Saudi Women’s Rights Activist Slams Saudi Society
The following are some translated excerpts of a recent interview of Saudi women’s rights activist Wajiha Al-Huweidar, which aired on Al-Hurra TV on January 13, 2008.
“We have raised a generation - I think it began with my own generation - on the belief that we are a special people, that we are the cradle of Islam, that the truth is ours and ours alone, that we are the Saved Sect of Islam. People have begun to believe all these lies, and they use them as pretexts. When we demanded that women be employed in public workplaces, they say: ‘No, we are a special people.’ When we demand that women be allowed to drive, they say: ‘No, we are a special people.’ No, we are not. In what way are we special? There is nothing special about us. True, we have the two holy cities - Mecca and Al-Madina - but this does not mean that we have a monopoly on religion, and that we are the only Muslims in the world.”
(…)
“This Saudi patriarchal culture has become prevalent under religious guise, but if you examine everything that goes on in this society, none of it has anything to do with religion. How can it be that people are stripped of their individual judgment, and the Commission [for the Prevention of Vice] is sent to spy on people in the streets, and to determine who errs and who acts properly? Who gave them the right to do this? People have the right to decide for themselves what they do and don’t want.”
(…)
“…the early signs that a wrong ideology is dying are fanaticism and extremism. This is obvious. Have you ever seen a dead body that is soft? When the person dies, the body becomes rigid. Similarly, this ideology will become increasingly rigid, and will reach the height of fanaticism, but it is constantly in the process of dying. Take a look at history. Let’s examine what happened to the Church in Europe. It becomes rigid and persecuted ideologies, killing and burning scientists, until people rebelled against it, and this led to its collapse. History tells us that this holds true for all ideologies. Communism…”
(…)
“I do not understand why there is no room for other religions in the vast land of Saudi Arabia. To this day, there is no church for the Christians, no synagogue for the Jews, and [no] temple for the Hindus, even though they constitute a large part of the foreign communities in Saudi Arabia. There are six to eight million of these people.”
(…)
“Saudi society is based on enslavement - the enslavement of women to men and of society to the state. People still do not make their own decisions, but it is the women of Saudi Arabia who have been denied everything. The Saudi woman still lives the life of a slave girl. So in what way are we different from Guantanamo? At least in the case of Guantanamo, many prisoners have been released, while we remain in this prison, and nobody ever hears of us. When will we be freed? I don’t know.”
I think we’ll hear about this woman’s demise soon, or her exile. One of the two.
Be respectful of others and their opinions. Inflammatory remarks and inane leftist drivel will be deleted. It ain’t about free speech, remember you’re in a private domain. My website, my prerogative.
If you can't handle using your real email address, don't bother posting a comment.
The simple fact that it aired is amazing. Somebody is trying to hedge bets, I think.
January 19th, 2008 at 9:59 pmLetting people like this live is Saudi’s version of feminism and tolerance. They’ll let her walk the streets so they can say, “See how tolerant we are?” As soon as she ceases to be a topic of conversation, they’ll kill her.
January 19th, 2008 at 10:55 pmWhere’s the ACLU, feminist organizations or any of the east or west coast liberal thinkers when there is true sexism in society. Why is it they only wail about Bush?
January 20th, 2008 at 5:33 amtedders asks: “Where’s the ACLU, feminist organizations…”
Every time Islam is called onto the mat for being a stone-age sexist pile of pig feces, somebody asks, “Where are the feminists?” Western feminists will NEVER champion the cause of women in the land of the camel-fuckers, because
1. They know the camel-fuckers don’t give two shits what women think, let alone western women, and
2. If there is a huge victory for women in the Middle East, how does it benefit feminists?
Feminists don’t give a shit about womens rights! They only care about how they can more effectively line their pockets, and the freedom of 3 billion women around the world does not equate into a new Mercedez for Gloria Steinem.
Sorry for the rant, but too many people on the planet are truly disadvantaged. Western women have NOTHING to complain about. Feminism in the west is dead.
January 20th, 2008 at 11:09 am“Feminism in the west is dead.”
One can only hope so!!!
January 20th, 2008 at 2:14 pm