Get Outta My Dreams, Get into My Car

Dear women, take a minute to imagine this: you cannot go to school, you cannot apply for a job, you cannot travel, you cannot go out whenever you want, you cannot do a surgery, you cannot wear whatever you want, and you cannot choose whom to marry; you are basically not allowed to live your life without the permission of your male guardian. This is exactly how it feels to be a woman living in Saudi Arabia; a country that has always had a masculine conservative religious society.

The news of Saudi women fighting for their rights have started to show up with the beginning of the Arab spring, they might not be struggling the classical way to topple a regime but they are fighting to create a cultural change within the main stream mentality that does not have any clue or logic in saying "no" to the basic rights of women, but keep saying "no" out of fear, ignorance, and in obedience to the sacred power of "employed" religious clerics. Many argue that the right of driving a car is a silly and a minor issue that women should not exaggerate in demanding, noticing all those brave females breaking the taboo by driving out and videotaping the whole process to state a point and inspire others, but those who are objecting forget to realize that the basic and small rights have always opened the path to higher demands, and that alone can explain why the Saudi authorities are being hesitant in granting this specific right for Saudi women.

Many have described Manal al Shariff, for instance, as the Saudi Rosa Park. The comparison differs in many aspects but still sounds realistic in its core because both dared to say NO. Rosa Park said NO for her deserved bus seat that was going to be taken away from her because of her skin color, and Manal said NO for those who want to take her basic right of driving a car because she is a woman. Racism is the ugly sister of sexism, and both are just two faces of discrimination. Manal might not end up becoming a figure of the feminist movement in her country just the way Park ended up being a civil rights warrior, but certainly both are credited for pulling the trigger facing and a brutal reaction from the higher authorities and, partially, from their societies.

So far, almost ten women have driven their cars in Saudi Arabia, starting with Najlaa Hariri from Jeddah who dropped her kids to school, to that anonymous woman from Jazaan driving her car while getting videotaped by her husband. The world expects more of those women because the world is still unable of imagining the mainstream Saudi mentality and how difficult it is to cross the line in a place where human rights and freedoms are rated at their worst. Now, women are determined to go out on the 17^th of June despite the fact that Al-Shariff was arrested and has signed a pledge not to drive a car again, and despite the fact that their facebook event page was taken down several times.

I believe it takes only a 100 women to make this dream come true; this figure number is good enough to shock a closed up society like the Saudi one. The Arab Spring is not a "facebook/ twitter revolution" as many describe it, but the Arab nations knew how to use main stream media and online citizen media to embarrass their regimes in front of the international community. This embarrassment is what will push the Saudi authorities into granting the right of driving for women despite the religious/conservative ridiculous excuses, especially that the state of Taliban no longer exists to take the media light off Saudi Arabia as the top oppressor of women. Saudi women will drive and they will be singing Billy Ocean's best hit "Get Outta My Dreams, Get into My Car".