Nude War Protest
Nude War Protest Photo Copyright
Marina Potok "The
women here today represent the mainstream
of this country. They’ve never been
in a ‘protest’ before, ever. They
cared enough today to send the message that
the human body is not created to bear violence
and war. We women in particular are created
to bear life, the future, peace. If we must
bare our bodies in order to send this message
clearly, then so be it."
Zhenya
Nichols - Peace Activist
"It's
ridiculous to suggest that we'll change
our opinion on Iraq after seeing 1000 nude
women forming letters on a hillside, like
some soft porn Sesame Street sketch."
Tim
Ferguson - The Age
From Byron Bay in Sydney, Australia to
Santiago, Chilie. From Vancouver, British
Columbia to New York, New York. People are
gathering en mass without clothing to protest
the conflict in Iraq. Nudists have a long
history of being politically active, but
interestingly a lot of those participating
in these nude protests aren't nudists at
all , but people who feel the only way to
get a jaded media to pay attention to them
is by getting naked.. But is it effective?
A Univeristy of Toronto Professor has said
the nude protesters are extremely "savy"
whilst others pull out every pun in the
book to ridicule
their efforts. Take a look at our summary
of recent events, editorials and photo-links.
Then (gasp!) ... we give you the opportunity
to express your own viewpoint and have it
be seen instantly in our
inter-active comments section!.
A Summary of Nude Protest:
Fayetteville, Arkansas,
US - Monday, March 20, 2003
"I've been telephoning
and writing, and nothing was happening,
so we decided to do a little drama here."
Diana
Rivers - 71 Year-Old Organizer
Nine Women wearing nothing but masks
and body paint stop traffic near the
University Of Arkansas.
Full
Story
Sofia, Bulgaria - Monday,
March 10, 2003
"She's neither for
Iraq, nor against the United States,
but for peace".
Martin
Karbovski - Organizer
Former Miss Bulgaria, Tania Karabelova
stripped to a not-so-stragetigically-placed
flag of her country to protest military
escalation in Iraq. The model made her
appeal in front of the US embassy in
Sofia.
Full
Story (with photo)
Chapel Hil, North Carolina,
US - Tuesday, March 4, 2003
" "Going
naked, that was the original plan. "I
think it was the police presence that
stopped us in regard to going naked.
."
Bill
Gural -Peace
Activist
A group called "Naked People for
Peace" chose to go "almost
naked" to avoid indecent exposure
charges during their anti-war demonstration
through the local university campus
grounds and the city centre of Chapel
Hill, N.C.
Full
Story (with photo) Photo
Story Link
Byron
Bay - Sydney, Australia, Sunday, March
2, 2003
"These women,
and myself included, aren't comfortable
getting naked. I'm very uncomfortable
with it, I have to say, but we're doing
it to make a point.If we have to get
uncomfortable to get our opinions heard,
then we'll bloody well do that."
Shirley
Knight - Jazz Singer and Peace Activist
In
a sequel of sorts to a similar event
held in Bryon Bay in February, over
300 women used their nude bodies to
spell out "No War" on a sports
field.
Full
Story Link Photo
Story Link
Santiago, Chile - Saturday March 1, 2003
"This is a call to
society to join together and get naked now
against the war because it means getting
rid of clothing, uniforms, social classes,
flags and ideologies -- all those things
that divide us."
Francisco
Elgueta - Santiago
Nude Protest Organiser
300 Chileans marched nude
in a park in Santiago Chili. They young
men and women joined together singing folk
protest songs and shouting anti-war slogans.
The crowd then dressed and made their way
to the Presidential Palace where police
hosed them with water cannons and made numerous
arrests.
Full
Story Link photo
1
photo
2
Vancouver,
British Columbia - Saturday, Februray
23, 2003
About 50 protester used
their bicycles and nude bodies to create
a living "peace sign" on a
hill in downtown Vancouver. "Artists
Against the War"
Photo Story Link
Byron Bay - Sydney,
Australia - Saturday, February 23, 2003
"Men of all shapes
and sizes laid down their weapons and
overcame fears of exposure to make the
protest,"
Cameron Sparkes-Carroll
- Organizer
About 250 men took off
their clothes Sunday and lay down to spell
out the words "Peace Man" on
a rugby field to protest the Australian
government's strong support for Washington's
hard-line stance against Iraq.
Full
Story Link
Byron Bay, Australia - Saturday, February
8, 2003
"I really realize
now when I look up here and see all these
women, they're desperate to let our prime
minister hear how very very angry they are
at what he's doing and how much they disagree
with what's happening,"
Grace Knight - Organizer
In the largest nude war
protest yet, 750 nude women form a heart
around the words 'No War' on a hillside.
Photo Story Link
New York,
New York - Friday, February 7, 2003
"As we lay in the
snow we screamed sentiments like "read
my lips Bush!"
Organizer
30 women braved the biting
cold and snow to spell out the words, "No
Bush" NYC's Central Park at Bethesda
Fountain.
Photo Story Link
Comments? Read what others
have to say then add your own in our
interactive-comments
section!
More information, pictures,
news and info about upcoming events can
be found at:
http://www.baringwitness.org/
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