And now for the “Right to Drive” Movement

Recently, I waxed airily about the “right to dry” movement and the “answer blowing in the wind.” Can’t resist noting, in the same (ironic) spirit, the budding “right to drive” movement in our erstwhile ally, Saudi Arabia.
Nascar dudes, check this out: (from The Independent)

“Women in the only country in the world which still bans women from driving want to put their best foot forward – on the accelerator.
Saudi Arabia’s newly established League of Demanders of Women’s Right to Drive Cars plans to deliver a petition to King Abdallah Bin Abd Al-Aziz Al Saud, calling for their “stolen” entitlement of free movement to be restored.
In a statement on the Arab website Aafaq, (note – from Sept. 4th) the women said: “This is a right that was enjoyed by our mothers and grandmothers in complete freedom, through the means of transportation available.”

One wonders what “means” the grandmothers then had ?
By the way, MEMRI ‘s translation of the statement includes this curious statement:

“We Would Like to Remind Everyone That Rights Are Not Given or Earned – They Are Taken”

Taken? I wonder if something here still “got lost in the translation.” (I haven’t yet found the original or an OSC rendering.) Might there be a Jefferson echo here, that rights are “inalienable” — as in God given, but “men” take them away, and now women beseech the men to give them back?
See also yesterday’s Arab News (Jeddah) for further insights into this “social” issue. Legally speaking, “there is no law in the Kingdom that explicitly states that women cannot drive.”
————————-
Side subject:
One might also ponder just where the American publishing houses have been on Saudi women’s issues? And how about that unique literary genre of the American “true story” — the “captivity narrative?” Or are those best-selling formula books reserved just for women in countries currently on the bad guy list? (fill in the blank, Iraq, then Afghanistan, and now Iran….)
Here via jwn, I’ve previously mentioned Farzaneh Milani’s ongoing investigations into this realm of American publishing, that of the “hostage narrative.”
For those who missed it, we also featured (via the delic sidebar) a recent compelling oped on the subject by Susan Faludi, entitled “America’s Guardian Myths.”
If you’re not familiar with what 1675 might have to do with 2001, read it. Hint:

“Our original “war on terrorism” bequeathed us a heritage that haunts our reaction to crises like the one that struck on that crisp, clear morning in the late summer of 2001.”

11 thoughts on “And now for the “Right to Drive” Movement”

  1. there is no law in the Kingdom that explicitly states that women cannot drive.”
    You need to understand the women rights and other disgusting rules in Saudi Arabia set by Al-Saud family and their vast tool operators which established 100 years ago or more to strength the Al-Saud family to control Al-Jazzirah.
    So they twisted some “Islamic Rules” to be fit their needs, they where lived so long with this until fired back and blowing up in their faces on 11/9, so they harvest what they sewn back more than 100 years.
    Scott, did you see this?
    http://www.bratstory.com/
    Where these people living and working for years?
    Why these people did not saying their thoughts about the reality what’s on in Saudi Arabia?
    Why not as same as this move showing, there is one give us the reality Saudi Arabia?
    How many books article was pulled from western markets and news media on demand from Saudi kings? And why?
    So we can say the attitude that Al-Saud had for decades somehow was encouraged by west “US” for some reasons and defiantly this attitude was hurting the people in the Kingdome. Then there is share responsibility what we got today by this family who sit on the OIL WELLS
    BTW, I heard story I don’t know how much truth in it, all the oil wells in Saudi Arabia are registered to al-Saud family and its not belong to state.

  2. so they harvest what they sewn back more than 100 years.
    The United States had nothing to do with installing the Saudi royal family. Its seizure of power [from British allies] occurred 25 years before oil was discovered in 1938, at which point its rule was well-entrenched.
    Your claim that “they harvest what they sowed” is offensive and historically ignorant.

  3. Your claim that “they harvest what they sowed” is offensive and historically ignorant.
    Vadim, you miss interpreted my statement what I meant in my statement above is the “Saudis they harvest what the sowed” not US or any one ales, Saudis polices and attitude using Islam were bearded those fanatics and terrorists who did the crimes in 9/11, this need to be clear about it.

  5. “We Would Like to Remind Everyone That Rights Are Not Given or Earned – They Are Taken”
    Actually, that’s a pretty fair statement of how things are. Those with power don’t relinquish it gladly. They certainly don’t give anyone rights because they think they deserve them. But if the “sans culottes”, “descamisados”, or the “great unwashed” reach a point where they pose a threat to the powerful, they can take things – including their rights – either by force (France 1789, Russia 1917) – or by patient plodding negotiation (Britain 1688 to present).

  7. Salah, the House of Saud and at least one member of the Bin laden family have acted monstrously but geopolitically they are “our” monsters. The Iraqi and the Iranian people may be innocent, but they are not “our” innocents, and they are sitting on oil that we need so its ours. So the advice vadim quotes is sound, “don’t blow everything, sign the contract, (I think theres an important one from Feb 2007 for the Iraqi parliament right now)and gain a global pact for peace”. The right to drive to our species early grave is surely a paramount one.

  10. WOW — thanks for catching this excellent essay Roland. I just put it on the sidebar….
    Raises a huge question re. the US MSM — as in why aren’t certain obvious questions even asked? Answer – “royal treatment.” (as in when the Prez, Clawson, Kagan, et. al. go off proclaiming we have to stay in Iraq to keep out foreign hands, why not be a bit candid in asking which ones?)

  11. Please use my name on your petition,
    The Convention (CEDAW) defines discrimination against women as “…any distinction, exclusion or restriction made on the basis of sex which has the effect or purpose of impairing or nullifying the recognition, enjoyment or exercise by women, irrespective of their marital status, on a basis of equality of men and women, of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural, civil or any other field.”
    By accepting the Convention, States commit themselves to undertake a series of measures to end discrimination against women in all forms, including:

Comments are closed.