The Oslo speech

When I saw Manal Al-Sharif on TV last week giving a speech at the Oslo Freedom Forum and accepting the Vaclav Havel prize for Creative Dissent, I immediately thought of the strong antagonism she’s going to receive from Saudi conservatives. So I wasn’t really that surprised to read the very next day all the negative reviews she got on social and local media.
My impression was built on two indicators. The first is when another Saudi woman activist, Samar Badawi, was presented with the International Women of Courage award in the United States. She was later condemned by extremists as a traitor to her country and people and an exploited tool for foreign enemies.
The second indicator was the language Manal used. She was putting her ideas in a simple but direct manner. The most interesting aspect was that she was pointing the finger to the main inhibitor of Saudi cultural progress which are fundamentalist Islamists, as she explained from her own personal experience.
Manal was labeled as a liberal instrument that is being used to destabilize the solidity of Islam; she was accused of being raised in a dysfunctional family; and of course she was attacked for having no right to speak in the name of all Saudi women, although she never claimed that what she said was more than her own personal experience.
However, what makes Manal’s episode a more interesting story, is the level of risk she represents in the minds of most conservatives. She symbolizes a new breed of Saudi activists that can create a threatening role model to new generations who are dissatisfied with the current social status quo.
Manal’s civil rights strategy is based on the conviction that she is no longer willing to just cry over deprived rights. She is always willing to take the matter to higher levels, just like she did in her inspiring women to drive movement. She is eager to take her struggles to local courts, she is not shy from the media, and most of all she can carry her case to international platforms as she did in the Oslo forum.
Maybe it will be more appropriate to close here with a quotation by another Saudi activist Eman Al-Nafjan, who wrote on her blog on Manal’s speech: “Instead of addressing the issues she put forward, they are arguing against her very right to speak. Instead of making Saudi Arabia a better place, they waste energy on criticizing and condemning anyone who dares to tell it like it is.”

Tweet: “To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom.” — Bertrand Russell
@msalsaif
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