Amina Tyler/Sboui writes grafitti on World Heritage site mosque, gets arrested

[MADem]

44. There you go again!

i'll remember your support for vandalism next time some 'anarchists' start spraypainting starbucks. funny i never see you guys defending those instances.


WAAAAAAH!

I am not "supporting" vandalism--I'm simply saying this woman -- unlike those Starbucks taggers--made her protest in public in front of cameras. She was prepared to accept the consequences, as the video that you provided documents.

When those "some 'anarchists'" of which you speak take off their silly little ski masks, stop breaking windows, and smile for the camera while they wait to be arrested, we can talk, and we can call their actions the equivalent of what this woman did.

The two instances are not at all the same, but good effort attempting to convolute them! Anyone not paying attention might buy that weak sauce!

And as for that wall, if you actually think it --or those fancy lightposts, or that plaza--was constructed when the original mosque was built, I have a bridge for sale in Washington State. Walls are walls--they aren't part and parcel of the heritage site. The masjid itself is the thing that is protected, not the surrounding infrastructure. If someone sprays graffiti on the gift shop or the food cart near the Pyramids, are they "defacing a world heritage site?" Of course not. But whatever...do continue on with the outrage!

Here, since you plainly want to be offended, let me give you some graffiti in Tunis to really be offended about:


A Tunisian teenager is receiving death threats for her public support of the feminist protest group Femen, started in Ukraine and famous for its topless protests. The graffiti seen here is in Tunis. (Lauren Wolfe)

Why are we so desperately afraid of the power of women’s bodies that we have weaponized them? What does it mean to a young girl growing up in this world to learn that her body is considered so dangerous that to reveal it could lead to “epidemics and disasters” and may be punishable by death?

It is part of the “othering” of women in society that leads to such anger and criticism of the sexuality and appearance of their bodies, as if they are so dangerous as to be somehow responsible for all sexual acts. So women around the world are blamed for their clothing, their curves, and their appearance when they suffer sexualized violence, instead of indignation and anger being directed towards their attackers. So a 15-year-old rape victim is sentenced to public flogging for having sex outside marriage. So a teenager in Steubenville, Ohio, is ridiculed, blamed, and threatened when she is raped and urinated on and the assaults are shared across social media. So the victim of a convicted rapist in the UK is named and blamed on Twitter so many times that her name starts “trending” and she has to change her identity.

When will we stop condemning the bodies and behavior of women and consider the behavior of those who threaten, silence, and attack them? When will the very sight of a woman’s natural form cease to be seen as a threat to the very fabric of society?

A man who thinks a young woman should be stoned to death for posting a photograph online is a threat to at least half of society. A young woman posting a photograph online is not a threat to society. Her name is Amina. She is a teenage girl.

http://www.womenundersiegeproject.org/blog/entry/womens-bodies-cause-of-epidemics-and-disasters


Now, I am not a fan of "nudity for shock value," (in part because while it is still a "spectacle" in the early years of this century, it doesn't really shock so much, anymore) and if this young woman were my child, I would urge her to find another way. That said, she's not my kid, and even if her form of protest is not 'my' style, I can admire her guts to stand up for a cause that she believes in (and that is a very basic cause--one that most normal humans don't take ANY issue with), she is a sentient adult able to make her own decisions. And she's done that. AND she's accepted the consequences.

So why are you still so outraged? And, bluntly--why should anyone care if you are outraged? I certainly don't care if this upsets you--that's life, we all see things we don't care for in this world. Your angry denunciations of this young woman haven't shifted my view of her one bit. In fact, the more you gripe about this criminal graffiti artist who dares go up against the sexist shitheels in her country, the more I find reason to admire her. She's clearly gotten under your skin, so that's a start. Maybe she'll really discombobulate the status quo in her neck of the woods.

I think she's possessed of real courage.