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| Saudi Women Defy Driving Ban | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Jun 17 2011, 01:29 PM (689 Views) | |
| shure | Jun 17 2011, 01:29 PM Post #1 |
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Saudi Women Defy Driving Ban By NEIL MACFARQUHAR and ROBERT MACKEY June 17, 2011, 12:34 pm http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/06/17/saudi-women-protest-driving-ban/ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1rb77qKZseI Updated | 1:20 p.m. Although random acts of women driving were reported in major cities across Saudi Arabia on Friday, the protest against the longstanding ban appears to have been smaller than initially anticipated after the Saudi government imprisoned a main organizer for nine days last month. Scattered reports by social media and an informal network of activists suggested that the number of women who drove was in the dozens, with few incidents of confrontations with either the traffic or the morals police reported. At least half a dozen women who were stopped were escorted home and admonished not to drive again, said activists reached by telephone. My wife, Maha, and I have just come from a 45-minute drive, she was the driver through Riyadh streets.#saudi#women2drive #WomenRights Fri Jun 17 07:54:14 via Twitter for iPad Mohammad Al-Qahtani MFQahtani Maha al-Qahtani, an information technology specialist for the government, drove around Riyadh in clear weather for 45 minutes with her husband, Mohamed, a human rights activist, in the car. She braced for a siren after passing each of about five police cars, she said, but they ignored her. “I woke up today believing with every part of me that this is my right, I woke up believing this is my duty and I was no longer afraid,” said Mrs. Qahtani, adding that she brought a change of clothes and a prayer rug with her in case she was detained. Later in the day, Mrs. Qahtani’s husband reported on Twitter that his wife was stopped by the police during a subsequent trip along King Fahad Road in Riyadh, and ticketed for driving without a license. She posted a photograph of the ticket on Yfrog. Lynsey Addario, an American photojournalist, reported on Twitter that she was with one female driver who was stopped by six police cars. She observed: “You would think they caught Zawahiri, or someone else from [Al] Qaeda. How dangerous woman drivers are.” She was referring to Ayman al-Zawahri, the new leader of Al Qaeda. In a car with a saudi woman and just got pulled over by the police. 6 police cars for one woman driver!! Fri Jun 17 14:54:39 via Twitter for BlackBerry® lynsey addario lynseyaddario About 15 minutes later, Ms. Addario reported, “They let us go. Police didn’t know what to do, so gave the woman a ticket for not having a license.” According to the photographer, the woman who was ticketed is licensed to drive, but outside Saudi Arabia. From its inception in April, the protest was not meant to be a mass driving effort. Rather, women with legal driving licenses from other countries were urged to run mundane errands — going to the grocery store, taking their kids someplace — in order to underscore the fact that women driving is a normal right. Manal al-Sharif, a 32-year-old single mother, started the call for the June 17 protest in April with a Facebook page and Twitter feed. But after posting video of herself driving around Al-Khobar in Eastern Province, she was arrested in late May and unexpectedly thrown in jail for nine days. Many supporters were disappointed, feeling that she had jumped the gun and jeopardized them all by taking a confrontational approach. Before her arrest, Ms. Sharif had encouraged other women to follow her example and document their acts of “driving while female” by posting video online. A small number of clips and still photographs posted on Facebook and YouTube by activists on Friday appeared to show female hands steering cars through the kingdom’s streets. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akQ4ftcvO3M Video uploaded to YouTube is said to show an unidentified Saudi woman defying the kingdom’s ban on female drivers on Friday. One video, which appears to have been recorded just after midnight on Friday, begins with an image of a woman’s iPhone displaying Friday’s date. A woman wearing a niqab as she sits at the wheel says: “Today is Friday June 17th. I would like to go to supermarket. I feel I can go anywhere I want and it feels so great. If I need anything, I am able to go and get it myself. I am loving this experience. I think its time for society to accept us driving.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0dQtKQNkYQ Video uploaded to YouTube is said to show a Saudi woman defying the kingdom’s ban on female drivers by going to a supermarket just after midnight local time on Friday. There were, however, signs that efforts were being made to stifle news of the protest. One video, posted on YouTube earlier on Friday showing female hands on a steering wheel, was later deleted from YouTube. Sara al-Bassam, a blogger who used her Twitter feed to point to reports of women who took to the streets, explained that she was not playing a more active role, by driving herself, only because, as “a direct result of the ban: I don’t know how to.” It’s a little ridiculous, but the reason I’m not driving today is a direct result of the ban: I don’t know how to. #Saudi #women2drive Fri Jun 17 11:58:54 via web Sara Al-Bassam SBassam Women driving remains a sensitive issue in Saudi Arabia. For religious conservatives, it is a kind of Alamo, the ban a sign that the kingdom still holds to its traditions and has not caved to Western pressure. The ruling family has been especially dependent on this base of supporters in recent months as protests erupted across the region. The mufti, the highest religious figure in the kingdom, rolled out a fatwa banning protests, a called echoed forcefully by mosque preachers. Many Saudi activists considered the harsh treatment of Ms. Sharif a warning from the monarchy against trying to organize any kind of movement via social media. The initiative for women to drive was the strongest effort so far in the kingdom inspired by the regional climate. “Women in Saudi Arabia see other women in the Middle East making revolutions, women in Yemen and Egypt at the forefront of revolutions, being so bold, toppling entire governments,” said Waleed Abu Alkhair, whose wife drove around Jidda, even though he was out of the country. “The women Saudi Arabia looked at themselves and they realized ‘Wow! We can’t even drive!’” #WomenRights My wife is driving my old car right now in Jeddah and everything is fine ![]() Fri Jun 17 12:32:26 via web waleed abu alkhair abualkhair Mr. Abu Alkhair said he knew about a score of women who drove, and aside from one being questioned by the police for two hours before being released, none were bothered. Maj. Gen. Mansour al-Turki, the spokesman for the Interior Ministry, could not be reached for comment. Once the campaign had been announced, there were frequent threats by opponents to punish the women who drove either by beating them or smashing their cars. “We want women to keep fighting this fight and to be free, it will help to liberate the entire society,” Mr. Abu Alkhair said. One protester, speaking anonymously because she signed a religious police confession that said she would not drive again, said that transportation seemed like a pretty small issue compared to the demands in other Arab states but that even “a small fight would be revolutionary for Saudi Arabia.” On Twitter, a number of Saudi women claimed to have driven on Friday — although those reports were impossible to verify independently. Several women also reported receiving support from Saudi men, and there were even a few jokes. “I’ll be arriving to Riyadh in the evening,” quipped Khalid Khalifa, a comedian. “Any ladies free around that time to pick me up from the airport?” I’ll be arriving to Riyadh in the evening. Any ladies free around that time to pick me up from the airport? Thu Jun 16 22:16:19 via Osfoora for iPhone Khalid Khalifa™ KhalidKhalifa In the weeks after Ms. Sharif’s arrest, a debate erupted between those religious clerics and their conservative followers who oppose women driving and the kingdom’s increasingly outspoken women. Opponents largely argued that Saudi society was not ready for it, and that a woman should not be thrown into the wilds of Saudi driving habits nor held responsible for any accidents. Worse, opponents argue that it will lead to the public mingling of the sexes. Supporters mock the clerics for putting everything in a sexual context and wonder aloud why it is O.K. for Saudi women to be driven around by an army of about 800,000 foreign men from Southeast Asia imported as drivers. When a cleric in Eastern Province, Sheik Mohammed al-Monajid, branded Ms. Sharif “fasika,” which translates as amoral or loose, his surname became a hashtag on Twitter as critics poured on the scorn. Najla Hariri posted a videotape of herself on YouTube driving around Jidda, the commercial capital on the Red Sea coast known for its more liberal ways. She appeared as a guest on a television program on the Daleel satellite channel opposite Sheik Walid al-Rushdy, a cleric opposed to women driving. When he pressed her about how often she had been harassed by men, Ms. Hariri stated that other drivers either flashed signs of encouragement or ignored her. The sheik responded that Ms. Hariri must be “qawaa’id,” a classical Arabic term for a woman beyond the age of sexual desirability. “Well at least you didn’t call me a prostitute,” shot back Ms. Hariri, since women drivers are often categorized thus by the clergy. Opposition was not limited to the clergy, nor men. “Not all women in Saudi want to drive; the majority of women are against it,” said Tala al-Hejaylan, a woman who is a lawyer in Eastern Province. “There needs to be a dialogue among Saudi Arabian women themselves before undertaking such drastic, counterproductive rebellious displays like today.” Open confrontation with the ruling family and the clerics will not speed the advance of women’s rights, she said. Many women argue that driving distracts from more important issues, like ending the male guardianship, which gives men control over every aspect of women’s lives. Although the arrest of Ms. Sharif discouraged women from driving, the fact that it enlivened the debate was in marked contrast to the first (and last) such protest in November 1990. Clerics branded the 47 women amoral and the Saud monarchy confiscated their passports, firing those working for the government. Many went into isolation for their own safety and the issue was shelved for years. Aside from the issue of religious opposition, Saudis also question aloud whether the continued ban boils down to a business proposition. There are widespread suspicions in the country that those who controls the visa process — and in Saudi Arabia that means the princes of the ruling family — have made a business out of controlling the black market in visas for drivers, which can cost more than $3,000 apiece. Many young married couples decry the fact that they cannot afford that, not to mention the monthly salary for a driver of about $600. The more liberal princes support allowing women to drive. Prince Talal bin Abdel Aziz, 79 and long among the most outspoken members of the royal family, argues that such reforms lag in the kingdom because the leading members of the royal family have failed to pass any power or influence down to the younger generations. “Bravo to the women!” the prince said in an interview. “Why should women drive in the countryside and not in the cities?” Women have long driven in rural areas of Saudi Arabia. King Abdullah and other key royals have said in interviews with foreign reporters that they expected Saudi women to drive one day soon, but they have been mute amidst the current debate. This week, Brian Whitaker, a journalist who writes for The Guardian, looked at the possible wider implications of the driving protest in a post on his blog headlined “Rise of the Muslim Sisterhood?” Mr. Whitaker observed: So far, the Saudi regime has escaped the kind of protests seen in a number of other Arab countries. It has declared street demonstrations to be un-Islamic and well as illegal, and is well-equipped to deal with them … assuming the protesters are men. The one thing it is not prepared for, and would probably have difficulty coping with, is a mass revolt by women. And why bother preparing for that? Women, after all, are expected to obey their menfolk and not trouble their heads with things like politics. Saudi women, of course, have plenty to revolt about. They are oppressed, discriminated against and kept apart — excluded from many of the activities that for men would be normal. Paradoxically, though, the patriarchal system that keeps them apart from men also gives them a unique kind of freedom to organize and agitate beyond the gaze of male eyes (which inevitably includes most of the state’s surveillance system). Neil MacFarquhar reported from Cairo, and Robert Mackey contributed reporting from New York. |
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| shure | Jun 17 2011, 01:32 PM Post #2 |
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Saudi women tap road rage against driving ban http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2011-06-17-saudi-women-drivers_n.htm ![]() Saudi women board a taxi in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on May 24. Saudi women got behind the wheel today as part of a campaign to protest the ultraconservative kingdom's ban on female driving. Hassan Ammar/AP DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Several Saudi women boldly got behind the wheel Friday, including one who managed a 45-minute trip through the nation's capital, seeking to ignite a road rebellion against the male-only driving rules in the ultraconservative kingdom. Activists — inspired in part by the uprisings around the Arab world — have not appealed for mass protests in any specific sites. But they urged Saudi women to begin a growing mutiny against the driving restrictions that are supported by clerics backing austere interpretations of Islam and enforced by powerful morality squads. Encouragement poured in via the Internet. "Take the wheel. Foot on the gas," said one Twitter message on the main site women2Drive. Another urged: "Saudi women, start your engines!" The defiance could bring difficult choices for the Western-backed Saudi authorities who have far have escaped major unrest from the Middle East turmoil. Officials could either launch a crackdown on the women and facing international pressure or giving way to the demands and angering traditional-minded clerics and other groups opposing reforms. MORE: Saudi women to defy authorities by driving It also could encourage wider reform bids by Saudi women, who have not been allowed to vote and must obtain permission from a male guardian to travel or take a job. In the early hours of the protest, security forces mostly held back from challenging the women drivers, activists said. Some reported that women drove directly in front of police patrols. "We want women from today to begin exercising their rights," said Wajeha al-Huwaidar, a Saudi women's rights activist who posted Internet clips of herself driving in 2008. "Today on the roads is just the opening in a long campaign. We will not go back." The plan, she said, is for women who have obtained driving licenses abroad to begin doing their daily errands and commuting on their own. "We'll keep it up until we get a royal decree removing the ban," she told The Associated Press. The campaign's official start follows the 10-day detention last month of a 32-year-old woman, Manal al-Sherif, after she posted video of herself driving. She was released after reportedly signing a pledge that she would not drive again or speak publicly. Her case, however, sparked an outcry from international rights groups and brought direct appeals to Saudi's rulers to lift the driving ban on women — the only such countrywide rule in the world. A protest supporter, Benjamin Joffe-Walt, said there were confirmed reports of at least several woman in the driver's seat in the capital, Riyadh. One of them was Maha al-Qahtani, a computer specialist at Saudi's Ministry of Education, who said she drove for 45 minutes around the city with her husband in the passenger seat. "I wanted to make a point," she said in a telephone interview. "I took it directly to the streets of the capital." Web message boards set up on Twitter and other social media carried unconfirmed reports that some women also got behind the wheel in the eastern city of Dammam and elsewhere. Joffe-Walt said some Saudi men claimed they drove around dressed in the traditional black coverings for women in an attempt to confuse security forces. A YouTube page urged supporters around the world to honk their car horns for the Saudi women. But conservative forces also counterattacked on the web. One video — denouncing the "revolution of corruption" — featured patriotic songs and a sinister-looking black hand with red fingernails reaching for the Saudi flag. One Facebook, a hard-line group had the message for Saudi women seeking the right to drive: "Dream on." No arrests or violence were immediately reported. Saudi Arabia has no written law barring women from driving — only fatwas, or religious edicts, by senior clerics following a strict brand of Islam known as Wahhabism. They claim the driving ban protects against the spread of vice and temptation because women drivers would be free to leave home alone and interact with male strangers. The prohibition forces families to hire live-in drivers or rely on male relatives to drive. Saudi King Abdullah has promised some social reforms, but he depends on the clerics to support his ruling family and is unlikely to take steps that would bring backlash from the religious establishment. In London, the rights groups Amnesty International called Thursday on Saudi officials to "stop treating women as second-class citizens and open the kingdom's roads to women drivers." "Not allowing women behind the wheel in Saudi Arabia is an immense barrier to their freedom of movement, and severely limits their ability to carry out everyday activities as they see fit, such as going to work or the supermarket, or picking up their children from school," said Philip Luther, Amnesty's deputy director for the Middle East and North Africa. Earlier this week, a group of women drove around the Saudi Embassy in Washington to protest the kingdom's ban on female drivers. Similar convoys converged on Saudi diplomatic missions in other cities around the world. In November 1990, when U.S. troops were deployed to Saudi Arabia before the invasion to oust Iraqi troops from Kuwait, about 50 women got behind the wheel and drove family cars in one of the first acts of defiance against the ban. They were jailed for one day, their were passports confiscated and they lost their jobs. |
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| shure | Jun 17 2011, 01:35 PM Post #3 |
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Braving police, Saudi women drivers take to streets By Caryle Murphy, Correspondent / June 17, 2011 http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Middle-East/2011/0617/Braving-police-Saudi-women-drivers-take-to-streets Dozens of Saudi Arabian women defied the Kingdom's ban against women behind the wheel today. Have they struck a blow for equal rights? ![]() Riyadh, Saudi Arabia She was probably the first to put foot to pedal. It was 12:44 a.m. and middle-of-the-night dark. She turned the ignition key, lit the headlights, and drove. In the backseat, her supportive husband filmed his wife making history as the earliest participant in Friday’s campaign by Saudi women to get the right to drive on the roads of their country. IN PICTURES: Behind the veil “I felt great,” the university student said later in an email exchange. “I couldn't believe that I was in Riyadh and driving! I look forward for the day that all of this becomes as natural as men driving.” The woman, who posted the video on YouTube, said she wanted to remain anonymous “because I'm afraid of the authorities.” She’s also not certain, she wrote, about how her extended family would react to news of what she called “my small mission.” Overall, the driving campaign got off to a slow start with just shy of 50 women reporting – mostly via Twitter – by the evening that they had gotten behind the wheel in violation of the kingdom’s national ban on female drivers. The campaign is perhaps the largest and most genuinely grass-roots campaign by Saudi women to demand one of the many rights they are denied in this country, which severely restricts female independence. Under the guardianship system, women need the permission of their father, husband, or brother to marry, travel outside the country, work outside the home, and have certain kinds of medical procedures. Though there is no law prohibiting women from driving, the government supports the social custom that women not drive, at least not in the urban areas. In rural parts of the kingdom, women drive regularly without interference. Many senior members of the royal family and the government have no objection to women driving. But they are reluctant to upset conservatives, both men and women, who argue that their Islamic society should not follow the same pattern of women’s liberation as in Western societies. The last time the driving ban was challenged in an organized fashion was in 1990 when more 48 Saudi women drove in a convoy around Riyadh for an hour. The women were harshly punished – banned from international travel and suspended from their jobs. Mosque preachers labeled them “whores.” Later, the kingdom’s most senior religious figure issued a fatwa, or religious ruling, that said women should not drive. But 21 years later, that fatwa is no longer seen as valid by many Muslims, especially since women drive in every other Muslim-majority country in the world. Other things have also changed. Some religious sheikhs are breaking their silence and speaking out against the austere hardliners, arguing that nothing in Islam prevents women from driving. The concept behind Friday’s campaign, which was launched in March, is that since there is no law banning women from driving, they should go out and drive en masse to persuade the government to lift the ban. Women were advised not to congregate so as not to violate the ban on demonstrations. In recent years an increasing number of women have driven, sometimes out of necessity. If caught by traffic police, they were held until their male guardian picked them up and signed a pledge that they would not allow the women to drive again. By mid-evening Friday, there was no evidence of arrests. It was a far different story last month, when the government took a tough line against one of the driving campaign organizers. After Manal al-Sharif posted a YouTube video of herself driving around the town of Al Khobar to encourage women to join the campaign, she was detained for nine days. According to Saudi sources, she was released on orders of King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz, who is seen as a supporter of women’s rights. Traffic about the campaign was heavy on Twitter (much of which can be found at the #Women2Drive hashtag), which along with Facebook and YouTube was the main way it was organized. Tweets poured in from Saudis and non-Saudis offering encouragement to women who drove or were planning to drive. Women who defied the ban and drove tweeted about the responses they got. “I went to the supermarket and I noticed [that] some grandpa generation were upset but all the people were smiling,” tweeted Maial Shareef. “I drove my dad’s car this afternoon. Delivered him to the jumah (Friday) prayer and back home,” wrote Mozah. “It went well. Some weren’t happy to see me pick him [up at] the mosque.” And Tawfiq al-Saif, an author and community leader in the Eastern Province, commented that he was taken for a ride by his wife. It went “just fine,” he wrote. “ IN PICTURES: Behind the veil http://www.csmonitor.com/CSM-Photo-Galleries/In-Pictures/Behind-the-veil |
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