Jun
15
2011
On June 7th a women name Manal-Al Sharif in Saudi Arabia drove her car and posted a video of it on You Tube. Her action was meant to encourage Saudi women to start driving their cars on June 17th in protest of the generally accepted ban on female drivers. Manal was driving with her brother, and their respective children. However Manal was caught in the act and was detained for a total of six hours before being released. Later, the Saudi Secret Police arrested Manal from her home and imprisoned her for over a week. Although not alone, Manal-Al-Sharif is one of many women who have been driving and posting videos of their actions, in effort to increase awareness of women’s right to drive. Another female driver, 45 year old Najla Hariri, says that it was the on-going protests in the Middle East that have inspired her and led her behind the wheel towards greater freedoms. “There is no law against women driving in Saudi Arabia, just society’s conventions,” stated Najla Hariri. The religious establishment in Saudi Arabia holds fast to a belief that women ought to be chaperoned by a close male relative while driving in cars. Manal-Al Sharif is one of the main organizers of the women’s driving protest on June 17th, a demonstration encouraging women all over Saudi Arabia to drive freely, without the aid of a male driver. She created a Facebook page named “Teach me how to drive so I can Protect myself.” The page gained more than 12,000 fans, however has since been deleted. Manal used Twitter to publicize the upcoming protest, but the page information was altered in attempt to disband and sabotage the growing movement.
GUEST: Eman Al Nafjan, Saudi blogger
Read Eman Al Nafjan’s blog at saudiwoman.wordpress.com
