CBC: Saudi Arabia women hit the road as world's last female driving ban lifted

mentalfloss

Prickly Curmudgeon Smiter
Jun 28, 2010
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Saudi Arabia women hit the road as world's last female driving ban lifted

Saudi women drove to work and ran errands on Sunday, relishing the freedom to move about without relying on men after the kingdom lifted the world's last remaining ban on women driving.

It's a historic moment for women who have been at the mercy of their husbands, fathers, brothers and drivers to move around. The ban had relegated women to the backseat, restricting when they could meet friends, where they could spend their time and how they could plan out their day.

"It feels beautiful. It was a dream for us so when it happens in reality, I am between belief and disbelief— between a feeling of joy and astonishment," said Mabkhoutah al-Mari as she pulled up to order a drive-thru coffee on her way to work.

The 27-year-old mother of two is a driving instructor for women and already had a driver's licence from the U.S., where she'd spent time in Tennessee studying. But on this morning, she drove freely in her hometown of Riyadh for the first time. As she prepared to set off on the road, her older brother sent her off with a kiss on the forehead and a wave.

https://www.cbc.ca/amp/1.4719799
 

gopher

Hall of Fame Member
Jun 26, 2005
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Minnesota: Gopher State
I saw a news item about that on tv. This can be a problem as these many of women wear facial cover which might block their view of the road or of pedestrians on the street and can lead to accidents.
 

bill barilko

Senate Member
Mar 4, 2009
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I saw a news item about that on tv. This can be a problem as these many of women wear facial cover which might block their view of the road or of pedestrians on the street and can lead to accidents.
As per your SOP you know SFA about what you're posting-have a look at pics of the drivers none is hiding her face.

Grab a brain FFS.
 

Danbones

Hall of Fame Member
Sep 23, 2015
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Yes lets export that attitude to every "civilized" country that needs their little girls groomed, raped, and covered in ACID.

Hillary would be SO PROUD!
 

OpposingDigit

Electoral Member
Aug 27, 2017
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Better to run a feel good story about Saudi Arabia when it is bombing civilians in Yemen with the support and military hardware supplied by the West.
 

OpposingDigit

Electoral Member
Aug 27, 2017
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This Yemen war is a sectarian war .... Shia versus Sunni.

Iran is Shia and Saudi Arabia is Sunni and Saudi Arabia is very worried about the 20 million Shia presently living in the areas which contain the largest oil reserves. If Shia living in Yemen succeed, it would encourage those living in Saudi Arabia to revolt even moreso than they are now. It was Saudi Arabia which financed all the Sunni attacks against American forces in Iraq because the newly installed Iraqi government is Shia.
 

OpposingDigit

Electoral Member
Aug 27, 2017
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Hi! Twin Moose

I would suppose that Yemen gets their weapons from Iran or other Shia countries

The Shia majority countries are Iran, Iraq, Azerbaijan, and Bahrain. They also form the plurality (the largest group, but not the majority) in Lebanon. Shias constitute 36.3% of entire local population and 38.6% of the local Muslim population of the Middle East.

And, Saudi Arabia attacked Bahrain in 2011 which is 60 percent Shia, and they have encircled Qatar since 2017 which has a 10 percent Shia population.

The West is supporting sectarian (religious) wars.
 

OpposingDigit

Electoral Member
Aug 27, 2017
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The United States deliberately encourages sectarian and religious violence across the Middle East. It is all about divide and conquer. In order to control the Middle East and grab its oil resources, it needs the people fighting amongst themselves.

American Foreign Policy
By William Blum
June 02, 2018
https://williamblum.org/aer/read/158

Take the Middle East and South Asia. The people in those areas have suffered horribly because of Islamic fundamentalism. What they desperately need are secular governments, which have respect for different religions. And such governments were actually instituted in the recent past. But what has been the fate of those governments?

Well, in the late 1970s through much of the 1980s, Afghanistan had a secular government that was relatively progressive, with full rights for women, which is hard to believe, isn’t it? But even a Pentagon report of the time testified to the actuality of women’s rights in Afghanistan. And what happened to that government? The United States overthrew it, allowing the Taliban to come to power. So keep that in mind the next time you hear an American official say that we have to remain in Afghanistan for the sake of the women.

After Afghanistan came Iraq, another secular society, under Saddam Hussein. And the United States overthrew that government as well, and now the country has its share of crazed and bloody jihadists and fundamentalists; and women who are not covered up properly are sometimes running a serious risk.

Next came Libya; again, a secular country, under Moammar Gaddafi, who, like Saddam Hussein, had a tyrant side to him but could in important ways be benevolent and do some marvelous things. Gaddafi, for example, founded the African Union and gave the Libyan people the highest standard of living in Africa. So, of course, the United States overthrew that government as well. In 2011, with the help of NATO, we bombed the people of Libya almost every day for more than six months.

Can anyone say that in all these interventions, or in any of them, the United States of America meant well?

When we attack Iran, will we mean well? Will we have the welfare of the Iranian people at heart? I suggest you keep such thoughts in mind the next time you’re having a discussion or argument with a flag-waving American.