The AP caption for this picture:
Syrian born artist, Hala Faisal, protests the war in Iraq and the occupation of Palestine by appearing in the nude with anti-war slogans written in both English and Arabic, in Washington Square Park Tuesday, Aug. 9, 2005, in New York City. Faisal was arrested by New York City police.
In her essay Hala says:
She is a Syrian-American artist residing in New York city where she paints and teaches art. She has traveled, lived and worked for extended period of times in Paris, Moscow, Damascus and Germany, and her fluency in several languages helped her assimilate many cultures.
I wonder what she means by this act? transparency? or is it just another exhibitionistic tendencies? In fact she reminds me of the "Breasts Not Bombs" protest, Berkeley, July 23, 2005 (warning - adult photos).
Well, it was more that Breasts protest:
I love the irony of this. But I never know whether to be amused or angered when such people uses the freedom of the West to fight oppression in the Middle East.
Contextually Related posts:
Although I don’t have anything against people protesting in whichever way they feel is approproiate, I believe that these slogans and nude protests are demeaning to women everywhere.
Besides, it would have been much better had it been Ruby, Nancy Ajram, or Nawal al Zoghby. Anyone notify them?
Nawal al Zoghby? You are old man :-D
You missed to mention Almighty Haifa Wahbeh. lol
I agree with Roba. This is demeaning to women!
what an excuse to appear nude !! Just DISGUSTING
Personally I find it amusing — especially given the irony that you point out, that this is a very Western protest about an issue that impacts other parts of the world. When I can, I’d rather laugh than be angry; the world is a nutty place sometimes.
man she is a fineeeee babe http://www.halafaisal.com/bio.htm
Haven’t seen frontal photos. was curious about seeing an arabic nudist. now we now they exist
Thank you Hala,
You are our lady Godiva, the Arab lady Godiva. We are all proud of you. What you have done has conveyed the message more forcefully and more persuasively than anything else. You deserve a golden statue at the center of your – my – city of Homs.
God bless you!
Haitham, I am not that old! LOL! I guess if I said I wanted Fairouz, that would be different!
Don’t support that way of protesting. Get decent woman!
She is an artist and she thought that showing her body is just like showing her paints. She is also 47. I disagree with what she did and I feel sorry for her daughter seeing her mom nude in public. It will make the daughter embarrased. What would her family say in Syria. I hoope she did not do this for publicity as she claim that it is for war protest.
Simply she is not an Arab, even if she is originally comes from an Arab country, cuz no such Arab women will do such thing like this, if we want to protest we should do it in our way, and in such an image that represent our true emotions.. am sure you see it original idea.. but i don’t.. original thought comes from inside us. for me she is just a western women protesting for our cause and i thank here sympathy with us..
freedom 4 kurd & peace 4 all kind people
Firstly, I would like to say that this not representative of a Muslimah, or a woman claiming to be a Muslim. Also protesting is not from the way of our minhaj. One should take from the examples of the Ummah and it model examples of the Prophet Muhammad’s wives. Secondly, it is disgusting to see others applaud this ignorance and filthy jahaliyaah practice. If I were an Arab, I would be most disappointed. This the sad face of those who exchanges the beautiful religion of Islam, for the pursuit of worldy matters. Expression should be done in ways that are pleasing to Allah. May Allah guide her!!!
Everyone has the right to protest whichever way they want. But what does she mean by ‘stop the war’? Which war? In Iraq there is a war being waged by the terror groups against the new freely elected government. This war is ironicly being waged with complicity of the Syrian regime. So perhaps she ought to direct her anger at the government of her country of origin.
Dear,i see in what she did tow oppisert thing ;
first she did something couragous in an eara of weekness, so i admire her braveness.
but, i disagree with her way of protasting cuse it is aganest our traditions. i prefer if she manged to come up with a way of protesting that is agree with our traditions
well , the lady is brave guys , she wanted to deliver her message and to make sure her voice is heard , i think what drove her to do that is her frustration from everything around . she chose a wrong way to protest , from our point of view , but lets see the half filled cup , she delivered the message successfully .
shame on u hala al-faisal
i think that what u did no more than scandil for u enogh
and there are many ways to express about what u want unless
what u did your body is not to sale as think
thank u for this irony
To all of u ..and esp. to Mona from Alexndria:
I think we need to express our feelings or convey our opinions or applying our theories in an acceptable way,to some degree..let’s not make it a big deal..the whole subject was worth to be discussed ..why?? because it explains the different points of view about the way she actes ..me myself ..i feel shamed ..and I find so hard to believe that we can do such a thing..and i still think that was a crazy moment for a women like her ..Guys “esp.you who were justifying her action”..i have a questions for you ..why do u think we have principles in our life ?? and why we do teach our kids: dont steel, dont lie dont cheat..etc.why? why do we have a law in our life ..either civilian law or religous principles ?? is it for fun or just to give us an idea or it is a valuable way to be applied on our way of living?? that was my question..if u would like to answer me ..I’ll be apprecaitive.
Absolutely disgusting action specially from someone like her. Wasn’t there any other way for a decent protest?? The caption say she wrote words on her body in english and arabic. I can see no arabic!!! Hope it’s not on her a$$. Sorry, but she made this action for publicity (to her galleries) and nothing more.
Shame on her.
yes feras , i said she chose a wrong way to deliver her message , i’m sorry if i made u upset , i’m with u in all what u said , but she talked to them in a language they understand . alexandria_786@yahoo.com
good girl…
at least you’ve done something… even if it was wrong.
and I realy have to ask… what does USA and others want from us ??
nature recources ?
security ?
they will not get both….
becuase of Islam…. where all of us learn justice and equty
what she have done is, realy, miss understand.
my advice to her is go back to syria and live the rest of your life… work against the war, especialy that Syria is next…
I guess it’s very clear she’s either a communist, or liberal!
She was making a point, in westren standards, that was pretty normal, and no one would find it demeaning to woman there!
Though personally I don’t like it at all, I would have prefered something else.
Though it’s her choice, and she’s doing it for a cause.
Extremists!!You are either full covered “Burqa” or nude!!
Does anyone here disagree with anti-war stance? I don’t.
I think the way she made her point was as an artist with irony. It is true it does not follow the ways of our traditions in Arabic speaking countries. Maybe at the same time she was making a statement about that, and women’s rights to their bodies. Maybe she was also making a statement about idiots who gawk at a naked woman, especially perhaps a naked Arab woman. IMO it’s not the best way, but she chose her way and maybe she wanted to get multiple messages out in one fell swoop.
?? ??? ? ?? ??? ??? ?????
?????? ???? ??????
?? ??? ??? ???? ???? ???? ????
I think that she made the new and most bravery work to deliver a message to president Bush and the American government,in a way that is familiar in the western world. But as we are muslims , we deny such a way which is contradictory to our values and priciples. It was , in my view of point, more appealing if she had made a subjective gallory dedicated for demonstrating agony and victimes of the war in Iraq and Palestine, because all muslims immigrants have a role now in the westwern world to defend and clearify our merciful and tolerant Islamic teachings.
ppl ppl
honestly i dont think nudity is the key to stop war
it wont stop war
it will only start somethings up..
lol
be creative
and seriously.. who wants to see a pair of saggy titties..
and not any titties! a 47 year old titty..
u cant just whip out ur 40+ year old titty! thats ur man’s titty
40 year old titty.. ur man’s titty..
20 year old titty.. community titty.
lol
any ways.. whats wrong with posters?
looool
YO GO GIRLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!
shoot, those idiots over there, arab AND american aren’t behaving, so why not act just as fucked up as they are and bare it all! hahahahahahahaha
wish it were me!
…the deaths of all those innocent people isnt crying out loud enough for the ears of them fuckers to hear and stop obviuosly…maybe a naked arab woman will!!!!!
and for you ‘oh holy people’ in here calling her shit, until ya’ll get off your high horse and do something about whats going on over there, shut up! friggin sitting around all the time on your azzes bitching about bush (in whom i hate too) and americans and this and that and whatver but not doing a dang thing. men are either blowing up shit or sitting around like a lump on a log, women always bail you men out…so shut up!
and a tit is a tit..ya seen one you seen them all…ya drank from one as a baby, its no diffrent anywhere else.
lol
Take it easy, tami. I can understand your frustration as a woman. But some of those ‘holy people’ you talked about are also WOMEN!
On the other hand, there is nothing anti-woman here. In fact, if a man did the same, you would have heard the same comments by the same people…
What is so disgusting about her display? Why should anyone feel ashamed of their body or of someone else’s?
If God had wanted us to be naked, we would have been born that way.
i think that was a bad decision 2 do an action like this she didnt think twice b4 doing it she is arabic woman n thats not an arabic deed but as mona alexandria said she clarified what she wanted but with a bad action i think thats a bad action really bad one n i hope noone makes it again specially arabs ofcourse
Guys, the girl studied art in Moscow & Paris, so no wonder she would do something like that.
By the way, if you saw her paintings you wouldn’t wonder her nudity.
P.S. I am saying that not as encouraging her, I actually hated what she did!!
Hala Faisal’s body belongs to her. She does what she wants with it. It may not be the most efficient protest against the war, but at least she tried.
There are of course much more effective methods of protest that don’t include taking off your clothes and making a fool of yourself.
..shame on her
I can never realy understand some peoples need to walk around nude in public????? ah well what ever turns them on I gess
Anyway I rather them going in the nude than dressed in bombs.
I’m not Arabic but I’m Muslim alright, and the folks I’m from wear descent clothes, but because we are originally noncivilized savages, going naked is no big deal for my folks. In our old ways we went topless ha ha. What I’m wondering about is what does going naked acomplish?? I know if I went naked everyone would say “there goes the savages” ha ha. Maybe if a person looks caucasian and caucasians think s/he is one of them naked in public, maybe that would get them caucasian folks upset ha ha.
OK jokes aside, lets keep things secular when it comes to nudism and nudist artwork. When we keep things secular and away from religious matters we don’t get people feeling their religion was offended. It’s a free world, you want to go naked who cares, but lets not offend others, so lets stay secular in these matters. It’s like this Pakistani we have in Canada making Islamic fashion shows with Muslim women dressed unIslamically. Well why does that Pakistani person feel compelled to call it an Islamic fashion show? The Pakistani either can’t keep religion out of things or is trying to get famous for offending Muslims. Who cares if a Muslim or Arabic woman in the US or Canada goes naked. Do it on secular basis so as not to offend anyones religious sentiments.
Would you take off your clothes and go naked if you think it could save a child’s life? Would you do it again if you think it could bring about awareness and change to millions of people regarding the lies & deceit repeatedly told as news, organized mass murder committed almost daily around the world, targeted assassinations of leaders of communities, strategic impoverishment of entire regions, and many other forms of oppression against millions of ordinary people, just like you, by covert operatives of secret governments agencies, market manipulating international bankers, bias media controlled by corrupt politicians, conscienceless business-owners of multi-national corporations, and many others? Surely not. Not even a whimper from you, and there’s nothing you can or want to do about it to bring some kind of change, in anyway available to you. Forget about taking-off your clothes to make a statement. Surely there’s some other means available to you? But then again, there’s nothing of yours worth the sacrifice, other than a little time on sharing simple thoughts. Surely, then you don’t think you are qualified with the right to pass judgements of morality on others?
But, what really can you do?
well, what she has done is so silly. When you want to express your feelings don’t go naked. To save the world ??
there is no way to save the world when you get naked, if we want to save the world we should take care of the snake head ( whatever you think it is ) and cut it off.
I think she is worng to protest in this way….but she is free to portest with her own point of view…..i disagree with her that nudity is an art… it is porn….she won`t win any thing with this protest but her picture will be soon on porn sites…..I`m sorry for her
Ash Baker # 42 is exactly right — if it can help decrease even a LITTLE
bit the oppression in the world, going nude is something any and all
of us would (or at least should) do.
Others here have said, “what does she think this will accomplish” But
look around you: it DID get more media publicity (including the
publicity on THIS page! but also more mainstream media) so that
proves the very point — it works.
Also Islam and Christianity and Judaism and others are good
on many points, correct on many points, but all are WRONG
on that idea that the body needs to be covered and sexuality is
sin. I predict in 200 years or less it will be seen that the body
is holy and (although we should be truthful and dedicated to our spouse)
that sexuality is holy too and both should be celbrated, this is the
one thing the pagans are most correct about.
Science is wrong and the organized religion is wrong and
the business marketers are wrong as Eduardo Galeano
reminds us: “The Church says: The body is a sin.
Science says: The body is a machine.
Advertising says: The body is a business.
The body says: I am a fiesta.” a sacred celebration
of life.
One more thing…is you really do, truly want to understand
what her naked protest was about, here is a great
article http://www.thevillager.com/villager_119/talkingpoint.html
History is riddled with individual acts of civil disobedience that embody a larger moment in history — Rosa Parks refusing to move to the back of the bus, Quang Duc, the Buddhist monk who in 1963 famously lit himself on fire in Saigon, an image that came to symbolize the Vietnam War.
“Yesterday it was one woman sitting in front of the president’s ranch, today it is one woman taking off her clothes in Washington Square Park, and tomorrow it will be somebody else,” said Daniel Perez, Faisal’s pro-bono lawyer. “Ultimately, it is going to force the Bush administration to cut its losses and get the hell out.”
An important clarification: by “wrong” above I am not talking
about the religions themselves, and no offence is intended to brothers
and sisters who are Muslim, Christian, or Jewish. What is wrong is today’s
understanding of those religions, and all three have still not reached
the understanding that the body is not to be ashamed of and covered up.
Had to google to find this website again as it’s not among my regular sites.
But Salaam Shalom Gandhi’s main point is the above, that to stop oppression
and suffering one has to be willing to take steps and I salute those who
do, and that sometimes people try to draw attention by actions and that
Hala Faisal’s actions certainly were effective as drawing attention.
Blame mainstream media for not covering the issues so people have to
wear a funny suit, or pour red paint on the sidewalk, or go naked, or
the like, to get the media to cover things. Sometimes it’s not effective,
but often it is. Peace to all, peace on earth, peace within our hearts,
peace among nations and among people.
At least some people, such as Mr. Gandhi, are able to rise to the occasion and use reason instead of emotion to think through this issue. What Ms. Faisal did and what she continues to do is braver than all the Arabs and Muslims who sit in front of their TVs and say, Ya Allah, whenever some atrocity is committed against Arabs or Muslims — often by other Arabs and Muslims. Ms. Faisal is in a more free environment and chose to protest in a way that garnered attention but which also made a very important artistic and political point. It’s ok to disagree with her; disagreement and dialogue allow for growth and change. But there comes a time when more radical action is needed. There is a long tradition of this in the USA and in Europe, and less so in the Arab lands (though it isn’t invisible their either). So you choose: sit at home and moralize and justify acts of violence against and by your own people, or find a way to act that suits your abilities. What are YOU doing to make the world a better place? Be the change that you would like to see in the world.
She is disrespecting women in all means, all nationalities, all raises, all religions. She should have done a big painiting about war in the middle of New York. or publish an article or a movie about how respectful arab women are.
If she had a brain, she wouldn’t have shown her body.
Women are brains and intellectuality, not cheap bodies. what did she leave for prostitutes?
Thank you Abu Cleo for your eloquent points, all well thought out.
People are throwing around words like “porn” and “prostitute” far too quickly and easily. Was Lady Godiva the same as “porn” or a “prostitute”? I don’t think so, and neither is an artist conducting herself with dignity for peace, the same, or even close to, a cheap commercial girlie magazine, not by a mile.
I’m from Iraq, and I really astonished when I found those pictures of Hala on the net.
I think protesting against war is a noble thing, but showing your ass is different and gives wrong massege to the people.
after all the war occured, and yet Hala ass did nothing.
Maybe next time when US going to envade Syria, Hala should summen all of her female relatives and guther as much asses as she could to show to the world that Arab are no more than ASS PROTESTERS
This is a great way to protest if you’re a caveman. These idiots have brought more attention to themselves and their nudity then the message they are trying to convey. Nothing good will come out this brazen display of far left wing stupidity.
If you’re anti-war, support the resistance against Anglo-American fascists and terrorists and marching around with your pasty white ass in the buff.
I realize there are cultural differences and respect that. However here in the west nudity is not that “shocking”. Only a little bit. Here is the reality:
1. If a protest is too “ordinary” the media ignore it.
2. If on the other hand the protest is (by the local culture’s standards) too “shocking” then the message gets lost
3. If the protest is in between these two extremes, is can work very well: it is “different” enough that the media pay attention, but still the message of anti-war gets through.
If you disagree, then you personally don’t have to participate. But any protest that does not kill innocent people, but does get attention, has the chance of helping change policy. There are many examples of successful protest (google for World Naked Bike Run, which promotes more bikes, less cars, and less burning of oil) that have gotten more media attention this way, and have done a lot of good in the world.
If even one single less child dies in war due to such nude protest, it is a good thing. Do you really think it’s devine will that it’s more important to cover up the body while children are bombed and die? Or that there is not very much room for such ‘modesty’ (and no “business as usual”) while children, babies, women, and men are innocent civilian victims. Which is more important? And yes, these things do not work 100%, but these nude protests do work, and for every person who laughs and ignores the message, you can find two Americans who start to think and listen to the anti-war pro-peace message.
Like others before her who have risked themselves to make a message, I honor her more (not less) for her actions. Yes we need poetry again war, we need marches, we need nonviolent actions, I also support street theater, humor ,songs, and other methods. But this too has a role when it can do more good than harm, as is the case here. Peace out.
For God’s sake cover up that art.
If we ever survive the onslaught of Jewish fascism in “the West” I can see we have a lot of work to do helping others escape from the tyranny in their heads. The attitudes about nudity here are hilarious. Since we grew up on the Greeks we get all our sex education from nude statues. And almost all high art the other side of cubism regards nudity as the sacred. The profanity is between our ears.
I understand nudity serves as an advertisement of western decadence, but come on. The woman is obviously saying the truth is naked. I don’t think anyone wants to cover up the truth.
Get a grip people. Of all the indecent stuff on Planet Earth naked women is not at the top of the list.
If getting naked in public would bring peace to the world, I would be completely naked right now. Wouldn’t you?
George W. Bush’s sentence-by-sentence speaking skills are deteriorating. Apparently, this may be due to a mental illness called “presenile dementia.†Bush may or may not be secretly still drinking heavily. Bush lied, and thousands of people died. Bush suffers from narcissism and megalomania. Moreover, Bush has been arrested three times. Bush was arrested for disorderly conduct. Bush was arrested for stealing. Bush was also arrested for a serious crime—driving under the influence of alcohol. There are reasons to believe that Bush suffers from a learning disability. Bush’s learning disability would explain a lot of things. All in all, Bush is a severely mentally ill individual. Bush is not fit to be the president of the United States.
Submitted by Andrew Yu-Jen Wang
B.S., Summa Cum Laude, 1996
Messiah College, Grantham, PA
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