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My life from radicalism to fighting for women’s rights…
UPCOMING EVENT | 27/02/19
An evening for your five senses and soul at Sydney Startup Hub and book signing
WATCH MY TED TALK
There's no actual law against women driving in Saudi Arabia. But it's forbidden. In 2011, Manal al-Sharif decided to encourage women to drive by doing so -- and filming herself for YouTube. Hear her story of what happened next.
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"They beat her. They taped her mouth shut. They bound her arms and legs together, and dragged her onto a plane kicking and screaming, and nobody did anything. This is a grown woman." Author.
The program shows the tactics used and the pressure applied to try to stop these young women.
"The Saudi state is active in exerting its diplomatic influence to try to interdict them." Human rights investigator.
In May 2011, the secret police took me from my home in Saudi Arabia in the middle of the night, while my 5-year-old son was sleeping. I might have disappeared without a trace
On the podcast: A woman who challenged the Saudi regime by getting behind the wheel of a car speaks out.
The disappearance of Jamal Khashoggi, the prominent Saudi journalist and Washington Post contributor, has reverberated among journalists, activists and critics of authoritarianism all over the world.
Saudi women's rights activist Manal al-Sharif garnered international attention and was detained after posting YouTube video of herself driving in an act of civil disobedience. Despite intimidation, al-Sharif pushed the #Women2Drive movement forward, which eventually helped lift the ban on women drivers in Saudi Arabia. At OFFinNY, al-Sharif spoke with BBC journalist Philippa Thomas about the power of internet activism, and the work still to be done to achieve gender equality in Saudi Arabia.
After women were finally allowed to drive in Saudi Arabia, Fareed asks women's rights activist Manal al-Sharif what impact such reforms are truly having. View the video here.
What is it like to put yourself in danger fighting for your rights as a woman? Kim Chakanetsa unites two women from Iran and Saudi Arabia, who decided to defy their governments' discriminatory laws - and suffered huge personal sacrifices as a result. In Iran women must cover their hair in public, according to the dress rule enforced after the Revolution in 1979.
For activists and citizen journalists in the Arab world, social media has become a powerful way to express dissent, to disrupt and to organize. Digital activism, however, comes at a high price: The very tools we use for our cause can be — and have been — used to undermine us.
Manal has overcome great adversity in her life. She shares her three secrets to letting go of hurt and finding the inner peace you deserve.
I have two sons. They have never met face to face. Never tickled, giggled, wrestled on the floor, thrown a ball, or played a prank or peek-a-boo. They have T-shirts that say “big brother” and “little brother.” They know each other’s nicknames and that they have similar eyes.