Ukraine Girls Strip to Protest Hot Water Shut-off
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James Joyner | Monday, June 9, 2008 |
Some Ukranian co-eds have chosen a novel way to draw attention to subpar living conditions.
Students in Ukraine have stripped off for a sexy protest against having their hot water switched off. Dozens of girls plunged into a fountain in Kiev’s Independence Square for a wet T-shirt demonstration with a difference. Equipped with soap and sponges, many stripped down to their bikinis or underwear.
The event drew a large crowd of onlookers.
The annual cut to the hot water supply is a common practice in Ukraine and many other post-Soviet states. It is often switched off for a month during summer to carry out maintenance work on the pipes.
The girls said they wanted to attract the authorities’ attention to the poor timing which has come in the middle of exams.
This strikes me as highly counterproductive. Perhaps if they used ugly girls?
About the Author: James Joyner is the publisher of Outside the Beltway and the managing editor of the Atlantic Council. He's a former Army officer, Desert Storm vet, and college professor with a PhD in political science from The University of Alabama. He lives just outside the Beltway in Alexandria, Virginia with his wife and infant daughter.
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Nay James, this type of "protest" should always be encouraged...as long as they aren't the dirty/harry/fat 60's leftovers.
You confuse protest and revenge. The motive for the former is to get attention, which this certainly did. You're correct that it punishes no one, but that's a feature, not a bug.
Bill: True so far as it goes. Still, protestors are usually trying to get results, not just attention. "I'll put my clothes back on" may not be proper incentive in that regard.
This post is useless without pics.
I will not believe this unless I see it.
Some of the authorities are probably already considering how to turn it into an annual event and making a tourist attraction out of it ...
as an aside: does anyone else find it chilling/strange that the russia today website (link to story) dedicates a whole category to dmitry medvedev? i realize that they're funded by the kremlin but isn't this a bit in-your-face?
I think the Ukraine might have been taken over by Quagmire "Gigity"
