Articles By Tim Ferguson

[Danny Boy]

This piece was written by Tim Ferguson and hidden on the inside back page in The Age in the opinions section today.

Put your clothes back on and start marching for peace

Early in the 11th century, Lady Godiva made a pact with her husband. If he lowered taxes for the peasants of Coventry and endeavoured to improve their appreciation of the arts, she would ride naked on a horse through the streets of the city.

Her husband agreed and Godiva became the first political activist streaker in history.

A thousand years later, political protesters don't seem to have learnt any new tricks. Over recent weeks, hundreds of peace protesters have stripped off and laid in formation, spelling the words "NO WAR" on hillsides. The organisers say they want to "send John Howard a message".

Yeah right Peaceniks, have you heard of the fax machine? Have you heard of the theory that naked people are rarely taken seriously?

A few weeks ago, a group of women marched on the Victorian Parliament wearing their bras on the outside of their clothes to show their opposition to war. See the connection? Me neither. Actress Kerry Armstrong was front and centre in the protest. A friend of mine saw a photo of Kerry, her Berlei bra crossing-her-heard to prove how serioys she was about the imminent conflict that could kill thousands of innocent civilians and destabilise the Middle East.

My friend was moved by the message. "Nice rack," he said.

The arguments for peace have weight. A war in Iraw would involve an initial storm of firepower to rival any bombardment the world has seen. Civilians will die. Australian soldiers will die. Gordon from Big Brother, now acting as a human shield in Baghdad, could have his wacky haircut singed. Iraq will have its infrastructure blown apart in the name of installing a "democracy". A new dictator who's our dictator will be installed and, after six months of photo opportunities, see the Iraqi people will be left to rot. (See 'Afghanistan'.) Containment has worked for 12 years; why change it? All worthy sentiments.

The arguments in favour of war change from week to week. They have seemingly been cobbled together by a United States Administration in search of a conventional enemy in their unconventional war on terror.

Peace is always worth promoting, but giggling on a hillside in your birthday suit is an inane way to go about it. Kerry Armstrong's justification for the bra-bearing bonanza was that it would attract media attention to the likelihood of war, as if Australians had somehow missed it. The media rewarded her by talking about her bra and little else. The Australian public knows that war is imminent, thank you.

It's ridiculous to suggest that we'll change out opinion on Iraq after seeing 1000 nude women forming letters on a hillside, like some soft porn Sesame Streer sketch. No doubt, many of the women stripping down to their booty gear would regard themselves as feminists. Getting their nude snaps into the tabloids is a funny way to show it.

Every mass media outlet covered the recent record-breaking street marches. World leaders, even John Howard, were forced to respond to them. The marches were serious and received serious media attention. The nude alphabet exercises on hillsides received attention, but it was mostly in the form of rigorous inspection by teenage boys.

Perhaps, as their next trick, the peace movement will pen new protest songs: The answer is blowing in my bumcrack; WAR! - What is it good for? (Seeing lots of nipples); All we are saying is give the Brazilian a chance.

Men and women of the peace movement, if you want to stop this war, put your clothes back on and start marching. Start talking. Start raising hell. Start acting like your point is serious enough to make with your clothes on.

Tim Ferguson is the Drive host on 3AK.

[Stripes]

tim was always an airhead, but i never thought he was a prude.

it's an ok article, i don't agree with some of the sentiment but its well written and quite good.

[Munchkin]

I didn't get a prudish feeling from it at all. I think it makes a great point, the marches have been the front page/first story events while the nudie stuff was the light/isn't this funny story.


btw Danny Boy
before I go on I just want to point out that the effort that goes into typing things up is greatly appreciated, I remember when all the articles needed to be typed by someone.
ok, that said, most articles are on the paper's website (fairfax papers anyway - age, smh etc)
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/20...540131439.html

[Jabberwocky]

I agree with tim, and if your going to do the nudity thing for peace, what good is it by not allowing any males to see it, adter all; they're the ones causing the wars

[Sam]

I think the only thing spoiling this entire article is the 3AK bit at the end. Nicely edged wit and lots of important stuff to say .... oh yeah well done Tim. Kerry Armstrong seems to advertise stupid self centred bitch as the way to go in public. Actually I'm sure I saw video footage of a catwalk fashion thing and someone was definately wearing low hipster undies on the outside of her gear :lookarou: .

[hellokitty]

well i never thought tim was an airhead (ok he makes stupid choices but i think most can admit he's a pretty intelligent guy) and i can't see any 'prude' sentiments either. i nkow it's been said but he makes a great point.

[pixieDAAS]

Tim makes a good point, what use was it doing that protest (women in their bras)? nudist protests are getting more and more boring and pointless
if you want to make a point: chain yourself to the parliment door or doing something outragous, JUST MAKE NOISE!!!

* pixieDAAS doen't take responsiblity if you get arrested*

[Stripes]

ok you've persuaded me. it is a good article, he is intelligent and he does have a point. i didn't mean to insult anyone seriously

[hellokitty]

heeh stripes don't abandon your comments now...we wont have anyone to argue with! what will we do :0)

[Stripes]

argue away, i'm happy enough to be the target

[Pautiric]

I agree... In the end, what good does it do to see a group of people laying on a field naked spelling words... other than encourage skin cancer.

What i think they should do is have a few thousand people protest with fake explosives attached to the bodies and then say that one persons explosives are real.

The feeling that this would enduce is sheer panic, confusion and debate over the seriousness of the public. Why? this is what all this war crap is doing to the world. Everyone is looking around waiting for a bomb to go off, especially the Iraqis i imagin. They'd probably protest too if there was not the fear that someone would turn up at their doorstep and hack them to bits.