This young Muslim woman brilliantly countered an anti-Muslim protest — with selfies

This weekend Antwerp, Belgium, hosted the third annual Muslim Expo, a festival celebrating Muslim culture.

Unfortunately, not everybody in Belgium is interested in celebrating Islam. Belgium has become a hot spot for jihadist radicalization, and the March ISIS terror attacks in Brussels are still a sore spot for many who don't understand that most Muslims oppose ISIS just as much as anyone.

About 40 members of Vlaams Belang, a far-right Belgian political party, showed up to protest the event. They held signs that said things like "No headscarves," "No mosques," and "Stop Islam."

But Zakia Belkhiri, a young Muslim woman, wasn't having any of it. She decided to take some cheerfully defiant selfies in front of the protesters — and was captured doing so by photographer Jurgen Augusteyns. His photos of Belkhiri's selfies went viral after being published by Vice.

Selfies are increasingly being used as an activist tool

Selfies often get a bad rap as a classic symbol of millennial narcissism. But feminists, for one, have challenged that notion and championed the selfie as a fun tool of empowerment and self-expression, as well as activism.

Transgender men and women have also made a great use of selfies recently to protest discriminatory laws, like North Carolina's, that forbid them from using the bathroom corresponding to their gender identity.

Activists in Tunisia have used "trash selfies" to protest their filthy streets and pressure the government into doing something about it.

Shana Broders, a volunteer patient escort at an abortion clinic in North Carolina, shared the photo below with me in December. Broders is constantly dealing with anti-abortion protesters, not all of whom respect personal boundaries. Her selfie was an act of self-defense, as well as one of cheeky defiance.

"This protester would not leave me alone — so I pulled out my camera and said, 'Selfie,' and he turned away," Broders said.

Courtesy of Shana Broders

Selfies can be fun, and they can be politically relevant. And sometimes, as Belkhiri demonstrated, they can be both.