Alright, an obvious set up. These yellow ties knew right from the get go
Yulia Kovpachik was gonna bare her titties. Yup, they knew, nonetheless, her efforts SUCCEEDED. After all, she was merely trying to protest sex slavery, prostitution and other like abuses. The Ukraine has become known as an international sex stop.
FEMEN, her group, is doing its bare best to draw attention to the injustices it perceives, not only in the Ukraine but also in the rest of world.
In all, Yulia's actual protest was seconds. Yet this YouTube video and others like it went global in minutes. It is testimony to the power of communication in the early twenty first century. The beauty of FEMEN is the lack of violence in its disagreements with the body politic. Using breasts is a stroke of genius. There is nothing that would attract so much attention in terms of press and public.
Indeed. Yulia attended a Euro 2012 pre-event, where fans could pose with the trophy. It was at that point that the slender Yulia bared her chest and exhibited a painted on abdominal sign which expressed an "F***" epithet to the upcoming soccer contests. While some might find her actions inappropriate and in poor taste (for one, the children), at the least others will get the point. Protesting is like that, never an all or none proposition.
And so another chapter has been written. Another book is soon to be finished. And time marches on, inexorably and relentlessly. The most any person can hope for is that he or she can leave the world a better place but for their stay. How about you? Would you bare your chest for something that rattles your chain? Would you take a nipple needle for your beliefs...?
Now there's taking one for the team... A few more FEMEN fotos for the road...
до побачення
(good bye ukr)
Added May 13, 2012, 1:49 AM EDT
KIEV | Sat May 12, 2012
(Reuters) - A Ukrainian women's rights activist stripped to the waist and seized the Euro-2012 soccer trophy while it was on public display in Kiev on Saturday in a protest against the forthcoming month-long championship.
The young woman, 23-year-old Yulia Kovpachik, is a member of the Kiev-based Femen women's rights group which believes the Euro-2012 soccer tournament being played in Ukraine next month will encourage sex tourism.
Kovpachik strode up to the silver, 60 centimetre (two feet) high trophy, which was on display as a tourist attraction in an open air exhibition in central Kiev, ostensibly to be photographed alongside it like hundreds of other sightseers.
But she then pulled down her red T-shirt to reveal the words "Fuck Euro 2012" scrawled on her torso. As she grabbed hold of the cup with both hands, she was seized by security guards, who appeared to have had advanced warning of the protest.
They covered her with a sheet and took her off to a waiting police car.
The protest appeared to be the first action in a campaign against the championship by Femen which regularly stages bare-breast protests in Ukraine - and sometimes beyond - to highlight what it sees as political injustice, social abuse and the exploitation of women in Ukraine.
Femen says Euro-2012, which Ukraine is co-hosting with Poland next month with the final in Kiev on July 1, will be a magnet for sex tourists - one of the group's main targets - and will feed a booming sex industry.
About one million foreign tourists are expected in Ukraine for the Euros.
Organisers said the 8 kg (17 lbs) Henri Delaunay cup was undamaged though Kovpachik appeared to topple back under its weight as security guards seized her. It was still on show in late evening.
Femen's spokeswoman, Anna Gutsol, said Kovpachik, who staged the protest on her 23rd birthday, was released after being told she would have to appear in court on Monday on a charge of hooliganism. The charge carries a maximum fine of 800 hryvnias and 15 days detention.
Conscious of Ukraine's growing reputation as a new destination for sex tourism, Euro-2012 organisers say they are taking steps to curb prostitution during the month-long tournament.
After Kovpachik's protest, Femen activist Olexandra Shevchenko told reporters: "We came here today to stop this Euro fan low-life from making a bordello out of Ukraine."
City authorities have mounted the trophy in a temporary exhibition area on Kiev's Independence Square.
Hundreds of sightseers were queuing up under the blazing sun for souvenir photographs alongside it when Kovpachik staged her demonstration.
Independence Square itself will be the centre of a huge 'fan-zone' during Euro-2012, capable of holding tens of thousands of football supporters.
(Writing By Richard Balmforth; Editing by Maria Golovnina)
Added May 29, 2012
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