Rosa al-Parks
This isn’t about sitting on the bus. She wants to drive. MEMRI, from Aafaq, new Arab reform website:
“Saudi activist Wajeha Al-Huwaidar has become one of the best known activists for human and civil rights – specifically for women’s rights – in Saudi Arabia and the Arab world.
“Ms. Al-Huwaidar has been dubbed ‘The Arab Rosa Parks,’ after the American civil rights activist who, in turn, was called ‘the mother of the modern-day civil rights movement.’ Rosa Parks gained fame just over 50 years ago, when she refused to give up her seat on a public bus when the driver ordered her to give it to a white passenger. In doing so, Ms. Parks helped spark the organized campaign against racial discrimination.
“The comparison between Ms. Parks and Ms. Al-Huwaidar is apt – because the Saudi activist is focusing on and campaigning against legal discrimination against women.
“Wajeha Al-Huwaidar has been an activist and writer (in both Arabic and English) for a number of years. In 2003, the Saudi Interior Ministry prohibited the Saudi press from publishing her articles, because of her writings on human rights, and especially her attacks on discrimination against women in Saudi Arabia and across the Arab world. But since the rise of the Internet, and the emergence of websites like Aafaq, governments have found it much more difficult to suppress writers’ access to media.
“Ms. Al-Huwaidar has also put her body on the line: On August 4, 2006, the first anniversary of King Abdullah’s accession to the throne, she demonstrated on the causeway linking Saudi Arabia to Bahrain, carrying a sign demanding rights for women. For her actions, she was arrested and interrogated by Saudi security forces – which released her in exchange for her pledge to cease writing articles, holding and organizing protests, and communicating with foreign organizations and media.
“Recently, Ms. Al-Huwaidar has become more widely known outside Saudi Arabia, for leading the movement to abolish the Saudi ban on women driving. She is a major organizer of the League of Demanders of Women’s Right to Drive Cars, which launched a signature collection drive for a petition that was presented to King Abdullah on Saudi National Day on September 23, 2007. Following an Aafaq report on this campaign, the story was picked up by international news media and major newspapers – the Associated Press, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, the BBC, and dozens of others.
“The campaign against the Saudi ban on women driving struck a nerve in the Western world, where most had never heard of such a ban. The Wall Street Journal brought Ms. Al-Huwaidar even more attention, with an article in its October 14 online edition in which Journal editors proposed nominees for the 2008 Nobel Peace Prize. The article commended her and her League co-founder for ‘waging a modest struggle with grand ambitions to secure basic rights for women in that Muslim country.’
“The Saudi ban on women driving is supported by the leading officials of Wahhabi Islam, including Saudi Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdulaziz Al Al-Sheikh, who declared in a fatwa that ‘a woman driving a car is in contradiction to the behavior of true Islam.’
Topics: saudi arabia
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 8:49 pm Comments (4) on Friday, November 2, 2007
4 Responses to “Rosa al-Parks”
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November 3rd, 2007 at 1:54 am
It would be interesting to define Islam in term of the fatwas that have been issued and are still in effect.
November 3rd, 2007 at 1:30 pm
How long before they kill her to protect the honor of Islam?
November 3rd, 2007 at 2:34 pm
I am always inspired by the courage of others. Just think of what this woman is really fighting for, symbolized by the real-world freedom of getting in a car and going where you want to go.
November 4th, 2007 at 11:17 pm
Is it still the case that women in the Wahhabist Entity are not allowed to leave the house unless accompanied by a male relative? I can see them winning the right to drive, but only if a male relative is in the car with them.