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A naked streak, with courage
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October 29, 2009
By Atiyyah Khan
It seemed that a series of events led me to attend an environmentally conscious naked streak.
First it was the film Earth, currently on at cinemas, which through incredible imagery highlights the state of the planet at the moment. Then, it was a documentary called Blue Gold, an excellent look at water as a resource more invaluable than oil. And then finally, last week Saturday was highlighted as International Day of Climate Action.
An organisation called 350.org, had called for initiatives around the world to highlight the idea of "350", which calls for global leaders to bring back the safe concentration of C02 in the atmosphere.
People from 181 countries came together to get involved in action at over 5200 events held around the world.
I had been informed via Facebook about a certain naked streak that would be taking place in Sea Point that night, where 350 people would run naked for 350 metres, but wasnt really sure of the seriousness of it.
But I made a point of finding out anyway.
That day, I was stuck in an animation workshop in town, when all of a sudden, chimes could be heard, along with people marching - at first I wondered if it was some Hari Krishna invasion, but realised it was just one of the initiatives with a group of people marching for the 350-logo in town.
I had heard about a group of 350 hikers on Table Mountain and a crowd of people in Johannesburg forming a sign of 350 that could be seen from above, so I was content that the people of South Africa were in their own way getting involved.
By Saturday evening, the Facebook Page had notified all interested about what to wear: "It is very important that you wear something that you can take off and put back on very quickly" and there were even warnings about what to do should the police arrive.
As I arrived, quite sceptically, at the Sea Point promenade around 10pm, I was surprised to see a large gathering of scantily clad people in the parking lot.
Definitely not 350 people, something more towards 70. But the important thing is, people came. They were busying themselves painting the word 350 in blue on their bodies. I was introduced to the leader of the group, who informed me about the details, and was soon appointed whistle-blower, in case any police arrived.
In the meantime, people were gathering together, with towels around their waists. I even met someone who I recognised, who then tried to shake my hand, while holding his long flasher-coat together. Awkward.
Eventually, the group walked to the dark side of the promenade next to the putt-putt area. They were warned to be quiet, and started practicing their chant.
Jacob Zuma,
Take us down
Take Us down,
Go to Copenhagen.
And sign!.
Not the most melodic of tunes, but definitely straight to the point. Someone in the group had the idea of doing a toyi-toyi instead of a race, and it was a hilarious sight, looking at a group of now very naked people, all very white and pale in the moonlight, attempting to do a toyi-toyi. One of the streakers asked, "But are we doing it right?" Another confusedly replied, "How would we know? We're white."
So as they revved each other up, the time came when the toyi-toyi was about to begin, and a brave naked soldier led the march. After a countdown, they were off, like true enviro-mental-ists.
I felt ridiculous being clothed, and as they moved further, the adrenalin seemed to kick in so that once they reached the finishing line, most of them decided to continuing in full sprint to the very visible side of the promenade, not far off from the police station. True balls indeed.
Afterward, when the craziness has truly set in, a few of them decided to take a dip in the ice-cold water. Later, they mentioned that once their clothes were off, all resistance crumbled.
It might have looked like true animalistic enjoyment, but I marvelled at their courage.
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