Naked Cyclists in Oil Protest Ride

One hundred odd protestors rode bicycles naked through the streets of London to protest the West’s obsession with oil.

Naked cyclists in oil protest ride

A group of naked cyclists took part in a bike ride to protest against oil dependency and to “celebrate the human body.” Crowds gathered as about 100 people set off from Hyde Park corner, London, in the World Naked Bike Ride past some of the capital’s most famous landmarks. Most of them stripped fully naked for the 10km (6.2 miles) cycle past Piccadilly Circus, Big Ben, Covent Garden, Oxford Street and the United States Embassy.

Some bikes were decked out with banners reading ‘Oil is not a bare necessity but a crude obsession’ and ‘Support the trade justice movement’. Others have slogans painted on their backs and some were on roller-skates.

One of the organisers, Chad Neilson, 24, from North London, said part of the ride was to celebrate the human body. “It’s a protest against oil dependency and car culture and the overuse of cars for unnecessary reasons. There is too much pollution, it stinks in London, and we use too much fossil fuel. I think people should be a lot more comfortable with their bodies. There is nothing wrong with the naked body.”

I’m guessing that this protest will have negligible impact on our energy dependency and will cause approximately zero people to switch from cars to bicycling, naked or otherwise. Indeed, I would wager that the bicyclists used more oil on their chains than they “saved” with their protest.

crossposted to small dead animals

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James Joyner
About James Joyner
James Joyner is a Professor of Security Studies. He's a former Army officer and Desert Storm veteran. Views expressed here are his own. Follow James on Twitter @DrJJoyner.

Comments

  1. Timothy Wolfgang Slade says:

    Learn anything about anything before you open your mouth to say nothing about nothing. The lubricants used on bicycles are not derived from crude oil. Don’t believe me? Go to your local bike shop and ask them. Yes, I was on this ride, it was more like 300 cyclists, and if you even bothered to read the article you plagiarised, uh, I mean quoted you’d see it states that it was about more then the oil.

  2. Eneils Bailey says:

    oooo… wow….You know,..it was about peace.. and about how beautiful the human body is. Plezee,… you gotta just understand, it was about freedom and liberty, and, you know,.. things like that. And besides that the girl on the red bike had a nice ass and beautiful hooters. Excuse me, you know,… I gotta go wash my bicycle seat.

  3. bryan says:

    and if you even bothered to read the article you plagiarised, uh, I mean quoted you’d see it states that it was about more then the oil.

    Plagiarism is unattributed stealing, Wolfgang. If you’d bother to consult a dictionary before accusing people of something.

    Nevertheless, it seems like naked cycling would present some serious problems for at least the male members of the group (no pun attended).

  4. Just Me says:

    Didn’t Queen already do this?

  5. John Burgess says:

    I dunno… seeing that picture made me want to move back to London, get my bike out and my kit off….

  6. hln says:

    Well, that would have been a whole lot more fun for everyone if it were just Enova.

    Cyclists: go back to charity rides, please.

    hln