1. War Languages Women Liberation’s Propaganda Vesa Matteo Piludu University of Helsinki Department of Art Research

2. Burka and women liberation The concerns for the liberation of women has been used to justify military actions in the Middle East and Afghanistan in particular But the burka is still in use in Afghanistan after the invasion The burka and veil has become a symbol of resistance against the Western invasions

3. Burka used in conservative political posters Absurd fear of a complete Islamization of Switzerland in the recent posters against minarets

4. An old colonialist discourse? The women liberation concept was used also by French and English colonialists Lord Cromer, British counsel general of Egypt, founded the Men League for Opposing Women Suffrage in England at the same time he used arguments about women’s oppression to justify the occupation of Egypt In the 1950’s much of rhetoric used to justify French colonial rule focused on the oppression of Algerian women, epitomized by the veil

5. Jean-Leon Gerome (1824-1904) The Slave Market (painting) But soon after the ”liberation” the attitude of the ”liberators” changed considerably: native Arab women were considered sexual objects in the new colonial power relations Birth of sexist orientalist art and colonialist pornographic photos

6. Orientalist’s perverse sexual fantasies Harem Pool, Gérôme, Jean-Léon, 1824–1904 Orientalist art reveals the real deep colonialist unrespect toward native Arab or Musim women Connections between exotism, sexuality, drugs, voyeurism The colonial domination included sexual domination of Westerners Are the actual sexual tortures in Guantanamo a result of this old attitudes?