Bare-breasted protestors hope to come to Russia

[Danee]

From: http://themoscownews.com/society/20110215/188421219.html

Ukraine’s famously naked women’s political movement, Femen, would like to pay a visit to Russia – yet its members fear that local cops will not take too kindly to them.

According to Moskovsky Komsomolets, which recently ran an interview with key members of the movement at their favourite Kiev hang-out spot, Cupid café, Femen would like to stage a provocative protest on the territory of the Russian Federation, but “there is a fear that they won’t get away with a mere 24 hours in detention for something like that”.

Femen have a history of involvement in the political relationship between Russia and Ukraine. “We categorically oppose the politics of the current Ukrainian government,” Femen leader Anna Hutsol told Moskovsky Komsomolets. “We don’t like the suppression of democracy, taking cues from the ‘big brother’ inside the Kremlin.

“We don’t have anything against Russia and Russians – on the contrary, we love them. But we’re against the idea of the Ukrainian government ‘bending over’ for Medvedev and Putin.”

 

Bared breasts and column inches

When Vladimir Putin visited Ukraine last year, Femen members staged a colourful protest that featured highly personal rhetoric against the Russian PM. At the time, Hutsol told reporters that opposition groups in Ukraine differ from Russian opposition groups, because they have more freedom.

Femen, whose stated mission is to motivate Ukrainian women into political action by initially shocking them, are famous for baring their chests and other body parts for a number of causes. Members have protested everything from the lack of public toilets in Ukraine’s capital to sex tourism. In Ukraine and elsewhere, opinions on the movement remain sharply divided – but it’s generally agreed that, meaningful or not, Femen’s protests are hard to ignore.

Russian human rights activist, Lev Ponomaryov, is a fan of the movement, but believes that a visit to the Russian Federation would hardly benefit the women of Femen at this time. “It would be dangerous for them to come here,” Ponomaryov said. “Local security services would not take kindly to them – they could be set up.”

 

Attention for attention’s sake?

Meanwhile, some in Ukraine believe that Femen should adopt a more coherent political strategy before attempting to represent Ukrainian women abroad. “They need to become consistent first” said Ukrainian feminist, translator and popular blogger, Mariya Dmitriyeva. “In the past two years, they have not managed to come up with a clear political message, which is why they seem to be grabbing attention for the sake of attention alone.

“They have one message for the Ukrainian population and another message for the foreign press. To locals, they’ll say they don’t identify with feminism, because the word carries stigma – but then they’ll go on to tell some foreign journalist that they’d like to eventually become Europe’s biggest feminist movement. The one thing they’re consistent on is trying to get publicity.”

Dmitriyeva believes that in the “joyless” Ukrainian political landscape, the fact that Femen are attempting to raise important issues, particularly those related to women’s rights, is very important. However, she dislikes their methods and is critical of the fact that both the foreign and local press often treat Femen as the only active women’s organisation in Ukraine.

“They’re the only women’s movement that’s currently being paid attention to in Ukraine, which paints a distorted picture,” Dmitriyeva concluded. “People act as though Femen were the first to address sex trafficking, for example – when this issue was first being raised in Ukraine 20 years ago.”

[Darek]

I heard about these girls. In polish TV it was interview with them.
I must say it realy brave and realy smart move. I dont know how realy works man brains but if we read news sport bla bla bla politcs bla bla bla.. and find word "breast" we automatically open that news :P So that girlls realy know how to get our attention.

[NaturalInNY]

It's funny how a part of the body, something so natural and belonging to around half the population as well as serving a biological purpose to give life, be considered so "shocking" to people. I admire them for their confidence and the fact they're doing what they can to get their voices heard and bring about positive change.

[Daft]

Femen protesters celebrating about Silvio Berlusconi's resign in front of Italy's embassy in Kiev:

[Daft]

Topless Protesters At Davos Forum: Three Shirtless Ukrainian Women Detained




DAVOS, Switzerland — Three topless Ukrainian protesters were detained Saturday while trying to break into an invitation-only gathering of international CEOs and political leaders to call attention to the needs of the world's poor. Separately, demonstrators from the Occupy movement marched to the edge of the gathering.

After a complicated journey to reach the heavily guarded Swiss resort town of Davos, the Ukrainians arrived at the entrance to the complex where the World Economic Forum takes place every year.

With temperatures around freezing in the snow-filled town, they took off their tops and tried to climb a fence before being detained. "Crisis! Made in Davos," read one message painted across a protester's torso, while others held banners that said "Poor, because of you" and "Gangsters party in Davos."

Davos police spokesman Thomas Hobi said the three women were taken to the police station and told that they weren't allowed to demonstrate. He said they would be released later Saturday.

The activists are from the group Femen, which has become popular in Ukraine for staging small, half-naked protests to highlight a range of issues including oppression of political opposition. They have also conducted protests in some other countries.

"We came here to Switzerland to Davos to explain the position of all poor people of the world, to explain that we are poor because of these rich people who now sit in the building," said Inna Schewcenko.

Protesters from the Occupy movement that started with opposition to practices on Wall Street held a separate demonstration in Davos on Saturday. A small group of protesters are camped in igloos in Davos to call for more help for the needy.

About 40 Occupy protesters gathered in front of the town hall. Some held placards with slogans such as "If voting would change anything, it would be illegal" and "Don't let them decide for you, Occupy WEF."

They then marched toward the forum, prompting about a dozen police officers to hastily erect a mobile barrier as Saturday shoppers looked on with bemusement.

The demonstrators chanted anti-capitalist slogans, remaining about 100 feet (30 meters) from police lines.

One member of the Occupy camp was invited to speak at a special event outside the forum on Friday night to discuss the future of capitalism; British opposition leader Ed Miliband was also speaking.

Soon after the panel discussion began, some activists in the audience jumped up and started chanting slogans, and the protester panelist walked off the stage.

Other members of the audience told the activists to "shut up" and arguments disrupted the panel for about 20 minutes. The discussion then resumed, without the Occupy panelist.

___

Anja Niedringhaus and Paolo Santalucia contributed to this report.


HUFFINGTON POST