Saudi Woman Stopped at Border in Protest for Travel Rights
source: http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/07/10/women.saudi/index.html?eref=rss_world
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- rodstradamus
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In Saudi Arabia a woman can't get a job, go to school, have a bank account or leave the country for a weekend holiday without legal permission from a male guardian: a father, husband, brother or the closest male relative. In addition, Saudi women can't vote or drive.
Wajeha al-Huwaider, a women's rights activist from Saudi Arabia, has been turned away at the border many times:
"Last month, al-Huwaider tried three times to cross from Saudi Arabia into Bahrain on her own and without permission from a male guardian. She was turned back each time but she said she'll continue going to Saudi's land borders and its airports in an attempt to gain 'her rights.'"
"It's not about just sending messages and petitions anymore," she said to a CNN reporter. "We're not going to send any letters to anyone. Saudi women have to find someone who will take them to an airport or a border and say that they don't approve of the system and that they want to leave."
Saddam Hussein, Fidel Castro and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad would never be allowed to oppress its people the way the Abdullah Kingdom in Saudi Arabia oppresses women. Yet, it is the King who is our ally and recipient of billions of US dollars in exchange for oil, which has created an industrial complex that ultimately is killing us and our planet, while it enriches the monarchy.
Our relationship with Saudi Arabia since 1931 could possibly be the worst strategic alliance the US has ever made in foreign policy. Never have we sacrificed our American principles of freedom and equality more than we have for oil. The wars of today were started decades ago by the decisions of the past. Meanwhile, the women of Saudi Arabia are kept prisoner in their own country without the right to even show their faces in the more conservative areas of the kingdom.
The article by the Middle East Review of International Affairs, Saudi Arabia and the United States, 1931-2002, does a great job of summarizing US-Saudi relations diplomatically over the years: http://meria.idc.ac.il/journal/2002/issue3/jv6n3a7.html
Wajeha al-Huwaider, a women's rights activist from Saudi Arabia, has been turned away at the border many times:
"Last month, al-Huwaider tried three times to cross from Saudi Arabia into Bahrain on her own and without permission from a male guardian. She was turned back each time but she said she'll continue going to Saudi's land borders and its airports in an attempt to gain 'her rights.'"
"It's not about just sending messages and petitions anymore," she said to a CNN reporter. "We're not going to send any letters to anyone. Saudi women have to find someone who will take them to an airport or a border and say that they don't approve of the system and that they want to leave."
Saddam Hussein, Fidel Castro and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad would never be allowed to oppress its people the way the Abdullah Kingdom in Saudi Arabia oppresses women. Yet, it is the King who is our ally and recipient of billions of US dollars in exchange for oil, which has created an industrial complex that ultimately is killing us and our planet, while it enriches the monarchy.
Our relationship with Saudi Arabia since 1931 could possibly be the worst strategic alliance the US has ever made in foreign policy. Never have we sacrificed our American principles of freedom and equality more than we have for oil. The wars of today were started decades ago by the decisions of the past. Meanwhile, the women of Saudi Arabia are kept prisoner in their own country without the right to even show their faces in the more conservative areas of the kingdom.
The article by the Middle East Review of International Affairs, Saudi Arabia and the United States, 1931-2002, does a great job of summarizing US-Saudi relations diplomatically over the years: http://meria.idc.ac.il/journal/2002/issue3/jv6n3a7.html
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