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Undressing for APEC.

Article Excerpt
Nobody epitomised the spirit of the APEC protest in Sydney more than the two blokes who strode among the 10,000 marchers wearing nothing but socks over their genitals and a placard to cover their buttocks. 'We have come from the future with a message. If we don't stop global warming we'll all have to dress like this', they announced to the appreciative protesters around them.

It was still a little early in September for partial nudity and their message about soaring temperatures was weakened by the chilly breeze that turned their flesh into a pebbly mass of goose bumps. However, nobody among the jostling cameramen who ran backwards to stay in front of them, nor the laughing, cheering crowd that turned to watch them go by, pointed that out. It was civil disobedience at its best. They challenged the authorities without violence or property damage and they pushed the boundaries of social acceptance without being directly offensive. It was the kind of attire they probably could not have got away with on any other Saturday, but there had been months of warnings about extreme violence and terrorist attacks at the rally so everybody assumed the authorities had more important things to worry about.

The police attack came with the speed and force of a Gestapo kidnapping. One moment the cheeky pair were smiling and waving like a star couple on the red carpet, then rough hands seized them and they were being carried away at a run by a pack of policemen. The ironies were abundant. They were being arrested for indecent conduct, but it was the police who knocked their socks to the ground and left...

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