Inna Shevchenko (
Ukrainian: Інна Шевченко) is a Ukrainian
feminist activist and the leader of international women's movement
FEMEN, which often demonstrates
topless against what they perceive as manifestations of
patriarchy, especially
dictatorship,
religion, and the
sex industry.[1][2] Shevchenko has a higher profile than the other members of the group. She was the leader of the three FEMEN activists reputedly kidnapped and threatened by the
Belarus KGB in 2011.[3] She achieved attention in Ukraine by cutting with a chainsaw and then bringing down a 4-metre high
Christian cross in central
Kyiv in 2012.[4]
In 2013, Shevchenko was granted
asylum in France,[5] and now continues her activism by leading
FEMEN France from a training base she has established in
Paris.[4]
In July 2013,
Olivier Ciappa, who together with David Kawena designed a new French stamp depicting
Marianne, stated on
Twitter that Shevchenko had been the main inspiration for the depiction.[6]
Early life
Inna Shevchenko was born in
Kherson near the
Black Sea, on 23 June 1990.[1] Inna had a childhood 'like that of all girls. I was brought up as a typical Ukrainian, Slavic girl, and was taught not to shout or argue'. She was a 'patsanka' (tomboy) and was especially close to her father who was a military officer.[1] She also has an older sister.[7] The 2004
Orange Revolution opened her eyes to politics and in the TV shows which pitted journalists against politicians, she said the journalists 'looked more intelligent so I wanted to be one'.[1] She went to university at the
Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv from 2008 until 2012 where she studied journalism and graduated with honours.[1] Her extracurricular activity as a leader of the student government gave her political connections that helped land her a job in 2009 working for the
Mayor's press office in Kyiv.[1] Shevchenko's first language is Russian,[8][a 1] although she is also fluent in Ukrainian, English[9] and French.[10]
Activism & FEMEN
Early years in Ukraine
Shevchenko made contact with two leading FEMEN activists
Anna Hutsol and
Alexandra Shevchenko (no relation) through the social networking site
vKontakte and joined FEMEN early in 2009.[1]Anna Hutsol had formed FEMEN in Kyiv on 10 April 2008, with two friends, Alexandra Shevchenko and
Oksana Shachko, from her hometown of
Khmelnytskyi;[11] they initially protested on issues affecting woman students, but rapidly moved to demonstrating against the sexual exploitation of Ukrainian women.[12] Inna Shevchenko first demonstrated with FEMEN on 23 May 2009 in Kyiv, against prostitution and under the banner, "Ukraine is not a Brothel", in collaboration with
DJ Hell.[13][14] Late in August 2009, Oksana Shachko became the first member of the group to bare her breasts during a protest; but not until 2010 did this become the usual tactic in FEMEN demonstrations, justified on the grounds that without the media attention generated by topless protests their message would not be heard.[15] In debates within FEMEN over the ethics of topless protest, Inna Shevchenko at first opposed the tactic, then was persuaded of its validity.[9] She was fired from her job in the
Kyiv Mayor's press office after her arrest for taking part in a protest against the absence of women in
Prime MinisterMykola Azarov's
cabinet in December 2010.[16]
Asylum in France
On 8 September 2012, Shevchenko cut down wooden crosses at
GOGBOT festival in
Enschede, the Netherlands, as a protest on the arrest of
Pussy Riot.,[17] following her cross-chainsawing action in Kyiv in August.
[18]
18 September 2012, Shevchenko established a training facility for FEMEN France in Paris.[4] 26 October 2012, when Shevchenko was giving a live interview to the Arab television channel
Al Jazeera, she was asked, "Which is better for women, nudity or the
paranja?" She responded by taking off her T-shirt in protest at "Medieval prejudices". The live picture was immediately cut.[19][20] In July 2013, Shevchenko was granted
asylum in
France.[5]
In December 2012, the French magazine Madame Figaro included Shevchenko in its list of the world's top 20 iconic women of the year.[21]
In July 2013,
Olivier Ciappa, who together with David Kawena designed a new French stamp depicting
Marianne, stated on
Twitter that Shevchenko had been the main inspiration for the depiction.[6] The artist Olivier Ciappa who designed the 2013 image of Marianne on French stamps has stated that the portrait is a 'mixture of several women but particularly Inna Shevchenko'. On hearing this Inna tweeted 'All homophobes, extremists, fascists will have to lick my arse when they want to send a letter'.[22]
Public speaking
Shevchenko is a speaker at conferences and a columnist for the international press. She was a speaker at a debate on the freedom of speech in
Copenhagen on 14 February 2015 with cartoonist
Lars Vilks. She was speaking about an illusion that in Western Europe people can fully enjoy freedom of speech when a terrorist
opened fire in the lobby of the cultural centre, where the debates took place.
Shevchenko's TEDx
Kalamata talk is entitled "I will not stop speaking out loud".[23]
Writing
She is a columnist for International Business Times[24] Her articles were also published in The Guardian, The Huffington Post, and
CNN. Together with other FEMEN activists, Shevchenko wrote FEMEN: Manifeste[25] and Rebellion[26]
In 2017 Inna Shevchenko has published Anatomie de l'oppression (Anatomy of oppression) with Pauline Hillier in Edition du Seuil.[27]
Bibliography
Tyler, Jeffrey, Topless Jihadis, Published by The Atlantic Books ( 2013), 94 pages. (English language publication)[28]
Ackerman, Galia, with Anna Hutsol, Oksana Shachko, Alexandra Shevchenko, & Inna Shevchenko, FEMEN, Published by Calmann-Lévy (Paris 2013), 280 pages.
ISBN978-2702144589. (French language publication)[29]
Caroline Fourest "INNA", Published by Grasset (Paris 2014)
Massimo Ceresa, "FEMEN, Inna e le streghe senza Dio", Tra le righe libri (Lucca 2016)
FEMEN Inna Shevchenko, Marguerite Stern, Pauline Hillier, Sarah Constantin, Lara Alcazar, Anna Hutsol and others FEMEN Manifest, Published by Utopia( 2015), (French/Spanish language publication)[30]
FEMEN Rebellion, Published by Edition des femmes( 2017),(French language publication)[31]
Inna Shevchenko, Pauline Hillier Anatomie de l'oppression, Published by Edition du Seuil( 2017),(French language publication)[27]
Catherine Valenti, Les Femmes qui s'engagent sont dangereuses, ( 2017),(French language publication)[32]
Filmography
"Nos seins, nos armes!" (Our breasts, our weapons!), documentary film (1 hour 10 mins), written and directed by
Caroline Fourest and
Nadia El Fani, produced by Nilaya Productions, aired on
France 2 on 5 March 2013.[33]
"Everyday Rebellion", documentary film (1hour 58 mins), written and directed by the Riahi Brothers Arash T. Riahi and Arman Riahi, Austria / Switzerland / Germany, 2013, world premiere at
Copenhagen International Documentary Festival on 13 November 2013.