On 11 March, when Saudi protesters' "day of rage" did not materialise, Fouad al-Farhan, a human rights activist, tweeted:
"My fear is that the ceiling of our reformist demands will be lowered to women driving for some and combating westernisation for others."Two months later, his fears became a reality. A campaign to allow women to drive in Saudi Arabia was started on Facebook. Currently this issue has overtaken all others online, in the press and on the ground.
The movement particularly caught fire when a face for it emerged. A Saudi woman, Manal al-Sharif, came forward and posted a Youtube video advising how to go about the campaign. The plan was that starting from 17 June, Saudi women with international driving licences would begin driving their own cars rather than letting a male driver do it for them.
So far approximately 45 women have driven cars all across the kingdom in connection with the campaign and many of them have posted videos of their excursions online.
That there are women in Saudi who are distressed at the ban on their driving is well known. On the other hand the religious establishment has also been staunch in its demand to maintain the ban. Some of them have even gone so far as to call the campaign western-backed "female terrorism" and "soft terrorism". Others claimed that the campaign to allow women to drive is an Iranian/Shia conspiracy to destabilise the country. » | Eman Al Nafjan | Saturday, June 18, 2011
