Wednesday, November 24, 2010

FEMEN: what do they really do? (FEMEN: o que eles fazem na verdade?)

FEMEN - UKRAINIAN WOMEN'S MOVEMENT

WE ARE THE WOMEN’S MOVEMENT

We unite young women basing on the principles of social awareness and activism, intellectual and cultural development.

We recognise the European values of freedom, equality and comprehensive development of a person irrespective of the gender.
We build up a national image of feminity, maternity and beauty based on the Euro-Athlantic Women’s Movements experience.
We set up brand new standards of the civil movement in Ukraine.
We have worked out our own unique form of a civil self-expression based on courage, creativity, efficiency and shock.
We demonstrate that the civil movements can influence the public opinion and lobby the interests of a target group.
We plan to become the biggest and the most influential feminist movement in Europe.

OUR MISSION
The mission of the “FEMEN” Movement is to create the most favorable conditions for the young women to join up into a social group with the general idea of the mutual support and social responsibility, helping to reveal the talents of each member of the Movement.

OUR GOALS
To react and influence the acute social issues of the Ukrainian society, especially those that directly touch upon the interests of the Ukrainian Women.

To counteract actively the negative tendencies endangering physical and mental health of the Ukrainian women community.
Inform the society of the Ukrainian women’s issues and problems.
To develop leadership, intellectual and moral qualities of the young women in Ukraine.
To build up the image of Ukraine, the country with great opportunities for women.
To establish cooperation with other international women’s organizations to carry out the large-scale international programmes on the territory of Ukraine.

OUR PROGRAMMES
“Ukraine is not a Brothel”: The National Programme targeted at fighting against the sex-tourism in Ukraine.

“Sex is not for Sale”: The Programme to fight against sex and porn industry in Ukraine.
“MATER FEST”: The first international festival of a modern women culture.
«Kyiv Glam Sprint 2009»: The Ukrainian analogue of the international movement “Race on high hills”.
“The Green Mile”: The Programme to abolish the lifetime sentence for women in Ukraine.
Emergency programme: The Programme of immediate reacting on the acute issues that includes street actions and performances.

The following mass media reported on the FEMEN actions:

Der Spiegel
Die Welt
Independent.ie
Korrespondent.net
Gelf Magazine
Korrespondent
Kyiv Post
Jetzt.de

source:http://www.go2kiev.com/view/femen.html

As ativistas do grupo social FEMEN (Ucrânia) The FEMEN activists (Ukraine)

Models, don't go to bordel! (Modelos, não vão pra puteiro!)
Catwalk is not a butcher shop (Passarela é açougue)

Pink Revolution: Ukraine girl-activists undress in flash mob protests

The activists from FEMEN (Ukrainian female social awareness group) say, that one of the reasons Ukraine is in the list of prostitution countries - easy visa regime for Americans and Europeans.

As ativistas da FEMEN (grupo feminino ucraniano de consciência social) dizem que uma das razões da Ucrânia estar na lista dos países da prostituição é o regime de vistos fácil para os americanos e europeus.

Saturday, November 13, 2010

Vamo encher a lata com o copinho, herói nacional da Rússia :))) O símbolo das Olimpíadas de inverno 2014 em Sochi

Stakasha - a hero of Russia!

Monday, November 1, 2010

Halloween in Russia

Halloween and other borrowed holidays make Russians forget their roots and traditions

31.10.2006

Russian people should think more of their own national holidays and give less attention to festivities of foreign origin, like Halloween, a clergyman of Moscow Patriarchy of the Russian Orthodox Church told Interfax.

“The celebration of Halloween in Russia has become quite popular. This fact shows that we should be more careful with borrowing foreign holidays. It also proves that Russians can be culturally omnivorous, although we should value our own national traditions and customs. I believe that this is a very sad tendency,” priest Mikhail Prokopenko said.

The clergyman believes that Russian people can easily forget about their national roots and follow customs, rules and traditions of a different culture or religion.

“We have to realize that Halloween is just a masquerade, an entertainment which may often imply commercial interest when shops sell their entire stock in a couple of days. Nevertheless, a young man or a woman, who dress like vampires or demons, are led to believe that they can display monsters’ qualities in real life,” Mikhail Prokopenko said.

Indeed, Halloween has been gaining more and more popularity in Russia during the recent years. The celebration of this holiday often takes place at public schools and even kindergartens of Russia.

“Many individuals, especially parents, may express their ungrounded concerns over the appearance of such school subjects as the Basics of Orthodox Culture. However, they are happy to see their children wearing demonic costumes for Halloween or exchanging Valentine cards on St. Valentine’s Day and so on. These holidays are not Russian,” Prokopenko concluded.

Translated by Dmitry Sudakov
Pravda.ru

Source: http://english.pravda.ru/history/31-10-2006/85301-halloween_russia-0/

I didn't really get what's wrong with seeing kids wearing funny monsters' costumes or exchanging Valentine cards. In my opinion, by doing this they are learning a lot about completely new, interesting culture, which is so much better than being a narrow-minded person which doesn't see anything but her own world spinning around (him)herself.

We want for our kids to learn foreign languages, because it's good for the future career, but we forget about the culture. The introduction to any foreign language starts first of all with the traditions, beliefs, celebrations, rituals and superstitions, we must remember this.

Happy Halloween!