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The pope speaks from his balcony weekly, and lots of people attend in St Peters Square below to hear him say his hateful, anti-gay messages. This week, four pro-gay FEMEN activists from Ukraine stripped to the waist, bared their breasts and their inked-on messages, and screamed “SHUT UP” at the pope. Then they were (quickly) dragged away from the devout by the police. Not that the police protected the protesters from being assaulted by at least one woman while they were being manhandled away into custody, as you can see in the video below.
This is speaking truth to power, and an especially excellent venue since police couldn’t use gas on the protesters without also endangering the devout Catholics who came to hear their anti-gay, pedophile-protector spiritual leader speak to the masses. While I doubt the pope was ruffled, or possibly even aware, of this — some of his followers were clearly upset. It only takes a few demonstrations like this to start a movement.
I wonder how many women from FEMEN will be in St Peters Square next week?
h/t care2causes
40 Comments
NSFW, I suppose
Pretty amazing Teddy … curious that they use English for their slogans btw. Good to see a challenge to the Pope!
The Pope’s po-po were prompt, though!
I love it1 Very creative. Thanks Teddy.
It is curious that they were using English. Perhaps they were thinking of the international play this was bound to get?
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if their numbers doubled next week, and every week thereafter, until they filled St Peters Square and the pope had to move his weekly homily indoors? To avoid the boobies?
Loved your adjectivication of the pontificator. Recc’d.
Ha! Love these women. I did a post at another site where I could use some of best photos not permitted here when they bare-breasted DAVOS. Stellar women!
Thanks Teddy thats great;)
The Pope hates people who question their authority, their morals and even worse people who act undignified and or embarrass them publicly especially about sex.
This protest hits every button they could push.
http://www.georgetown.edu/news/average-priest-age-now-nearly-20-years-older.html
http://www.churchleaders.com/pastors/pastor-articles/139575-7-startling-facts-an-up-close-look-at-church-attendance-in-america.html
The Pope like the GOP might want to start admitting that its their ideas that are the problem not the advertising used to sell the ideas.
How much money or if that is to hard to get numbers for how many articles does the Pope and or the Church put out against Gay Marriage vs helping the poor?
It is interesting that the worse the economy gets the more certain groups not just the Catholic church turn against Gays, Minorities, Women, heck anyone different.
To protect the elite in power these groups must find a scapegoat to blame instead.
Another interesting fact I’ve read is that young people link religion with anti gay ideas and thats one reason they don’t go to church like they used too.
Another factor in why people don’t go is in my opinion the whole ” don’t do this ” mentality I would prefer to know what I should do to get to heaven than worry about what I should not do.
” Give up all of your goods to the poor if you would follow me” JC
The Pope would much rather attack Gays than follow the teachings of Christ so why do we bother listening to him?
What a bunch of jackasses! If you want to demonize public protest, disrupting religious proceedings is a fine way to do that.
While I’d rather religious proceedings be disrupted by young, attractive, bare-breasted females, than the more average, fully clothed but equally jackassy (is that a word?) members of the Westboro Baptist Church, the contempt that such disruptions engenders is basically the same.
How that could possibly help these women accomplish anything useful, even given their own values, is a mystery to me. Sure, people who hold the Catholic Church in contempt get their resonant contempt personas excited. If that’s the goal – basically hatred and divisiveness – then these protests are a great success.
Here’s a video of a FEMEN jackass with “Kill Kirill” written on her back, Kirill being the head of the Russian Orthodox Church.
Does anybody but me find it a little strange that the FEMEN women are all in the young, attractive, and nicely-figured side? Can real feminists screen out the not-so-young, not-so-attractive females who also want to “Kill Kirill”? Why can your elderly aunt join the Raging Grannies, but not stand, shoulder-to-shoulder, abreast (get it?) the cuter, younger FEMEN chicks?
Wayne Madsen (who is left-leaning) has written a number of articles on FEMEN, and claims they are (essentially) useful idiots for a George Soros financed globalization manipulations:
(emphasis mine)
I don’t have a reference handy, but I did hear a speaker say that the participants of at least some of the lunch counter sit down strikes in the US were advised to wear their Sunday best. Does anybody in their right mind think that they would have gotten better results if they were topless? Even if the protestors had only been topless, young, attractive females?
=======================
Kindly take a look at the wikipedia page for Westboro Baptist Church:
All this $$ and activity, from a church that has 40 members (according to wikipedia)! Take a look at the picture, please, of the church. It’s on the small side – I doubt they could fit 200 people. And yet, the hate-engendering headlines from this little, pipsqueak church are never-ending, especially in the lefty blogosphere.
Both FEMEN and Westboro engender hatred and/or contempt. Just what we need to fix the severely dysfuntional democratic systems we already have, right?
You’re being played, folks.
It’s Art. And, using their breasts to get attention is wonderfully and politically correct. Beautiful and Courageous.
That’s f-ing awesome! Where do I sign up?
Seriously, though. I think that blonde girl’s screeching chant should be part of the Inaugural Poem. Viva FEMEN! Hang the priests!
HBO will be running Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God in February. I wouldn’t be surprised if the picture got some press attention – which might even serve to bring a bit of discomfort to Ratzinger…
Give the Catholic Church another 300 to 400 years or so. That’s about how long it takes for them to come around to the rest of the world’s view. Think Galileo.
See also my not-so-famous diary, Call for investigation of Left HATEKeepers (and Right HATEKeepers, too)
FEMEN and Westboro Baptist Church provide fresh material for the Left and Right HateKeepers.
I think this is a case where freedom of speech and freedom to protest tramples on the freedom to practice your religion.
Like WBC protests and Pussy Riot music production. I do not approve.
It’s hard to disagree that ‘kill’ anyone isn’t wrong. As to the women, yes, I’ve seen chubby ones, but considering that it may be easier for a svelte woman to ont déshabillé, it might explain that. Age, the forces of gravity, extra pounds…would certainly prevent me from doing so.
Westboro hate doesn’t equal feminist anger and outrage, imo, although I wasn’t a big Pussy Riot proponent.
You get what you pay for, as they say.
People objected when ACT-UP came into St Patricks with “blood” too.
The privilege afforded these ‘religious ceremonies’ and ‘religious sites’ is absurd in a secular culture. I don’t care where these women get their money, actually. Because the message they get out there is a message I share.
Nobody is playing me, sorry.
Protesters against human oppressors, abusers, hate and fear mongers, self-anointed, “guarantors,” of salvation, their doctrine or their leader, as FEMEN is engaging in, brings only my admiration for their courage, NO disgust with their tactics.
WBC “protest,” activity just emphasizes their own misguided hate, and self-proclaimed moral superiority, and affirms their message as fully on par with the evils of the Vatican, but does nothing to make me repulsed in the least by their method of delivery.
Didn’t need to read more than four lines of your comment. Skipped your diary link, too.
When the original clip finishes, there is an exact video clip to choose that has subtitles. Even more entertaining as I am not especially multilingual and the abusive xtian with the umbrella is a hoot, though hopefully she is brought up on charges of unprovoked assault.
While it may not be everyone’s style, protest disrobing goes back at least to some of the Quakers in the 17th century who would “go naked for a sign.” Like wendydavis, I tend not to like “Kill” (anyone) as a slogan, although this might become a more urgent issue if FEMEN starts using kill lists and drones. And from a feminist viewpoint, I think how conventionally “attractive” or otherwise they might be considered is totally irrelevant, maybe the other side of claims through the decades and generation that women involved in feminist movements are mainly those “too unattractive” for anything else.
Not likely if it happened on Vatican grounds! The Catholics have a long history of shielding criminals, murderers, torturers, and just recently rapists, so why should they fait to shield that busybody with the umbrella?
No disagreement, the subtitles affirming what I thought the (presumably RC) female security guard was yelling, “no violence.” Well, luckily, no chance of that ever happening through the auspices of just about any major religious faction. /s
Love this! Some observations:
When you’re actually IN St. Peter’s Square, there’s a bit of it in Italy and then most of it in Vatican City, and how you could tell which sovereign applies (at least the last time I was there in 1990) was these concrete abutments that are in somewhat of a semi-cirle near to where those columns you see are.
So I think there were two sets of police; some carabinieri and some Swiss guards. I don’t know the uniform code well enough to tell the difference, but note that amongst the blue clad cops there are white stripe guys with rifles and red stripe guys, and indeed, they’re dragging the protestors off to the Italy side of the abutments/square.
Also, the women striking the protestor with the umbrella? You know what she’s saying?
Sei il Diavolo, capisce?
“You are the Devil, understand?”
Nobody stopped her from beating that protestor.
In the subtitled version, yes, your geography refresher much appreciated.
Looked ( and sounded)like a bunch of exhibitionist morons to me.
“Courage”? Go to the island of Rhodes, and most women are topless at the beach. If they had courage, they’d drop their bottoms, too! :-)
When they face down snarling dogs, like MLK did, or batons across the head, like Ghandi’s followers, or even tasers, like too many Americans have to, then I’ll agree they have courage.
Regardless, I question the value of their tactic to achieve what we can infer of their goals. In fact, I think it’s counter productive, for whatever narrow goal they have (and thus stupid; so stupid, in fact, that given their homogenous – young, attractive – makeup, I find it easy to believe that they are useful idiots, being exploited for somebody else’s hidden agenda).
Of more concern to me is that it poisons civil society, and thus helps maintain citizens of democracies in their disempowered state.
That, of course, is quite useful for elites and their social-engineering Mandarins.
I’m more sympathetic to disruptions of politicians pursuing business as usual. Even there, though, I would question the value of public events.
Should American FEMEN, justifiably upset with Obama’s drone assassinations, crash his inauguration, tear off their tops (pre-lettered with “Kill Obama”), and yell at Obama and the Supreme Court dude swearing him in, to “Shut Up”? Is that a valid way to shame Obama into doing the right thing?
I meant:
Just as important as the large-grain consideration of whether or not to disrupt, the smaller-grain consideration of how to conduct yourself, while doing so, is non-trivial.
I don’t want to look up references, but Al Giordano of narconews.com gives these sorts of things serious consideration. As well he should.
Thank you.
Teddy, thanks.
Those women displayed tremendous discipline and physical courage.
They asserted their right to protest non-violently and then defended it.
In the eye of the beholder, for sure. Glad you agree.
With Catholicism on the decline and Islam on the rise if they want to protest dangerously anti-Gay religions I can think of better venues.
Plus the wonderful publicity when all four are hung side-by-side!
(/s)
My stars, I’ve never said this in my life, but you created a strawman there, metamars. Had you not included ‘kill Obomba’ you might have been taken more seriously.
Shame him??? The man has no shame, no conscience, or at least one that can’t be schmoozed into submission in about four seconds flat.
“Civil Society” is already poisoned. It IS poison. It is long past time to kick up some dust.
@wendydavis Sadly, you’ve summed up things right, and “Impeach Obama!” is the proper constitutional remedy. Killing is the official policy, and impeachment is the nonviolent alternative.
You’re obviously no Al Giordano, who also approves of “kicking up dust”.