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Journalism of Courage
The grand convulsions of change that swept through the Middle East,the mass movements demanding rights,dignity and democracy and dramatically unseating dictatorships,have not reached Saudi Arabia. Instead,what one saw on the roads of Riyadh,Jeddah and Dammam on June 17 was relatively discreet,uncharacteristically subtle in its numbers and noise,as a few women in abayas drove around in their Hummers and Hondas. Yet,it was a quiet quake,a breakthrough moment against gender discrimination,as they defied the ban on women driving automobiles in the ultra-conservative kingdom not the best champion of womens rights and possibly the only country to enforce such a law.
It began when a young woman,Manal al-Sharif,posted a YouTube video of her driving and got arrested for 10 days. As with the many revolutions of Arab Spring,the Internet has been the great facilitator in Saudi Arabias right to drive campaign. Facebook posts,Twitter timelines and Web pages have explained how to flout the restriction and initiated a conversation on rights. Enraged traditionalists have retorted that freedom to drive encourages temptation and vice,and endangers women,discrimination couched in the old codes and canards of safety and morality. It is a reminder of the shape-shifting form of discrimination against women across cultures and countries and of the many freedoms that still remain to be fought for and gained.
