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I Want this as the Tear Flag of yemen: In Arab Internet news: a bahraini doctor told me that the hospital he lived in yesterday was like a jungle, hundreds of people shouting and screaming they even were inside the Operating Rooms taking pictures with their mobiles while people were getting treated. The general consensus is that no way the revolution in bahrain will be successful for two reasons: -- The people Revolting have not shown themselves to representative of both sects, leading people to think that this is purely a Sectarian Issue. -- Saudi Arabia is beyond loving livid about it, according to a professor, there is one iron and blood rule that ties the GCC (gulf cooperation council) together, despite all the media and economic dick waving between they must NEVER EVER evolve politically ahead of each other and that the shia must NEVER EVER take control, when the emir of qatar was asked why he doesnt make his country a democracy, he just flat out said: I cant, no gulf country is allowed to politically develop ahead of each other. Some people are whispering that if it really came down to it Saudi (or even America to protect the 5th fleet) would militarily rescue the Bahraini leadership, it's a small country so it's definitely within the Saudi armed forces means. Oh and a famous egyptian journalist on al arabiya said on air and live that his next show will be the effects the egypitan revolution will have on saudi arabia, as a direct challenge to show whether al arabiya is an independent channel or not. Al arabiya is owned by Saudi. He was fired that evening.
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Feb 18, 2011 05:45
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Meanwhile in the arab internet and news channels: -- Not many people are absolutely made up in their minds about bahrain due to the sectarian taint on the protests there. -- Everyone wants Qaddafi to stay in libya so they can see him get killed on live TV. -- Yusuf al Qaradawi has called on libyans to finish off Qaddafi. -- Interviews on the ground confirm: After what Qaddafi Did, Libyans want his blood. -- Protests and burnings of government buildings are spreading across Libya. -- poo poo is getting real in Libya, with some special forces siding with the protestors and entire army barracks along with their guns and ammunition have been taken by the protesters, there has even been news that several ammunition stores have been bombed from the sky to make sure they dont reach protestors hands. Man his son is a complete monster, if he can get a Phd from LSE then surely my chances of going to graduate school there has heightened considerably, probably not though. Also, after Qaddafi is done swinging by lamppost I hope the only thing the Libyans don't change are the female bodyguards, if there's one thing this world needs more of it's elite female warriors who dress snazzy, but something deep down tells me (judging by how they look and behave even in a formal setting) is that they might have been put to more nefarious uses than actually being trained as bodyguards because honestly their builds don't make me think they've been put through rigorous (or continuous)military training,  or is all that fat pure muscle? *edit* I just noticed that Qaddafi is wearing an extremely famous picture: the picture of the famous libyan hero Omar al mukhtar with his italian captors. gently caress you Qaddafi. gently caress. YOU. That son of a bitch has no right to pretend like he's even 0.0001% the man and the hero like Omar Mukhtar was, and also, the fact that he's using that as some sort of cheap fashion statement to Berlusconi makes it even more disgusting. I recommend everyone in this thread watch 'Lion of The desert' with Anthony Quinn and Oliver Reed, a true classic. Al-Saqr fucked around with this message at 14:34 on Feb 21, 2011 |
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Feb 21, 2011 14:27
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Aljazeera Arabic Confirms, Massive Mercenary Offensive with Live fire in Tripoli. Qaddafi, A hanging at this point will be too little for you. God help the Libyans, God give them strength.
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Feb 21, 2011 17:28
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quote:Does anyone have any accounts of what the climate in Saudi Arabia is like currently, or more specifically around Riyadh? I'm scheduled to travel there in the near future for work, and Bahrain seems all too close for comfort! Wondering if there's been protesting within Saudi Arabia as well, and how they're handling all the chaos going on with their neighbors. I am Saudi, let me make sure you know the following: 1- The possibility of a revolution occuring here in Saudi is close to zero, yes there is a similar state of affairs (massive youth unemployment) but things have not deteriorated to the point that people feel the need for it. also there have been one protest over a flood that happened in jeddah but that has been swiftly put down there has been a political party formed but that was swiftly put down. 2- Saudi State is built quite differently than other places, in egypt and else where, you had a modicum of possibility that people in military, regional governments, media, religious institutions, etc. could form a different viewpoint than the government does, such is not the case in saudi because, Every single ministry, Every single Governership, Every Single town, every single branch of the military, every single facet and aspect of saudi public, private, economic, educaitonal and cultural life is not held by the same government, not by the same political party, not by the same friends, oh no, all of it is held by THE SAME FAMILY. ALL OF THEM. Thus, in any event of a mild disturbance, any attack on the state will be defined as an attack on the family itself and since the family itself holds everything then everything will be used to stop the protests. 3- The Religious Establishments fortunes are tied directly with the fortunes of the ruling family, thus the scenario of religious clerics calling for freedom like in other countries did will not happen. in fact just as the Tunisians were revolting the religious establishment issued a fatwa stating that defying your ruler is apostasy or something like that. 4- The main tribes have been bought off and the main scions elites have no problems with the ruling family since they are fat and happy. 5- There is no such thing as an opposition movement here. None. 6- Saudi Political Awareness and concerns are limited solely to providing jobs and reforming some things here and there, other than that things are relatively stable and there's no feeling or possibility that things will happen here. so it's perfectly safe! So come on down and enjoy yourself! the water is safe here. Is this your first time in Riyadh? we should do a goon meet! Also, Qaddafi should burn for what he's doing. Al-Saqr fucked around with this message at 18:01 on Feb 21, 2011 |
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Feb 21, 2011 17:58
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Cjones posted:How many Saudis are actually poor? I thought most of them were expats from around the region... Alot. A surprising amount. Especially if you're not part of the big families and live in the regional towns rather than the main cities. Part of the problem is that Small and Medium sized enterprises cannot thrive here and jobs in the big companies (from menial to professional) are skewed towards Expats. So the government sends a bajillion saudi's abroad for study and the ones who do rack up their MA's and PHD's fearing the day they go back home to jobs they'll never have. Cartouche posted:How's the food? Our American fast food taste better than American Fast foods in America, I'm dead serious. Aljazeera Arabic is reporting that a ridiculous amount of Libyan Ambassadors are resigning.
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Feb 21, 2011 18:12
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Oh wow, The Libyan ambassador to china who quit is on aljazeera and he's giving one hell of a stirring speech against qaddafi calling on the UN and any other countries to intervene to save libyans.
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Feb 21, 2011 18:24
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Yusuf al Qaradawi on Aljazeera saying that by every religious definition Qaddafi and everyone who helps him at this point forward is damned to hell forever. and he spent a long time praying to god to strike down Qaddafi and all who help them to the fires of hell and protect the Libyan people from their evil and free them from that evil. Truly a man who speaks the right stuff. * News* Aljazeera Reports several military aircraft sent to bomb Benghazi have instead landed their planes and the pilots defected there. Al-Saqr fucked around with this message at 21:54 on Feb 21, 2011 |
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Feb 21, 2011 21:50
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Aljazeera just got through to someone in one of the towns under attack, he says that the town is in full war mode with the citizens actively fighting mercenary forces, he reports that 40 mercenaries have been captured by the Libyan people so far.
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Feb 21, 2011 22:00
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Yusuf al Qaradawi has officially issued a fatwa calling for the death of Muammar Qaddafi. He's the head of the world league of islamic scholars, so that means that all of the scholars have issued this fatwa. including libyan imams.
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Feb 22, 2011 09:03
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Xandu posted:
I watched that live on TV last night, I wish there was more efforts subtitle these videos so other goons can see Arabic videos. I meant more that this was more of a representative nature than actually all of them, it's very significant, also Libyan imams were interviewed and they also support this fatwa.
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Feb 22, 2011 09:25
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sweeptheleg posted:Its pretty absurd to think this would have all turned out the same way without the internet catalyzing things. Im not saying its any less a people's revolution, im saying without the insane amount of mass communication things probably would have been different. It's like saying that the french revolution would have never happened without the coffee houses and the Iranian revolution without Cassettes, at the end of the day the tools are useful for spreading the news and they have had a good impact but without the awful conditions that existed earlier the revolutions would have never gained traction.
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Feb 22, 2011 10:06
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OH poo poo HE'S TALKING And it's just as rambling and crazy and insane as feared. Blaming the protestors for making Libya look bad.
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Feb 22, 2011 16:55
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It's Cartoonish, the guy is an absolute loon, holy crap. it's all the crazy dictator stereotypes put together in one.
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Feb 22, 2011 17:03
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I felt like trying my hand at a political drawing so I sketched this up quick. Any thoughts? I might do more on tunisia and egypt soon.
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Feb 22, 2011 18:34
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Al-J reporting that Zawiya is under control of anti-Qaddafi forces despite attacks, also aired was an announcement that 90% of all police generals throwing their weight behind the revolution. Also, in the town of Azzaqiyah, Qaddafi's forces attacked protestors hiding in a mosque and blasting the minaret with anti-aircraft missiles and automatic weapons. Qaddafi is a loving Kafir.
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Feb 24, 2011 13:12
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Brown Moses posted:Aren't Zawiya and Az-Zaqiyah the same place? And wasn't Gaddafi planning to give a speech there? I thinks he's going to address the speech to Zawiyah, not actually give the speech there.
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Feb 24, 2011 13:24
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Qaddafi blabbing nonsense and has a rather lovely microphone. Also calling protesters Al-Qaeda. And repeating the nonsense he said in his previous speech. Talk of hallucinatory pills again. the only new element is the emphasis on islamists.
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Feb 24, 2011 15:24
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Oh thank god he learnt to shut up.
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Feb 24, 2011 15:37
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Aljazeera reporting that anti-Qaddafi protesters are planning on trying to liberate Tripoli by force through Zawiya, it's not clear whether they will be using the weapons taken from the army. Also, The air marshal of the Libyan air force has called on all pilots to land all aircraft at liberated Misurata as soon as possible. Libyan Minister of justice on aljazeera calling Qaddafi on his bullshit and calling on all Libyans to march on Tripoli to save the country.
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Feb 24, 2011 16:31
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Here's another Political drawing I just thought of now:
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Feb 24, 2011 20:10
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Sivias posted:Although I appreciate your effort, and I rather enjoy your art style, I fear the impact of your images lack something. The greatest of revolutionary imagery stems from visceral understanding. Look at things like the Nazi helm shadow man poster: "He's watching you." Thank you so much my friend, I really appreciate this advice, Political Cartooning is something I almost never do and I'm used to character based stuff, I forgot that political images have to be more symbolic. in fact I will re-work this cartoon and make it more impactful, I'm a little too much influenced by character based political art like David Low, but even he used symbology in his most important work. Thank you!
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Feb 24, 2011 20:28
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Patter Song posted:Rather than a crown, how about the Keffiyeh favored by the Saudi royals? Too close to home, I dont feel like being snatched in the middle of the night just yet, the military suit/crown combination is general enough. also, the white head covering is called a 'ghutra' in saudi.(the more you know!)
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Feb 24, 2011 20:36
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Frozen Horse posted:Could someone post a translation of the caption? "The method of governance is the single biggest problem that faces human communities -- The first sentence of the green book"
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Feb 24, 2011 20:52
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Aljazeera Reports the following:- 1. The battle of Zawiya for now has been won by the revolutionaries, the revolutionaries destroyed Two of Qaddafi's tanks, leading the main attacking force to break and withdraw with a few straggling snipers left behind, both sides are gearing up for a second attempt at retaking the city. 2. Qaddafi used a car bomb against an artillery depo near Benghazi, this depo was in the middle of a highly populated area, the result was literally over a thousand wounded with hundreds of dead, the pictures were too horrible to put on aljazeera. 3. Aljazeera English made this incredible interview with Saif al Islam, I wont say anything other than I want to marry the interviewer so bad: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFigOpOBpxo 4. Ras Lanuf has been captured by the Revolutionaries, This is significant because this represents the first time a concerted offensive westward has been put forth by the revolutionaries, their success in beating the Qaddafi forces makes it even more significant. Al-Saqr fucked around with this message at 09:19 on Mar 5, 2011 |
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Mar 5, 2011 09:14
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In Egypt news, The Egyptians have replaced the Mubarak-era foreign minister with Nabil El-Arabi, his resume includes: -- At first he was a legal adviser for the Delegation that signed the Camp David Accords between Egypt and Israel, but quickly turned against it and became an Opponent of the Accords. -- A veteran lawyer and diplomat, he was responsible for the Legal victory of Egypt that proved Egypts Right to the town of Taba after the israeli's withdrew from the Sinai. -- Ambassador to India. -- He then became a judge on the International Criminal Court. Overall an excellent Choice.
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Mar 6, 2011 18:24
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SPECIAL SAUDI ARABIA REPORT BY Al-Saqr All right, as you may have heard recently, there’s a bit of a revolution happening in different parts of the middle east, I happen to live there, particularly, in Saudi Arabia, While generally people feel that there’s probably nothing going to happen here (due to the strength of the secret police, the religious establishment and the military/tribal/economic alliances that are firmly with the ruling family) that and the overall situation while bad is nowhere near the level that Egypt and the African countries were, there’s still rumblings of trouble coming up soon. There are rumors and rumblings of poo poo that’s going to come down tomorrow, and when you start hearing of how extensively the security and military forces are mobilizing and if the government decides to go all the way with their crackdown, then were talking about a poo poo gently caress of epic proportions. WHAT SOME SAUDI’S ARE SAYING: http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/content/2011/s3160196.htm http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/mar/08/saudi-arabia-revolution-protests WHY I THINK THE SITUATION IS hosed: “let the insects come out so we can crush them” – Overheard Conversation from Saudi elites. “We will cut off the hands of those who endanger the unity and stability of the country” – The government “ Protestors are apostates” – The religious establishment. -- The people who will be called upon to shoot should it come to that From the movement of the police around me to the kinds of talk being heard, all signs point to the protests not happening at all or the end of the country as we know it, it really could go either way, little by little my attitude is starting to turn from “meh” to “Freak the gently caress out”, but I’ll be keeping my eyes and ears open and reporting forth anything I could find. I'll be glad to answer any questions in the meantime. By the way, would now be a prudent time to open up an ask/tell thread on how to survive a societal breakdown?
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Mar 10, 2011 07:32
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Sivias posted:If the government reacts this way to a mediocre size protests, would that not be viewed by the international community no different than Libya? No, Saudi Arabia is a centerpiece of the world economy, with far too much money thrown at far too many foreign investments and at far too many countries. no one would dare bat an eyelid at what the government could do. Right now anyone could be dragged, put in a hole in the middle of the desert and baked alive and no one will give a poo poo, hell a good portion of the country itself would chastise me for stinking up the hole he'd been dragged into. quote:How are the average Arabians getting their information? State TV, or is there a lot of Al Jazeera? Same as the egyptians did, Aljazeera,and the internet, however, the government here has a very extensive amount of propaganda media that is extremely all encompassing and pervasive (Al Arabiya) and has a significant local audience (pehaps even a majority), literally 99% of all arab networks available by satellite and printed material around the world are owned one way or another by the government. Also, there's a very good chance that even Aljazeera will not cover the protests, a visit was made by the foreign minister here in qatar and people are saying that the Qatari's have agreed not to let aljazeera cover the protests here, so there's a good chance the only way you'll get any images/info will be by internet. quote:What is the common view of the protests happening in every loving nation around you? When it comes to the countries around them, most saudi youth online are extremely happy that people are seeking their freedoms (except for the gulf and bahrain, where people really dont support the Shia Bahrainis at all) Allright this will be a long one so bear with me: HOW IS THE GOVERNMENT VIEWING THIS: This is a government that is being run by the same people who were IN THEIR FORTIES AND FIFTIES YEARS OF AGE when Gamal Abdel Nasser was alive and kicking, they have had a similar similar situation where they found themselves being surrounded by revolutionary countries around them, currently they are attempting to A. Buy off people without fixing the problem, as evidenced by the handout that happened recently. B. They are painting what happened in Bahrain as an Iranian war against the gulf, and that if any protests happen in the east of the country then that is an extension of that war, and all measures should be taken to prevent an Iranian takeover of the east. c. They are saying that they are the sole guardians and center of Islam, that they are the reason islam is as vibrant and strong in the country and elsewehere and that they stood up to the evils of socialism and iranians and whatnot and as such they cannot allow 'darkness and despair' to spread across the land and that if anything were to happen then barbarism and nomadic anarchist life would return. D. They are playing the 'After all we did for you' Card, Recounting how they turned a desert nomad country into state that it is today and that it is a miracle what they did for the country in such a short time and all of their achievements and people ought to be more patient and everything has it's due course and slow progress and whatnot. E. and let us not forget the stick. web wise they've blocked any opposition site and youtube pages, and physically any google search will show you just how militarily capable they are of snuffing anything out any disturbance. There's even a rumor going around that the minister of interior prince Naif (the guy who's going to be king pretty soon) has said that anybody who protests tomorrow will HAVE THEIR CITIZENSHIP REVOKED AND BE REMOVED FROM THE COUNTRY. HOW THE PEOPLE VIEW THIS: Unfortunately, thanks to the various factors I have described previously and the government's efforts and the lack of political awareness to most people, the public opinion online and offline has been successfully torn apart and this is the thing that frightens me the most about this, because this means that if the disturbance is big enough people will end up fighting each other. to be more detailed: -- PEOPLE WHO SUPPORT THE PROTESTS VIEW IT AS THE FOLLOWING A. the highest benchmark of their demands is a constitutional monarchy, they're tired of not having a voice in the way their country is headed and the endemic poverty (yes poverty there's LOTS of it here), corruption, torture and lack of accountability or transparency with the massive amounts of money wasted in and out of the country. But they're also not against the king and him staying but in a less powerful role. B. Poor infrastructure. There cant be an excuse when you're a country as rich as you are and have the infrastructure of an african wasteland in many parts of the country, and when disaster DOES strike in one of your main cities (jeddah floods) little is down about it for years. oh and it's not a good sign when even your prize pet project (KAUST) gets flooded from a little rain. C. Jobs, Hoo Wee, this is the big one, Because of the absolutely disastrous education people received in school and college, most Saudi's were simply unprepared for the realities of life, work, love, tolerance and continuing education abroad which seriously decimated most Saudi's ability to land a job in an environment where they have to compete with foreign nationals in multinational companies and where the public sector is a poo poo hole that's shrinking, you're especially butt-hurt if you're not a member of a corporate family or you don't have that magical thing we call 'Vitamin Wasta' or 'Connections', So anyone who doesn't know English and doesn't have most of these criteria are poo poo out of luck. D. Fairness. This especially applies to Shia Saudi's who feel that they've been treated as second class citizens and what fair and equal rights and chances and hobs and investment in their communities. -- PEOPLE WHO OPPOSE THE PROTESTS HAVE THE FOLLOWING VIEWS: A.That for all of the problems that abound, the situation doesn't require that the country be put in jeopardy to fix them. B. The Royal family for all their bullshit are the only thing keeping the country together so stability is more important than running the risk of an extremist/Al-Qaeda/Wahhabist Takeover. C. The Shia uprising in Bahrain is an Iranian Maneuver, the Shia protests in the east is an extension of that, therefore any protests in any part of the country would be an enabler of that and must be opposed by all means. D. A significant portion of the populations' fortunes are tied with the well being of the status quo, and if that goes, they go, and they wont have any of that no matter what. E. there's no point to having a bona fide civil war. stability over all else. let things move at their own pace, people live comfortably so let it be. So overall it's a hosed up situation. quote:Can it be expected to see a significant segregation between men and women during these protests, or is the youth more progressive? It will depend on where. The west coast probably will be more progressive but other places will be segregated. Hell there's a good chance no one will turn up at all so we'll just have to see.
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Mar 10, 2011 11:02
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WELP THAT WAS FAST. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/03/10/AR2011031003269.html WE'RE OFFICIALLY hosed.
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Mar 10, 2011 20:00
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SUPER MEGA SAUDI ARABIA UPDATE: No one in the capital showed up. Truly, today fate's hand has been firmly with the government in biblical proportions. what a lovely day to be a protester. Here's what happened: 1. The morning was greeted with a sandstorm, one of those particularly lovely ones that consists of extreme heat and no wind, it was bad enough that high rises were not visible and you can hear the thuds of the helicopters but not see them. 2. Every single place that people can gather in, including supermarkets and strip malls were covered with police. 3. every imam in the country preached to the marching orders of the ministry of interior. 4. at 6 pm a freak hailstorm with ice slightly larger than a Pea hit the city hard. 5. and now it's raining. Oh and no one showed up. there were a couple of protests to the east but were arrested and handled with. I just hope the government doesnt sell the weather today as god being on their side or something. Overall I think that saudi's going to be skipping this whole people power thing for the foreseeable future. Al-Saqr fucked around with this message at 16:30 on Mar 11, 2011 |
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Mar 11, 2011 16:20
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Brown Moses posted:
I am not surprised by this turn of events, the Saudi Government (including a large swath of public opinion) See what's going on in Bahrain as the equivalent of an Iranian invasion, so I knew it would come to this sooner or later. Vids of troops moving in: Tanks Armoured Cars.
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Mar 14, 2011 16:13
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Higher Quality Video of Saudi Armour moving into bahrain The video commentator is talking about how our gulf brothers are working together to maintain the stability and economic gains of the country and further ensuring the countries prosperity and whatnot. That's alot more armour than I thought they'd send, it seems like the GCC is going to be quite active in making sure the the status quo is maintained for each other.
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Mar 14, 2011 21:23
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SAUDI ARABIA UPDATE: -- All of a sudden there's alot of police security downtown, nobody know why or what's going on. -- A Saudi Soldier has been shot dead in Bahrain. at the same time the king of Bahrain has announced a three month state of emergency.
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Mar 15, 2011 13:33
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdkZJqqmKCo For one fleeting moment, every one of these people thought they were going to be free, for one small moment they thought that they can finally vote in their representatives, have fair trials, have jobs, have decent education, have an opportunity to build their country and use it's vast oil reserves to turn this loarge land with a small population into something amazing. Very soon, they will all be dead. or wishing they were. I feel like crying.
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Mar 16, 2011 13:15
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YES FOR ONCE IN A LIFETIME THE UN DOES ITS JOB! BURN QADDAFI BUUUURRRRNNNN!! I was close to making GBS threads myself in fright while watching the video, I was praying fervently the whole time and thank god he answered it in full swing!
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Mar 17, 2011 23:48
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Seeing all those people have hope again, for a second i thought they'd be all dead. i'm in tears, thank you god, thank you, you always deliver hope when needed the most.
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Mar 17, 2011 23:53
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Ardennes posted:
As someone who doesnt have the benefit of electing his officials I have a huge temptation to say something along the lines of "gently caress off you dont know what it's like to know every waking day that you can be dragged away killed and tortured without trial at any moment for speaking your mind because every third person you know is an informant and knowing that you'll have the same guy in office from when you're born right until you reach 50 without a glimmer of hope of voting him out of his chair. or be persecuted for campaigning for other people to have the right to have a lawyer around when they're being sentenced to a million lashes for questioning the mindset of the clerical judges who'd persecute a woman to 200 lashes for having the audacity of being raped, etc." Instead I'll just say that while political rights dont give people instant economic success, Given time and voting, it offers the mechanisms of change and improvement and makes it essentially less bad as other forms of government does and ensures a level of accountability and efficiency that other forms of governments dont, so while some guy might do some lovely policies in office, it's important to offer people the option of booting him out. Be thankful that you have at least that, alot of people have to go through a shower of blood just to have that.
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May 10, 2011 08:57
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Meanwhile in Saudi Arabia, something significant is happening, a brave saudi woman has started actively and openly campaigning for the right to drive (including defiantly driving on video) and has captured the entire saudi internet sphere and some newspapers on fire: It started when she posted this video Declaring a national day of women driving. Since then she and other saudi women have started posting driving vids of their own: Driving 1, Driving 2 . This has ingnited huge public interest and controversy and has been covered by both CNN and Aljazeera , the facebook page has recieved a huge amount of RSVP's and it's looking like june 17th is shaping up to be a really interesting day. lots of academics are backing this with vids of their own. and the saudi twitter sphere is going crazy in hype about this. If alot of girls show up on that date it's the closest we're going to come to a real social revolution and youth activism movement that (probably) wont end up with mass murder and eternal imprisonment. While democracy and human rights will fly over the heads of most Saudi's (it's kinda like trying to convince a north Korean in north Korea that Kim Jong il isnt god. despite having modern communication methods). a small but fundamental issue like allowing women to drive is something that all young women and plenty of young men in Saudi share especially those who go and earn higher education abroad and come back to being worth nothing at home, and thankfully we're in the majority when it comes to that. However, there are dark tides ahead. Shortly after posting that video the young woman was arrested by the religious police and is currently in jail. Also, there is a very bad precedent for this kind of thing. Shortly after the gulf war (1991) there was a similar movement for women to drive, so they made a convoy of cars and drove around Riyadh for a little bit. The result? king Fahad gave the religious police carte blanche and ushered in the worst decade of social restriction ever seen in saudi, it was so bad that you could literally be arrested and flogged for no reason other than how you look. (today it's more of an arrest and only be held for an hour or so then they let you go. if you're saudi that is). There is every bit of reason to assume this will happen again, The guy whose next in line for the throne is our good friend prince Nayef, this guy is the Darth Sidious of the religious police, he is also the head of the dreaded secret police. so if these women drive and he comes to power, then we're going to be quite hosed.
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May 22, 2011 11:37
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Jut posted:(let's not forget the hookers, booze and blow party mentioned in the Wikileaks documents, hosted by a Saudi Prince [did anything happen to him after that?]). There's plenty of parties that are like that. God's law does not apply to you when you carry the whip. it's kind of a contract, the religious establishment does with the citizens as they please in return for turning a blind eye to those with title and power. quote:It's nothing more than a "bitches should know their place" law, although the people I've heard trying to justify it with "why would she need to drive? she has a driver" are almost as bad as the lawmakers. Actually there's no written law in the legal system banning women driving. but a religious edict was issued so it's just as potent. Also any person who says that clearly isnt a poor female teacher who has to drive 30 kilometers to get to her job.(since teaching positions are appointed by the ministry, not by the school itself) quote:I have a question since you're over there, and all I have is hearsay from epats who used to live there...is it true that there is a fairly large alcohol presence in Saudi regardless of the ban? Smuggling, speakeasies etc... Yes. this is especially true if you're a person of influence of royalty. some people use their influence for the stuff you mentioned. but some of them would also use it for more benign purposes. e.g. There's a comedy show in town, mixed seating, but it will be held in a private golf course of someone royal. or for example the formula 3 and go kart race track 40 kilos outside of town that is open to both sexes that is also privately owned by royalty. if these were to be done in public spaces or places not owned by royalty, then legions of religious police would swoop in. quote:I presume you're going through a proxy to get here? I know SA is banned in Qatar, so I presume you found this site when abroad? The forums were not banned until last year. *EDIT* THIS JUST IN: The facebook of the women driving campaign has been taken down, and the girl responsible has been transferred from detainment to FULL ON PRISON. also her brother was sent to detainment with the charge of encouraging his sister to do the deed. Detainment means that you hang around in a police department while prison is the hole in the ground with shivs and whatnot. Link from Reuters Al-Saqr fucked around with this message at 13:32 on May 22, 2011 |
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May 22, 2011 13:02
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Remember the Saudi woman who drove? well the papers today reported on something that made me so angry. She made a confession. Soviet Style. the papers wrote: " Collapsing in tears, she confessed that her father and brother made her do it. and that other women forced her to drive and make the videos for their own purposes and spread confusion and disorder and to incite protests. she has also called for authorities to widen their questioning to other women." This is a government fabrication, but it's just how low they'd go that shocks me. I'm not much of a brave person. but when I see a woman humiliated and crying and forced to denounce her ideals and hopes I honestly feel like destroying something. How can they call themselves men after what they did to her? *EDIT* Those of you who are curious, these are the official charges raised against her: "She has been charged with bypassing rules and regulations, driving a car within the city, enabling a journalist to interview her while driving a car, deliberately disseminating the incident to the media, incitement of Saudi women to drive cars, and turning public opinion against the regulations" Here's also an older video on the topic of driving. Al-Saqr fucked around with this message at 08:48 on May 24, 2011 |
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May 24, 2011 08:07
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Good news about the saudi girl driver. It turned out that her 'confession' has been confirmed as a fabrication. Her lawyer is planning on publishing the names of all those newspaper reporters involved in the fabrication and suing them once the girl is free. and the girl herself is still resolute and strong.
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May 24, 2011 14:10
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