People wonder why it takes so very long for anything to change in Saudi Arabia. This Saudi Gazette/Okaz article gives an example of why.
Some Saudis simply do not want change. They will throw up reasons and excuses in order to prevent anything from approaching the ‘slippery slope’ of reform.
I find it interesting that this piece includes the names of most of the participants in this conflict. Are Saudi Gazette/Okaz pushing the envelope of ‘naming and shaming’ here? One of the parties filed a police complaint, so it is a legal matter. And and least one person is going to be the recipient of public repudiation (I’m betting both sides do.).
Literary club members in legal row over woman’s lecture
By Ali SamanBAHA – Two leading members of the Baha Literary Club are involved in a legal row over broadcasting a woman’s lecture, with one accusing the other of trying to see the “beauty” of the women, sitting in a separate hall, on closed circuit television.
Ahmad Hamid Al-Mass’ad, Chairman of the Baha Literary Club, has accused a club member, Dr. Ali Muhammad Al-Rubai, of trying to get organizers to have a woman’s lecture broadcast live, with pictures, to the men’s side of the Al-Khansa Hall. He has registered a complaint with the police in this regard.
The accusations had been rejected by Al-Rubai, who now intends to lodge a complaint against the chairman, by taking the matter to Dr. Abdul Aziz Khoja, Minister of Culture and Information, and the chairman of the Human Rights Commission, in an attempt to clear his name. Significantly, Al-Rubai also has the support of the woman lecturer, her husband and other club members.
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UPDATE: Saudi Gazette/Okaz run a story with new information on this case. The complainant, apparently, is denying that he issued a complaint, but his staff isn’t supporting that denial…
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February:04:2010 - 10:23
That is so childish, isn’t it ?
February:04:2010 - 14:32
“- with one accusing the other of trying to see the “beauty” of the women, sitting in a separate hall, on closed circuit television.”
My first thought was that he was accused of hacking the system and plotting to substitute broadcasts from the Playboy channel rather than the scheduled lecture. Then I remembered this was Saudi Arabia…
February:04:2010 - 19:53
Rather like Salem. Witches and demons everywhere. An audiovisual presentation of elements of the content of the lecture would have enhanced the male listener’s attentiveness no doubt. It was a good suggestion.
February:11:2010 - 04:59
it’s reports such as these which hold me in spellbound fascination…