Ruled by Sharia laws, Saudi women have to face most severe reins, such as the dress code, sex segregation, male guardianship, not being able to vote and be elected to high political positions, and many others. Being “the lowest ranking country in Freedom House’s assessment of women’s rights in the Middle East and North Africa”, Saudi Arabia kingdom’s enforcement cause the country to be the only one in the world that doesn’t allow women to drive.

To stand for Saudi women’s one of the most basic rights, one brave Saudi women-rights activist, Manal al-Sharif posted to YouTube, a video of herself driving, and drove both her country’s and world’s attention. While Saudi authorities arrested her, she got the world’s admiration, and gave to the Women2Drive Campaign a voice.

The protest against the ban on women driving  actually first emerged in 1990 in Saudi Arabia, and concluded with the punishment of several women. This last incident of Manal-al Sharif, raised the voice of Saudi women once again.

“Manal al-Sharif, a 32-year-old computer security consultant, was arrested on 22 May, the day after she was stopped by police while driving in al-Khobar city in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province”, reported Amnesty International. Al-Sharif was released this week from Dammam prison, but as a condition of that she had to sign a pledge, which indicates that she will not take part in Women2Drive campaign. She also presented her apologies to the king, and declared that she appreciates her release.

Nonetheless Manal al-Sharif initiated the campaign, and Women2Drive did not lose its effect. Many Saudi women are uploading their videos filmed by their husbands, fathers, relatives and the campaign is growing from Facebook and Twitter .

Supporting the campaign, Freedom House , in its press release demands from Saudi Arabia, to fulfill their promises that has been given since 2008, regarding the lifting of the driving ban of women, and also to allow the campaign to take place in a peaceful environment.

The campaign encourages Saudi women with international driver licences, to drive on Saudi Arabia streets on 17th of June, and demands support from all around the world. It is about time for women to raise their voices against severe Saudi authority.

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About the author

Ozlem Onder
I'm a philosophy student, passionate about exploring the hidden, by searching, moving and changing constantly, as Kierkegaard once said, "life is not a problem to be solved, but a reality to be experienced".

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1 Comment for Women2Drive: Saudi Women’s Strive on June 17

ecks why

allah approved misogyny is one of many severe problems with islam which is dangerous no matter how it is packaged…

the twin fogs of political correctness & ignorance must be dispersed before western society better understands this menace. even a brief review of islamic theology & history quickly exposes the deadly roots of this evil ideology.

see the links in the pdf version below for more accurate info about islam

==========

islam is a horrible ideology for human rights

5 key things about islam

1. mythical beliefs – all religions have these (faith) because its part of being a religion: having beliefs without proof until after the believer dies. the problem is people will believe almost anything.

2. totalitarianism – islam has no seperation of church and state: sharia law governs all. there is no free will in islam: only submission to the will of allah as conveniently determined by the imams who spew vapors to feather their own nests. there are no moderate muslims: they all support sharia law.

3. violence – islam leads the pack of all religions in violent tenets for their ideology & history: having eternal canonical imperatives for supremacy at all costs and calling for violence & intimidation as basic tools to achieve these goals.

4. dishonesty – only islam has dishonesty as a fundamental tenet: this stems from allah speaking to mohamhead & abrogation in the koran which is used to explain how mo's peaceful early life was superseded by his warlord role later.

5. misogyny – present day islam is still rooted in 8th century social ethics: treating females as property of men good only for children, severely limiting their activities, dressing them in shower curtains and worse.

conclusions ??

there really are NO redeeming qualities for this muddled pile of propaganda.

islam is just another fascist totalitarian ideology used by power hungry fanatics on yet another quest for worldwide domination and includes all the usual human rights abuses & suppression of freedoms.

graphics version
http://img829.imageshack.us/img829/5792/dangero.j…

1 page pdf version – do file/download 6kb viewer doesn't show fonts well, has better fonts header footer links, great for emailing printing etc
http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explore…

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