Spartan Daily - Serving San Jose State University since 1934

With all the protests going ignored these days, there's one focus group that may actually get the president's attention this weekend.

From Australia to Chile to Marin, men and women have been letting it all hang out in the name of peace.

This Saturday, on International Women's Day, it's the Raelians' turn.

The Raelian Women have assaults planned for Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles.

You may know the Raelians as the religious sect that recently made international headlines by announcing the successful cloning of a human being, without offering any proof.

It is the belief of Rael, the founder of the Raelian movement, that aliens known as Elohim created the human race out of Elohim DNA. Raelian belief states that the Elohim came to Rael in 1973 and told him to establish an embassy on Earth for them.

If we build it, they will come, say the Raelians.

So far, the Raelians report no luck in getting a government to host the embassy.

Anyway, the point is that the Raelians are getting naked in the name of peace this weekend in Washington and Los Angeles, which, while admirable, should probably strike you as sort of odd.

For one thing, George Bush is not going to power down his war machine because of the presence of naked protesters in Washington. If anything, it's just going to make him mad, especially since the Raelian women plan to do it right in front of the White House.

"We are going to make a statement," said Raelian spokeswoman Florence Laudoyer. "We will be naked to the bare extent of the law."

The bare extent of the law depends on local definitions of nakedness.

"If we find that wearing shoes means that we are not naked, then we will wear shoes," said Laudoyer.

Any kind of nakedness on Pennsylvania Avenue is likely to offend the administration's tightly wound right-wing sensibilities to such a degree that Saddam Hussein may find himself bombed early.

However, if the Raelians are serious in this war for peace, there's one sure fire way to win.

Have their founder Rael put a call in to the Elohim and have them come on down, embassy or no embassy. No one's going to attack anyone, not with bona fide aliens in their midst.

Laudoyer said that's just not feasible.

"As far as the Elohim go," she said, "they gave us free will. It is up to us to make it possible that we do not destroy ourselves."

In other words, they won't just show up out of the blue.

"They want to be invited," Laudoyer said.

Besides, she added, Rael, or His Holiness as he's referred to in Raelian circles, is not in constant telepathic contact with them.

"He has had a few telepathic contacts," she said. "But it's not every day. It has only been at specific times."

Claims of telepathic alien contact and unsubstantiated cloning reports aside, anyone who fights for peace is somewhere on the right track. Exact numbers for Raelian women who planned to march on the White House were unavailable today, but Laudoyer estimated it at between 15 and 20.

"Men can participate definitely," Laudoyer added.

In Los Angeles, the peace march begins and ends at the Westwood Federal Building. In Washington, the march starts on Capitol Hill and concludes, in all its glory, at the gates of the White House.

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