Women to drive in Saudi Arabia

Twitter goes bonkers.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia—notorious for its restrictions on the freedom of women—announced a historic change on Tuesday: starting next June, the gentle sex will be allowed to drive.

Around the kingdom, and around the world, women took to Twitter to celebrate.

A bunch of people posted this awesome video:

Some speculated what the roads would be like in a kingdom where segregation of the sexes was still the law of the land:

Others wondered, now that women were mobile, why the hell they’d stay in Saudi Arabia:

Of course, social conservatives were unhappy, and announced their intention to put their foot down where their own wives and daughters were concerned. And so, #The_harem_of_my_house_won’t_drive hashtag was born.

Naturally, these assholes invoked the usual sexist stereotypes:

But such tweets soon became hard to find as harem_of_my_house was hashjacked by the forces of modernity:

I’m uncertain whether the gratitude to “Uncle Trump” was sincere or sarcastic.

I had a little trouble with the translation on this one:

I did okay with the first line, “#The_harem_of_my_house_will_not_drive Harem?! Hahahahahahaha.” But, stuck on the second line, I tweeted the author and asked her what it meant. Her reply:

I’m not sure if that’s the actual translation, or she was merely giving me advice :-)

Many took the trouble to thank the king for his decree:

But as my friend Ammar Anwer pointed out, the real heroes, “are the brave Secular activists, who are either put behind bars, like Raif Badawi, or compelled to leave the country for their own safety. It is a moment to congratulate them, not the totalitarian Extremist dynasty.”

You may recall Raif Badawi; I wrote about him previously. Mr. Badawi is a blogger who was sentenced to 10 years in prison and a thousand lashes (he’s received 50 so far) for “insulting Islam.” The last I heard, his wife had had no word from him for over a year. Needless to say, he’s been unable to comment on Tuesday’s news. But the Raif Badawi Foundation tweeted on his behalf:

Among the activists who have been driven out of the country is Manal al-Sharif. In 2011, Ms. Sharif posted video of herself driving. She was arrested, lost custody of her son, and was publicly shamed. During a sermon at a mosque—with her father in the congregation—the imam called her a whore. She now lives in Australia but says she looks forward to driving in her home country. She posted this cartoon about what would happen to all the men, many of them foreign, who are currently employed as chauffeurs for the women of Saudi Arabia:

On a more serious note, Ms. Sharif pointed out that the women of Saudi Arabia still have a long way to go. In particular, the “guardianship” laws are still in place. According to the BBC, under these laws,

There are many things women must ask the men in their lives for permission to do. These things include, but are not limited to: Applying for passports Travelling abroad Getting married Opening a bank account Starting certain businesses Getting elective surgery Leaving prison

So Ms. Sharif and her allies have their work cut out for them.

One of those allies, who I also wrote about previously is Loujain Hathloul. Like Ms. Sharif, she was arrested—and held for two and half months without charges—for posting video of herself driving. Her response to Tuesday’s news was eloquent and succinct:

Michael Isenberg writes about the Muslim world, medieval and modern. His forthcoming novel, The Thread of Reason, is a murder mystery that takes place in Baghdad in the year 1092. It depicts the war for the Muslim soul between those who seek to enforce shari’a strictly, persecute Jews and Christians, and stamp out "un-Islamic" science, and those who wink at a few sins, tolerate their non-Muslim neighbors, and write books about science instead of burning them.

I’m shocked—SHOCKED—to find there are women here

Saudi Arabia is in an uproar: the government allowed women into King Fahd stadium this weekend.

The occasion was National Day—the anniversary of the founding of the kingdom in 1932. Although the women who joined the celebration in the stadium and other venues were suitably covered in black abayas, in accord with the law of the land, many Saudis were nevertheless outraged, and #Patriotism_is_not_Sin began to trend:

Some thought even without women in the picture, the celebration lacked sufficient decorum:

Many thought they knew the problem: last year the government scaled back the powers of the infamous Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice. If only the Committee could once again arrest people for using the wrong gender entry to the mall or playing musical instruments in public, rather than merely report these infractions of shari'a to the police, society would no longer be on the verge of collapse, what with women going to stadiums and all. And so #The_People_Demand_the_Return_of_the_Committe became a thing.

Others had more fun with the impending breakdown of civilization:

Meanwhile, in neighboring Abu Dhabi, they sat back and enjoyed the show:

Michael Isenberg writes about the Muslim world, medieval and modern. His forthcoming novel, The Thread of Reason, is a murder mystery that takes place in Baghdad in the year 1092. It depicts the war for the Muslim soul between those who seek to enforce shari’a strictly, persecute Jews and Christians, and stamp out "un-Islamic" science, and those who wink at a few sins, tolerate their non-Muslim neighbors, and write science books instead of burning them.

The Arab Tweet: Proud of Malala

Despite cartoon Muslims on Family Guy flying into a rage at the sight of a girl reading, Arabs responded with pride to Friday’s announcement that girls’ education activist Malala Yusuf will share the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize. Some typical tweets:

No Twitter conversation would be complete without the obligatory conspiracy theorist, albeit this one may be joking.

And of course there’s always that one tiresome person who, regardless of the topic of conversation, must make it about something else.

Michael Isenberg is the author of Full Asylum, a novel about politics, freedom, and hospital gowns. Check it out on Amazon.com

The Arab Tweet: Girls on Motorcycles

#Youth_seen_with_girls_in_Jeddah is trending in Saudi Arabia in the wake of sightings of young women riding on the backs of motorcycles. Mz-mz.net reports,

Young women seen on motorcycles in Jeddah October 9, 2014 A number of drivers were surprised at the South King Abdulazziz Road roundabout in the city of Jeddah at three o’clock Thursday morning by more than ten sports motorcycles going at high speed with young women riding on the back.

The reaction on Twitter has been generally negative. Some blame decaying values:

Others blame immigration:

@mamdohmohamad finds the practice unhygienic,

while @mohmd_5173 doesn’t believe they’re women at all:

@alqhtani_omar merely writes,

Michael Isenberg is the author of Full Asylum, a novel about politics, freedom, and hospital gowns. Check it out on Amazon.com

A woman may drive a car in the Islamic State – under one condition

Some Arabs are using every weapon at their disposal to fight ISIS – including satire.

This skit from the Lebanese TV station LBC shows a woman driving a car (with Islamic State plates) when she is stopped at a Jihadi checkpoint. The sentry asks her if she’s a man or a woman (he’s not the sharpest scimitar in the armory). After she proves to his satisfaction that she’s a woman, he gets mad that she’s driving a car. But she tells him it’s ok – she’s driving a car bomb. The sentry apologizes. “The Caliph Abu Bakr Baghdadi says a woman may drive, but only a car bomb." I couldn’t make out his next words, but what happens after that requires no translation.

Note the station logo in the upper left. They turned the C in LBC on its side, turning it into the Arabic letter nun, to show solidarity with the Christians persecuted by ISIS.

Michael Isenberg is the author of Full Asylum, a novel about politics, freedom, and hospital gowns. Check it out on Amazon.com