FREEDOM TO BE FREEDOM TO BE YOURSELF YOURSELF CAMPAIGNCAMPAIGN

19971997

“To StopThe

RacistHatred

Towards The

HumanRace”

“An issuebigger than

YOU, ME,

HIM,HER,US,

THEM”

THE “FREEDOM TO BE YOURSELF CAMPAIGN” WAS STARTED IN 1997 BY VINCENT BETHELL, AFTER WRITING SEVERAL LETTERS TO THE GOVERNMENT WHICH WERE ALL IGNORED! HE SAYS:

“WHEN I STARTED UP THE CAMPAIGN I WAS A BIT WORRIED ABOUT THE REACTION I WOULD GET FROM PEOPLE, I THOUGHT THERE WOULD BE SOME NEGATIVE FEEDBACK FROM PEOPLE BUT MOSTLY THAT IS NOT THE CASE.”

“OFTEN THE REACTION I GET IS LAUGHTER BUT THAT IS OK, WHEN YOU ARE NAKED IT IS A JOYOUS OCCASION AND SOMETHING TO BE HAPPY ABOUT.”

BETHELL SAYS THE AIM IS TO “HIGHLIGHT TO PEOPLE

WHAT IT IS TO BE HUMAN”THE FIRST PROTEST WAS IN PICADILLY CIRCUS, ALTHOUGH IT ONLY CONSISTED OF 6 PEOPLE!

FOR 2 YEARS, THE CAMPAIGNERS

HAVE BEEN CIRCULATING FLYERS AND

LEAFLETS, YET ONLY 15 PEOPLE

HAVE JOINED, AND STILL ONLY ABOUT 6 PEOPLE TURN UP

TO THE PROTESTS!

It’s abit cold out

isn’t it?

A bit? If you had any clothes on

I’d think you were smuggling peanuts

WHAT IS THE CAMPAIGN ABOUT?BETHELL BELIEVES “IT IS ABOUT

FREEDOM OF CHOICE TO DO WHAT YOU WANT TO DO”

HE SAYS “I WROTE TO THE GOVERNMENT REPEATEDLY ASKING WHY NAKEDNESS WAS ILLEGAL AND I DID NOT RECEIVE ANY RESPONSE SO I REALISED IT WAS TIME TO TAKE MORE DRASTIC ACTION.”HIS PROTESTS HAVE CAUSED HIM TO GET IN TO TROUBLE. FOR INSTANCE, DURING ONE HE WAS ARRESTED AND CHARGED UNDER THE PUBLIC ORDER ACT, ALTHOUGH HE PLANS TO APPEAL TO THE EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS.

BUT...

SOME OF THEIR ARGUMENTS:

“The visual appearance of the human body is determined by our genes. The human body is the genetic history of the human race, it is our racial heritage. You did not intend to be born and you should not be persecuted for being born human, with a human body, with human skin - NAKED!

Look,I’m stressed out

enough, what with the whole ‘leaving

the womb’ thing,OK?

“The visual appearance of the human body is our human identity and we should not be forced to fear or hide our identity. Humans should not have to live in fear and hiding. Humans should not have to suffer prejudice and persecution because of the racial heritage of the human body (our visual appearance). We must achieve official recognition of the human race as a race of people so that we will not be persecuted because of our human identity. As humans we should not have to fear, and consequently hide, our skin.”

“We must achieve global self awareness, because it is due to the fact that people are not yet fully self aware that people fail to recognise the racial heritage of the human race. Being self aware means that you recognise that your human body is YOU, and that you as a human being have a certain visual appearance. To be self aware means that the visual appearance of your body is recognised as something that you do not deny or hide. Self awareness entails the recognition of the human race as a race of people. The visual appearance of the body is an inherent quality of belonging to the human race: the human body is the racial heritage of the human race, it is the ethnic origin of the human species. You are your body: your body is yourself. We need to become aware of ourselves, we need to be self aware. Are you aware?

“Humanity is not about: individual humans, small

groups of humans, bureaucracy, media

publicity, injustice/prejudice,

protesting/campaigning, a campaign archive history,

Naturism, Nudism, Streaking, or any other

divisive or alienating label.

Being human is not about looking at someone who is

naked, or reading about someone who is naked, or

talking about someone who is naked. Being

human means you as a human being unclothed in

public: the visual appearance of your human

body.

Having the freedom to understand what you are

is humanity. While you and I are not free to

understand ourselves, we are inhuman-impersonal-

dehumanised, and we live in an inhuman-impersonal-dehumanised world.”

“Humanity means:

the whole of

humanity:

the entire human

race:

everybody:

ALL HUMANS!”

““THE RIGHT TO BE THE RIGHT TO BE HUMAN IS THE MOST HUMAN IS THE MOST IMPORTANT HUMAN IMPORTANT HUMAN

RIGHT”RIGHT”THANK THANK

YOU!!YOU!!