Please see this is quite a reasonable rejoinder
From: Peace and Justice Activist
Sent: Wednesday, January 23, 2008 5:47 PM
Subject: MY COMMENTS ON OTTAWA SUN ARTICLE : 'SECOND CLASS CITIZENS'
(The cited article appears below)
I spent over 10 years in Saudi Arabia working for major US corporations. I had
numerous western friends, and often, we used to have family dinners. Most of
the women said they were scared to come to the Kingdom, because they had heard
so many scary stories, but after coming, they didn't want to leave. They said
they never felt safe anywhere in the U.S.A as they felt in Saudi Arabia.They
didn't mind not being able to drive, as it was very dangerous anyway (more
people die there of traffic accidents than any illness). It was a small
sacrifice compared to many other benefits they enjoyed.
There are so many hateful people who like to abuse Saudi Arabia at the drop a
hat, but they never seem to acknowledge the many wonderful aspects of Saudi
Arabia. Many of them have never even stepped on its soil!
When I lived in Japan, there was a student from Austria who could never stop
badmouthing the Japanese people. I told him how unfortunate it was that he
spent his time making life miserable for him, while we enjoyed every minute of
our stay there.
Muslims are blamed for the wrongdoings of the rulers, but these rulers are kept
in power by the West, so they could rob the resources, and Muslims who want to
overthrow them are stamped as 'terrorists' or 'Islamists'. So, Muslims are in a
no-win situation.
Take any country, and one can write terrible things about it, but remember
Matthew 7:1-5 : "You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and
then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye. Why do
you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to
the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the
speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye?"
Meer Sahib P.Eng.
---------- BELOW is the Ottawa Citizen article--------------------------
Second-class citizens
The Ottawa Citizen
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/editorials/story.html?id=ce601859-db55-4c9f-84ba-5266f9a9b03e
Don't be fooled into thinking Saudi Arabia's softening of some restrictions
against women is a step toward freedom. If your jailer gives you extra food or
a clean pillow, you're still in jail. So long as men make the decisions in
Saudi society, it doesn't matter how malevolent or benevolent those decisions
are. They'll still add up to oppression.
Women in Saudi Arabia can now stay in hotels on their own, without being
accompanied by men -- provided they inform the police of their whereabouts.
More importantly, there are reports that women in the benighted kingdom might
soon be able to drive.
On a practical, daily level, mobility is an important freedom. Without it,
women can't do business or protect their own safety. But a little more access
to cars and hotels won't allow women to break free of restrictive attitudes in
the working world or patriarchal structures in the home.
In the twisted attitude of religious fundamentalism, a woman behind the wheel
is, somehow, a threat to society's mores. That's the crux of the debate in
Saudi Arabia: whether the practical benefits of allowing women some mobility
outweighs the perceived consequences for their virtue and the virtue of others.
Liberty and equality still aren't part of the fabric of the official discourse.
No society can develop respect for human rights without first acknowledging
that they exist.
Just this month, a Saudi delegation told a UN committee that the state's
interpretation of Islam holds that "total equality between man and woman is
contrary to reality." That's the attitude that Saudi women still confront,
whether they're in cars or hotel rooms or anywhere else.
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