From far, far away in a European corner of the globe comes an alternative call to Jihad. This is not just Jihad; this is Topless Jihad.
Women of miscellaneous heritage but from the collective ‘sextremists’ FEMEN - strewn between hubs in the Ukraine, Sweden and Paris - are enjoining their supporters to strip off in the battle with the ‘Islamists’. The Ukrainian feminist protest group are known for their topless tactics in their struggle against man-made injustice. According to their website, they "defend with their breast sexual and social equality in the world."
And on April 4th, 2013, they’re appropriating the popular Islamic mantra and crusade of ‘Jihad’. Turning the tables on the terms of reference, the infidels are the conservative Muslims who suppress their bodily womanhood.
Inspired by the semi-naked brazen battle of 19 year-old Tunisian Amina Tyler, FEMEN mean business, as they deploy their best assets to the front-line to tackle the oppressive patriarchal honor society. Armed with nothing but their inked breasts- scrawled messages across their fronts - therein lies the rub, and their raison d'etre, as they go for bust against the sworn enemy in its male and Muslim form.
International supporters of the cause (traditional brassieres need not apply) -- the FEMEN faithful (or faith-less, whichever way you’re oggling) and those engaging in freeing their breasts from Islamic oppresion, apparently, should mark the online occasion on their individual Facebook pages or at a Tunisian embassy near them.
Say the organisers: “Do your topless action near embassy of Tunisia in your city!”
Rallying calls for the day include "Bare breasts against Islamism!" and "There will be a million Aminas”; the bar is set high for a prolific turn-out.
The mission statement by the organisers of the event thrusts their prize mascot Amina into the eye of the storm, as she fronts their Jihadist campaign. "The fate of the Femen - Tunisia activist Amina Tyler has shaken up and united thousands of women across the globe....Amina's act of civil disobedience has brought down upon her the lethal hatred of islamists inhuman beasts for whom killing a woman is more natural than recognizing her right to do as she pleases with her own body. For them, we now see, the love of freedom is the most dangerous kind of psychiatric illness, one demanding radical forced treatment in the spirit of fascist punitive medicine.The "Arab Spring," for the women of North Africa, has turned out to be a frigid sharia winter that has deprived them of what few political rights and liberties they enjoyed."
On the eve of International Topless Jihad Day, we sneak a voyeuristic gander at the motley crew of flashing Mujahideen so far, in a gallery set to multiply with breasts overnight.