Strip for Freedom

It was nippy in downtown Nelson that afternoon; nevertheless twelve elderly men & women stripped to the buff, knelt and howled. Passers-by knew that the sensitive Doukhobors had been offended again, were resorting to their favorite passive protest.* Among the onlookers stalked a bearded man, wearing 21 oranges in a double-deck crown held together by a net and three dingy white streamers which trailed along behind. The Czar of Heaven (Louis Popoff to the police) did not disrobe then, but he did insist on accompanying the six men and six women to jail. The oranges fell off in the excitement. The Czar understands that Christ will soon return for seven days, wants to offer him one orange for each meal.

Doukhobors began boycotting war in Czarist Russia a century ago, eventually had to leave. Most of the Dominion's 17,000 industrious, abstemious "Douks" have accepted pacifist alternatives to national service; only the obstreperous sect-within-a-sect called Sons of Freedom balked. In court, the Czar of Heaven disdained to take the oath, said that he would sooner kiss the magistrate than kiss the Bible. Disrobers got two years in the penitentiary; the Czar, a $5 fine.

Promptly Popoff paraded again, this time garbed only in his crown. "Let my brothers out of jail," he shouted. Result: two years for the Czar.

* First authenticated North American instance of public disrobing to make a point. Boston Quakers, circa 1660.

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