Breasts Not Bombs takes on the Governator

Breasts Not Bombs is taking this opportunity to call for a Demonstration on Monday November 7th, the day before California's Election Day, in Sacramento on the West Steps of the State Capitol at High noon.

Many of us feel that the policies of our Hollywood Governor are offensive to good and decent working
class people. It is clear that the millions of dollars spent on this "Special Election" could have been better spent on education, health care, housing, food banks, etc, etc... Mr. Schwarzenegger has profoundly offended thousands of service providers in our state from nurses, to firefighters, to union members, to teachers. This ballot is one big insult to privacy and integrity in our social fabric. Muster your courage and join us to show Arnold that we have an extraordinary power and presence and our voices will be heard.

Ashland Ashland, We All Stand Up

This last weekend Breasts Not Bombs made their debut in Southern Oregon in the beautiful town square in Ashland. Media was present and so were many tourists wondering through the extremely quaint, friendly shops and bistros. We were joined by two beautiful local women and three others that drove all the way from Williams. We continue our educational work in handing out the Bill of Rights and taking back the definition of the word DECENCY. I must say it was a gorgeous action. Many were definitely entertained by our clever display and I even saw some women crying in the crowd when I myself was brought to tears in expressing our deep compassion and solidarity with people who are suffering through the indecencies of the Bush administration and the Multinational corporations who continue to rape and pillage the whole world.
The local newspaper covered us in the Sunday edition of the Mail Tribune. They did us great justice with a Front page flag photo, a local section flag photo and a big article in the local section with a picture. The article had great quotes and what appeared to be an objective reporter. I must also say the feeling of stanind there in our power is extraordinary and so ordinary at the same time. The feeling of power when the local police had to stand eye level with my breast and ask me ever so politely to stop using the bullhorn because I did not have a permit for sound was sublime. So strange, so simple. He showed great respect as I showed him as well.
Blessed be the mothers.
Stay tuned for the next Breasts Not Bombs coming to a town square near you.

We are in good international company

It seems as though the need to bare one's breasts to GET PEOPLE'S ATTENTION is quite useful to many of us around the world. It has come to a point, my friends, that women feel extremely motivated to stand up with tremendous courage to claim our rights in this world. I am honored to be in such powerful company. The Beat goes on.

Check out this article from South Africa



Protesters bare breasts for jobs

By Botho Molosankwe

Johannesburg motorists and pedestrians were treated to a mini-strip show
while on their way to work.

A group of women, some bare-breasted while others wore brassieres, protested
outside the offices of the Gauteng department of health in the city centre
on Tuesday morning.

Singing, jumping and raising placards, the women tried as much as they could
to attract attention on a busy Sauer Street.

Machinga kept telling the protesters to take off their clothes
While some passers-by looked horrified at what they saw, others, mostly men,
observed the women for some time with smiles on their faces.

The women were part of the group who had protested naked at the Union
Buildings on Women's Day in August.

They were aggrieved that they were being treated unfairly by the department
of health. The group claimed they had been promised jobs after volunteering
for three years at Masakhane, a company that specialises in hospital food
and linen in Rosslyn, Tshwane.

Waiver Machinga, the spokesperson for the group - who had his clothes on -
said that a few months ago, 25 of them were offered jobs, with the
department promising the rest of them they would be offered jobs if they
became available.

However, that never materialised, said Machinga.

'People cannot bully themselves into jobs'
On Monday, they spent the night outside the department's offices with the
hope of securing an appointment with Gauteng MEC for Health Gwen Ramokgopa.

Machinga, who kept telling the protesters to take off their clothes, said
they had staged the protest with the hope that Ramokgopa would put in
writing that, as soon the jobs became available, the volunteers would be
given preference.

Machinga said the reason for the nudity was because "if we do not draw
attention to ourselves, we will be ignored".

Ramokgopa's spokesperson Simon Zwane was surprised to learn there were
protesters outside the building requesting a meeting with the MEC. Zwane
pointed out that the volunteers were in no way attached to his department
and that no one had promised them jobs.

"As much as we sympathise with the protesters because of the high levels of
unemployment, people cannot bully themselves into jobs by protesting.

"There are procedures that have to be followed; we cannot just appoint
people because they are protesting," Zwane said.

Machinga said that two months ago, while at work, police had ordered them to
leave the Masakhane premises, with no reason given. He said he was hurt by
the action, especially after having worked for so long for nothing.

"After all those years, the thanks they gave us was to order us to leave,"
he said.

Zwane said the reason why volunteers were asked to stop was because the
department did not require permanent volunteers.

No one from the department of health addressed the group.

Keep Me Abreast

It's thrilling to see the amount of enthusiasm and same mindedness when it comes to baring one's flesh in order to bring attention to life threatening issues. Daily Accounts flesh baring demonstrations are popping up on the internet and National newspapers. There's the story of PETA (People For Ethical Treatment of Animals) baring it all to protest the abuse of sheep in Austrailia and I just read today about another sister in Bozeman, Montana baring are skin and soul to accentuate cruelty to elephants in the circus. More power to the Peaceful.
Reactions to these kinds of demonstrations seem to hover in the incredulity department. Critics wonder why, but don't ask us directly. Their summation is "whatever".
Fortunately there are critics. People pay attention when a woman bares her breasts. And they even dare to ask the question "what do naked people have to do with sheep or with stopping the war in Iraq?". I find that inspiring. People asking questions is a healthy exercise for the mind. The mind that is filled with constant propaganda about consumption and power. The mind that accepts concepts and definitions that make no sense, like bombing Iraq to make peace in the Middle East!! So these brave activist are willing to take off their clothes to get you to think and talk about what is unjust and dangerous in the world, we do so especially in the name of those who have no voice at all.

Here is the essay that I first wrote when Janet Jackson inspired me to consider using the sacred feminine in public demonstrations.

Keep me Abreast

At the outset of Superbowl, 38,Patriots, not the football team, but the American Fans who love their country, were filled with a sense of pride and glory to see the astronauts of the future and relish in the memory of the one’s lost last year when the space craft Columbia disintegrated in space. That was a stellar moment. But when these same viewers witnessed the shocking wardrobe malfunction of Janet Jackson’s costume at halftime they recoiled in shame and turned off the television to seek some kind of comfort.

The surprising appearance of Janet Jackson’s Breast has caused a mighty furor on and about the airwaves. The “Crass and deplorable stunt” that occurred during the half-time show of the Superbowl over took National Headlines. The fact that George Bush Lied to the World and the American People about Saddam Hussein having weapons of mass destruction didn’t even make the paper that day. I guess Janet’s Breasts bounced it right off the front page. Am I also to believe that her breast exposure is more horrifying than the death of another six US soldiers and who knows how many Iraqi children and women. Or more indecent than the fact that people are being detained and tortured without any constitutional rights in Guantanamo Bay.

I understand that The FCC is going to order a probe into the Breast situation. They are going to probe the breast exposure. Is that correct? Is that the plan? Probably spend over a million, no probably 5 million dollars to find out how and why Ms. Jackson’s breast got loose. Isn’t it more in the best interest of American’s for there to be an investigation into Dick Cheney’s ties to Halliburton and his secret meetings with the energy taskforce.? Are you telling me that Janet Jackson’s nipple is somehow more dangerous than Blackwater Security and Bechtel profiting off the death of thousands?

What I have to surmise from this obsession with Janet Jackson’s breast is that the Breast is mightier than the sword. It seems as though we women have a secret weapon we knew nothing about. The power of the breast. Like any super hero underneath our everyday clothing lay our true identities . With the slip of some leather and the revelation of a little bit of flesh we command the front page. What shall we do with this power that lies beneath?

What would they do if women started exposing their breasts everywhere? What if we truly exposed our most vulnerable selves in the face of their unabashed destruction and war and oppression? What if we could highlight the fact that we as a nation are decimating the soft tissue of human beings of breasts and babies and children? That fact must find a way to rise from the ashes of the Corporate Media‘s complicity with the rise of what looks a lot like Global fascism. If we started taking off our shirts honey, those cameras would follow us everywhere. And our cause would be so obvious ; The issue is soft tissue.

They were terrified at Janet Jackson’s a½ cup, Just imagine us Double D girls on the move, backed up by wild and passionate drummers….Photo op anyone? I suggest we boldly go forth and take our power be the super sheros that we are underneath all these clothes.

The media blithely exploits our bodies to sell everything from car wax to cigarettes but if one breast is shown accidentally in it’s innocence or while nursing a baby or making love we are appalled. We are appalled. What madness leads us to this bizarre reaction to our very own bodies. The mammary is the place of our first nourishment, or sacred nutrition. There is no greater nurturing or beauty than that of the mother, but WE outlaw it.. We are told it is indecent and dirty and shameful. I say it is our power. I say it is our salvation . It’s front Page News.