challenges?
🎧 New episodes daily at 16:00 CET (3–7 Nov).
In this Caravan Week 2025 episode, Mohamad Rabah from The Palestinian Circus School (Ramallah, Palestine) shares how Youth and Social Circus became a language of visibility, resistance, and hope for young Palestinians living under occupation.
🎙️ Caravan Week 2025 Podcasts – Episode 4
Guest: Mohamad Rabah , Executive Director of the Palestinian Circus School, Ramallah, Palestine.
Date: 6 November 2025
This episode features Mohamad Rabah, Executive Director of the Palestinian Circus School (PCS) — an organization founded in 2006 that uses circus arts to counter isolation and other physical, psychological, and cultural threats in a society marked by decades of military occupation, fragmentation, and displacement.
Rabah reflects on his own life path, growing up with experiences of exile and return, and on the need to create safe and creative spaces where young people can express themselves freely, challenge oppression, and connect with one another.
Today, the Palestinian Circus School reaches over 3,500 children and young people each year across the West Bank and Gaza. The school provides training, community outreach, and professional programs to communities facing daily restrictions and violence.
Rabah insists that circus is not only an art form but also a language that allows Palestinians to tell their stories in a world that too often silences them. In a context where mobility and freedom of expression are limited, circus becomes a non-verbal act of visibility and resistance, showing that Palestinian culture is alive, diverse, and creative — and that every performance and workshop is an act of saying “we are here” in the face of erasure.
Through collective training, children and youth learn cooperation, trust, and discipline, transforming anger and fear into creativity and belonging — because, as Rabah says, “stopping would mean surrendering to despair.”
The episode emphasizes the importance of international solidarity and cultural visibility, calling on listeners to support Palestinian artists and institutions. For Rabah, sharing Palestinian stories abroad is vital:
“When we perform, we don’t want people to only see pain. We want them to see life : our joy, our humor, our talent, our existence.”
In this context, circus becomes a daily act of rebuilding trust, preserving identity, and imagining freedom when everything else is restricted.
Support and Learn More
🔗 The Palestinian Circus School (PCS):
www.palcircus.ps
@PalestinianCircus
💛 The Wonderland Campaign: www.globalgiving.org/donate/50276/the-palestinian-circus
🎭 Performance “Sarab” : www.friendsofpalcircus.be/en/news/2025/08/29/sarab-in-belgium-in-november
🤝 Take Action and Support Palestine
↗ Act x Palestine International Campaign: www.actxpalestine.com/en/unsilence-forum
↗ Performing Arts Network Palestine: www.ppan.ps
🎪 Caravan Members Mentioned
↗ Sorin Sirkus – Finland: www.sorinsirkus.fi/brief/
↗ Nablus Circus School – Palestine: www.caravancircusnetwork.eu/nablus-performing-arts-circus-school
↗ Ton sur Ton – Switzerland: www.tonsurton.ch/cirque
🇧🇪 Collaboration in Europe
While not directly mentioned in this episode, the École de Cirque de Bruxelles, which kindly hosts Caravan’s offices, maintains a close and long-standing collaboration with the Palestinian Circus School. This partnership includes workshops, press conferences, and volunteering exchanges that strengthen the ties between both organizations. Those wishing to engage or support from Europe are encouraged to connect with them directly.
🔗 École de Cirque de Bruxelles:
www.ecbru.be
@ECBBruxelles
📩 Follow Caravan Week 2025
🎧 Listen to the full episode and follow Caravan Week 2025 for new podcast releases daily at 16:00 CET (3–7 Nov).
📩 Get the daily podcasts directly in your inbox: www.caravancircusnetwork.eu/caravan-week-news/
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