Beauty Pageant Highlights Plight of Landmine Survivors

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Ten women will show off their beauty and brains — and their landmine injuries — in Angola next April in a competition to win a golden prosthetic limb and the title of Miss Landmine 2008.

The project, created by Norwegian theater director Morten Traavik, is designed to raise awareness of the plight of landmine survivors. Contestants will have to demonstrate their skills and take part in an interview, though the details have yet to be finalized.

"There is no sensationalistic intentions within Miss Landmine," Traavik said. "Of course the format has been chosen because it's obviously a very media friendly forum, but it still is based very, very much on local culture, since beauty pageants are such a consistent phenomenon in Angolan contemporary culture."

The idea for Miss Landmine was born four years ago when Traavik traveled to Angola's capital, Luanda, and was struck by two things: the country's landmine problem, the remnants of more than 20 years of civil war, and Angolans' love of beauty pageants.

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[Time for change]

1. Good way to get some attention for an important issue

Perhaps liberal activists should be thinking along these lines as a way of getting some publicity for the hundreds of thousands of Iraqis being killed as a result of our invasion and continuing occupation.

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2. Diana's landmines legacy has been squandered. n/t