Monthly Archives: March 2010

March 24, 2010 · 2:07 pm

Censored in KSA

There are no set rules or even boundaries for what could get a writer censored in Saudi Arabia. A person could be banned from writing for being too liberal, like what happened to Wajeha al Huwaider or a whole paper could be blocked from inside Saudi Arabia for being too conservative. The decision-making process of which writers, articles or whole websites get censored is also a mystery. A particular piece could be block and nothing more said, or an individual might be warned off publishing anything in a Saudi targeted medium. In the former case, it’s most likely that a big enough number of people called up the King Abdulazziz Technology City to complain and then a site is blocked. If then enough people complain about the unfairness of having it blocked, the KATC will claim that the whole thing was a mistake and unblock the site, this once happened to Amazon in 2006.

The most recent writer to get a government endorsed complete ban from writing is Mohammed al Rottayan. On the 14^th of February, Al Watan newspaper published Rottayan’s satirical take on how different Obama’s aunt would have been received if she were a relative of a Saudi ruler or even a minister. Since then his popular daily column has disappeared and he has not been published elsewhere either. Badria al Bishr bravely wrote on al Hayat website an article asking where Rottayan is. She begins with the old proverbial story about Yousef. It goes that an Arab ruler meets with his people to listen to their complaints and concerns. So Yousef stands up and honestly speaks about his concerns. The next year the ruler meets again with his people and someone stands up and asks the ruler “where’s Yousef?”. She ends the article with a call to everyone to not be silent about what happened to al Rottayan.

Interestingly someone commented on Bishr’s article that they had seen al Rottayan at the Riyadh Book Fair and that he did indeed confirm that he is currently banned from publishing anything.

19 Comments

Filed under Freedom of speech, Injustice

March 20, 2010 · 8:18 am

The Saudi sixth Pillar of Islam

In Islam there are five pillars that are the foundation of what it is to be Muslim; the belief that there is only one God and that Mohammed was one of his prophets, praying five times a day, the annual giving of 2.5% of monetary wealth to the poor, fasting the month of Ramadan and performing Hajj at least once in a lifetime for those who can afford it.

So if you’re a decent person who does these five things, no more and no less that would make you a good Muslim. That was the case for 1400 years and then Saudis came along and unofficially added a sixth pillar; the oppression of women. It has gotten so bad that in all seriousness people are asking on Islamic forums if niqab is an Islamic pillar! Ever since the early 1980s, Saudi sheikhs have been preoccupied with how to keep a rein on the womenfolk. The two major sheikhs of the 80s are Bin Othaimeen and Bin Baz and since they passed away, it seems that their standing legacy are their oppressive fatwas on women such as why it is Islamically prohibited for women to drive cars, how a woman should wear her abaya, that pants are prohibited for women, and my favorite that marriage should take precedence over education. In the nineties the “oppress all women” cause lost some of it wind to the “kill all infidels” cause.

In the last decade however the government put its foot down and stifled the violent jihad calls against the rest of the world and so our sheikhs are back to hassling women. They even use jihad vocabulary in their anti-women cause like “jihad against the westernization movement”. Since the unofficial addition of this sixth pillar, there is no surprise that sheikh Al Bararak sees fit that unrelated men and women mingling together should be murdered in the name of Islam. What’s more worrying is what the Saudi novelist Samar al Moqren pointed out, that 26 other major sheikhs felt that it was their duty to support Al Barack’s fatwa by signing a petition while not a single sheikh publicly went against it. This tells us that things might seem to be going in the right direction superficially but underlying all this recent progress are large groups of fundamentalists waiting for the chance to pull us back into the religiously fueled dark ages. The only thing between us and them is the current political environment.

Last week’s outcry about sheikh Yousef al Ahmad’s suggestion that the Makkah mosque be demolished and rebuilt in such a way that ensures complete segregation is only the tip of the iceberg. If you saw the whole show, it was a group of fundamentalists sitting in a tent and plotting against women. The whole show was on how terrible it is that there are women and men working together in hospitals. Sheikh Yousef al Ahmad claimed that he had had a research project that required him to survey a hospital and that in his frequent visits he saw outrageous things happening between unrelated men and women. He said that it is common knowledge that female secretaries are only hired for “play”. The sheikh gave as an example of the evils of not segregating the sexes the current state in the USA, with emphasis on the Clinton/Lewinsky affair! He also claimed that in Japan there are many hospitals that are for women only, so that both staff and patients are all women. He was outraged that those Japanese “rock worshippers” are more protective of their women than us honorable Saudi Muslims. After he finished talking, another fundamentalist claimed that he visited a place in the United States where Christians finally came to their senses and were practicing complete gender segregation.

Like I said before this sheikh’s suggestion is not an isolated incident but is actually representative of a large sector of Saudi thinkers, policy makers and average people who are having a lot of trouble shaking off the 1980s repressive trends. From the twittering of approval for a prominent Saudi woman who met a European diplomatic envoy in complete head to toe covering to the calls for punishing a Saudi woman who had her photo taken in front of the PVPV booth at the Riyadh book fair with her face only partially covered.

Those who go against these fundamentalists are quickly rejected. Sheikh Ahmed bin Baz who we would have heard a lot more from but has instead been marginalized due to his push away from extremism. Only under King Abdullah has he been able to get the word out that Islam has nothing to do with the oppression of women. Shiekh Salman al Ouda is another example of a sheikh who has also been marginalized for not sticking to the anti women Saudi path.

The introduction of this sixth pillar is based on the principle of prevention of sin. Ask a fundamentalist why can’t women drive? Or why so much emphasis on gender segregation? And their reply bubbles down to prevention of sin. In the name of preventing sin, a woman has only three places she belongs in, her parent’s house, her husband’s and her grave. Other than that she might be too much of a temptation for good Muslims to maintain their religion.

36 Comments

Filed under Culture, Fatwas, Gender Apartheid

March 15, 2010 · 10:53 pm

Saudi woman top five blog posts

I dragged these out because I enjoyed writing them and they are representative of a side of Saudi that rarely is shown to the outside world. Click on the header of each for a link to the actual post.

1) The Saudi Supernatural World

In Saudi Arabia and the Middle East in general, people strongly believe in the supernatural world. This world that we believe in is different right down to its roots from the supernatural phenomena in the rest of the world. There is no emphasis on ancestral spirits or ghosts of dead people. To us dead people are dead and its final, and supernatural phenomena is due to the existence of another dimension that is peopled with creatures called Jinn. This post explains the common beliefs held by most Saudis regarding this.

2) The problem lies within

This post explains why it is that the status quo regarding women rights is maintained.

3) Line 110 or 220 volts?

This is about the tribal divisions and traditions within Saudi society.

4) Blackmail: Saudi style

This is on how some Saudi men make use of the cultural restrictions on women by manipulating vulnerable Saudi women into giving up their photos and blackmailing them with the photos in exchange for sex.

5) The reasoning behind the ban on women driving.

This is a translation of the illogical rhetoric that those supporting the ban repeat over and over and over…

2 Comments

Filed under Personal favorites, Popular

March 14, 2010 · 8:55 pm

ِA clarification on the previous post

I originally posted this as a comment on the previous post “Drisciminated against by a foreigner in my own country” but I think it’s important that it be a post on its own. This is addressed to all those people who have not lived in Saudi; please refrain from making comments that only showcase your arrogant assumptions. You read things about Saudi, including things on this blog, and then overgeneralize them. Anyone who has lived in Saudi knows that muttawa do not raid classes. They raid mixed gender adult parties especially if alcohol and/or drugs are involved. They have also been known to raid homosexual parties.

Ballet class or any other type of class especially one conducted by a woman and given to little girls in a closed place, i.e. not out in the street, has never ever been raided or even closed down. Yes muttawas do not like the idea of any type of exercise for girls and women but that is ONLY at public schools and colleges.

Private schools and colleges whose student bodies are made up of at least 95% Saudi girls and women have gyms and they have never been raided. Check Kingdom schools, Al Tarbiyah al Namothijya schools, Manarat al Riyadh schools, Prince Sultan University. Heck we even have a national womens basketball team. Somes banks have gym facilities for its Saudi women staff and they have never been raided. All across Riyadh, there are gyms and all types of classes, including ballet, salsa, and pilates. And these gyms are not inside a compound. They have big signs up front and are open to anyone who wants to pay. We even have a Curves gym right off Olaya street. All of them have never been raided. There was some talk in the newspapers that some would be closed until the government organizes a special segment for their inspection and licensing, however I have not heard of any being actually closed.

So now you’re going to say why I went to this lady since there were so many others available. I did so because my daughter went to ballet a couple of years back and didn’t like it. Now she’s a little older I felt that maybe she should give it another try. And not because I want her to be a ballerina but because I thought it would help with her posture. So I was casually looking when a friend by chance recommended this lady and I called her first. Her not allowing my daughter in her class is her loss because I pay just like everyone else plus I have the sweetest little girl ever. Even if she had not said that “Saudis weren’t allowed”, I would still not automatically enroll my daughter. I called her to enquire and I was offended at the principle and not that my daughter would be missing out on anything. I’m going to shop around for a better class, probably someone who teaches in a proper ballet studio instead of moving around from one compound to the other.

Some of the places in Riyadh that cater to mostly Saudi clientele have websites that you can see for yourself, through the miracle of the internet, whatever continent you are on:

Filed under Eman

March 11, 2010 · 8:56 am

Discriminated against by a foreigner in my own country

I just had a really frustrating phone call. A friend of mine recommended a ballet instructor for my daughter. She gave me the number and I called to inquire and the lovely British ballet instructor informed me that she could not accept my daughter because we carry Saudi passports. I asked her why and she said that there is a directive that Saudi girls are not allowed to learn ballet. I asked her if she was ever provided with a written directive that Saudi girls weren’t allowed to learn ballet, and she said no that she was verbally instructed. I told her that that is not true and that there are ballet classes at some gyms here in Riyadh. So she changed the story and said that she had instructions that Saudis weren’t allowed on compounds. I told her that I’ve been in compounds. So she again changed the story. This time she had the audacity to say that she can only allow “western” passport holders, not only once but several times. I asked her what to you mean by western? How about Pakistanis? She retracted “oh no, I do allow Pakistanis.” Finally she said that that the compounds that she gave classes at required her to provide copies of the little girls’ passports. That is an outright lie because my son went to a daycare at a compound and never once was I asked to provide a copy of his passport. And then she started bumbling like a fool that in Saudi she has to wear a abaya. I said but that is not determined by your passport, every woman has to wear a abaya.

Anyway this is the new generation of Western expatriate workers here. Before 9/11, the attitude was very different. People who came here actually cared about making an impact, and getting to know the people of the country. Now so many of them strike me as money-hungry elitist who look down on “the ignorant locals”. When the ballet instructor told me that she has to endure discrimination too because she has to wear a abaya, as a Saudi woman, all I could think is that she has it easy. It’s her choice to stay or leave the country and naturally she wouldn’t be here unless she was being compensated for the inconvenience of wearing a abaya. As a foreigner, all that is required is that she have on this light black cloak when she’s out in public. She doesn’t even have to cover her hair. What about all those Saudi women and girls who are required to wear a heavy, below the ankles tent style abaya with their faces fully covered? And these Saudi girls aren’t here by choice nor are they financially compensated, and at the end of the day they don’t go home to a five star compound where they can walk around freely and enjoy the sun. Really, the ballet instructor is the one with the bad end of the stick? It’s bad enough getting it from the muttawa but when the same people who condemn us for not fighting for our freedom, practice discrimination against us, it gets really frustrating.

76 Comments

Filed under Eman

March 5, 2010 · 3:48 pm

Riyadh Book Fair 2010

On Wednesday the conservative news website Lojainiat came out with the news that gender segregation will be enforced at the book fair. They announced it with a big congratulatory red banner on their homepage. And yesterday I went to see for myself and found that women were allowed to enter and walk around freely. After I got home, it turns out that the Ministry of Culture and Information issued a statement denying that women will be banned from attending the book fair. Obviously I’m happy about that.

Anyhow, my report about last year’s book fair got a fair number of readers, so I thought I would do the same this year. This year it was more crowded than the last and there were more women in attendance. Security was also more available but not as careful as it should be. There are four entrances and they had a metal detector and bag scanner at only one. What’s the point if there are three other doors that a person can go through without being examined? After Al Barack’s fatwa that those who don’t practice gender segregation should be killed, security is very important.

A vibe that I did get from this year’s book fair is the the organizers brazenly flaunting their newfound freedom by having all the microphone announcements made by a woman. I bet that really gets to a lot of muttawas, since many are of the opinion that a woman’s voice is just as sexual as her naked body. Speaking of muttawa; they were on a tight leash. Their exhibit was at least half the size of last year’s and I did not see a single one “advising” women on how to cover properly, even though I was there for about three hours. What I did see was a civilian muttawa bringing over a Hannah Montana book that was being sold at one of the stands to complain about it

The PVPV had promptly and proudly displayed two items that they had confiscated in their raids; a T-shirt and a roulette wheel.

While I was waiting in line at one of the computerized book catalogs, a muttawa woman came up to me to ask me to cover my face. I (tried to) look her in the eye through her thick face cover and said that I am from the ultra conservative Qaseemi region and that I had tried her style of abaya and found that men still harassed me despite of my full cover . So now I’ve decided not to bother anymore. She was shocked and actually stuttered in trying to find a reply to that.

This year the children’s book section was greatly expanded and also better organized. All the children book stalls were gathered in one place and at the end of that hall is the women-only children section. Ms. Jawhira Al Sibti did a fantastic job this year by expanding the section. There was the usual children’s reading area with loads of books to choose from, a coloring area, a stage where plays are performed at regular intervals and a projector area where educational programs on child abuse and domestic violence are shown to the mothers.

Ms. Al Sibti is great. She allowed Saudi girls to volunteer. And not only college students that were recommended to her by a professor but also any girls who walked into the section and expressed interest in helping. The dress code for volunteers is a pair of pants and a Riyadh book fair T-shirt. I asked them how they got the education ministry to agree to that and they replied with a smile, that they didn’t ask.

All kinds of books were for sale. One of the publisher’s standing at the Syrian stalls told me that the muttawa came by and objected to several books that included two on the history of the Vatican, one on the reconciliation of the differences between Shias and Sunnis, and a bunch about Shiaism even though they were written by a Sunni. But the publishers defied the muttawa’s verbal instructions and kept them on display. He insisted that he would not take them out unless he gets a formal written letter of their ban.

There weren’t many English books but a few stalls had some and I was impressed by the quality and variety.

Just outside of the exhibition hall there are stalls for the Saudi Human Rights Organization, the Riyadh orphanage, the disabled association and others. There is a representative from each organization and free booklets.

Also there is a mini Islamic heritage and Saudi history exhibit with coins, old books and writing tools.

The food court wasn’t bad. I liked the sitting area more than the actual meal options available.

All in all, I would say this year is better than last year’s and definitely worth a visit. For dates and schedule click here.

19 Comments

Filed under Annual Book Fair

March 3, 2010 · 9:55 pm

Sawsan Salim in jail

Finally THIS is getting some attention! I’ve learned that the judge that was sentenced to half what the woman was sentenced to was actually the person writing the complaints for her. And yet he only got half of her punishment because she’s also convicted of going into a government building without a male guardian.

It’s being reported in Business Week and the Australian Herald Sun. It would be great if we could get enough international pressure to get her case revised.

23 Comments

Filed under Injustice

March 3, 2010 · 9:24 am

Gender Apartheid

Gender Apartheid is the best word to describe the situation in Saudi Arabia. I don’t believe there is any other place in the world where gender decides everything a person does on a daily basis and to the minutest details. To the outside world this manifests in the ban on women driving and the compulsory abaya. However it goes much deeper than that in that gender discrimination is institutionalized in every sector of the Saudi government. The majority of government ministries are off limits to women, both as visitors and as employees. Women are assigned a side building that is usually in the back with a separate entrance and it’s usually cramped. Moreover, when a woman needs to get her own papers done, these women sections are only authorized to do the most routine and mechanical administration. As an example let me tell you about a close friend of mine; she happens to be a Saudi who was born in another country and as such carries dual nationality. She went to renew her other passport and the embassy noticed that there was a discrepancy between her Saudi passport date of birth and her birth certificate by a few days. They insisted that this discrepancy had to be corrected before they could issue her a new passport. So naturally she took her Saudi passport and her original birth certificate to the ministry of foreign affairs. Of course she didn’t go through the main door like the men but to a small building to the side, added like an afterthought. That’s bad but it can be tolerated since it’s basically an aesthetic issue. But what was really frustrating for my friend was that the women working inside told her they were powerless to help her. They told her that her husband, brother, or father has to go to the men’s section to get her passport birth date corrected. Of course, she got upset because at the time she was separated from her husband, she does not have a brother and she didn’t want to bother her father with such a mundane errand.

This scenario is extremely common; Najla Barasain here gives an account of how pointless the women’s section is at the ministry of higher education. And I’ve personally visited the women’s section at the ministry of education and they too had no decision-making power. Neither did female heads of departments at the women’s sections of universities. They were there just for appearances sake. Any real decisions had to come through the men’s section.

This translates to the impossibility of Saudi women getting hired, transferred, starting a business and even properly quitting without the total support of a man. When I had to get some paperwork done, I resorted to hiring a stranger and giving him a cell phone and my file. He would go to the offices that I directed him to, call me and then hand the cell phone to the official behind the desk. I couldn’t call the officials at their office numbers because frankly they rarely answered. And so this guy I hired would go from one official to the next at my instructions like a remote controlled robot. All this because as a woman, I am prohibited from entering a government ministry.

There is little likelihood that this will change anytime soon. Shiekh Al Barrak recently issued a fatwa stating that those who call for the mixing of genders even in the workplace should be killed. The Fatwa led the government to censor the shiekh’s website, but that did not stop him. He just moved to another website. Moreover 27 other fundamentalist shiekhs signed a petition in support of Al Barrack’s violent fatwa. Al Barack himself is the last living member of the traditional, misogynist eighties rat pack of sheikhdom. However he has a loyal following within the muttawas of Nejd. His call for the death of gender mixing people has been linked by some to the burning of a literary club tent in Al Jouf. Feelings run high when it comes to women’s rights issues in Saudi Arabia. For every Saudi willing to speak up for women’s rights, there is a Saudi willing to attempt murder to shut them up.

To read more about Saudi gender apartheid check a translation of Dr. Fawzia Al Bakr’s article here.

52 Comments

Filed under Culture, Gender Apartheid