We demand the charges pressed against her be dropped. We demand the right to move around freely and drive ourselves to wherever we want to go. We demand the right to travel as freely as any other citizen. We demand the right to marry whom we wish. We demand the right to vote in all electoral bodies in the country, in exactly the same way our male counterparts do.

I’m very happy about the release of Mrs. Manal, I’m sure the comfort of her home is a much better place for her than jail. But let’s not forget our true battle. Unless the charges pressed against her are completely dropped, unless we are given our rights, we shall not be calmed by the euphoria of temporary freedom of Mrs. Manal.

Ask me anything

So much has happened since September that I’d love to write about here but for now I think the more recent and pressing issues going on are really what I want to talk about.

I’m actually disappointed and maybe a tad bit angry at the Saudi masses. Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen, Libya, Bahrain, Jordan, Syria and so many other Arab countries have been fighting for their freedom and rights for the last 6 months and yet when there was a call to a protest, the streets of Jeddah were practically empty.

Okai, so I’m not exactly calling for a protest. I get that what might work in one place may not necessarily work in another. But come on Saudi’s; really? Seriously? Are we just all talk?

So we’ve had plenty of petitions going around, some even got over 6,000 signatures, which is good, I acknowledge. But I don’t think its enough. I cannot even begin to explain how frustrating it is that there are still some people in Saudi Arabia who will not allow themselves the freedom and independence in their own thoughts that they should own. We still have to wait for a public figure to make a statement in order to endorse it.

And maybe we could go about doing that, but honestly, after Sheikh Monjed’s most recent statement about Manal Alsharif’s campaign to get women driving here, it just saddens me that there are still so many people who will take his words as if they were verses from the Quran?

A little independent thinking? They aren’t.

I wish the following four days pass by without me even noticing them, I hate how slow and painful they are. I hate how everyone is a social hypocrite and I especially hate fake smiles and pretending to be happy about this.

I wish they invented a time machine so I can just go straight to the 5^th day of Eid and not have to worry about going through all this.

I like to be productive, I like to work, I like to make something out of my days on Earth, and these four days just seem to prevent that every single year.

So yeah, my Eid wish this year is that I never have to live through another Eid again..

Just a little under a month ago, the freedom flotilla took off from Turkey heading to Gaza to break the siege enforced on Gaza and its residents since early 2008. We all saw how people got really excited and feverish about it; some changed their profile pictures on MSN and facebook and dedicated the tweets and statuses all to this wonderful humanitarian cause and I guess this fever was somewhat praised by many of us.

And then a little over a week ago, South Africa held the World Cup of 2010, and everything changed, all the fanaticism in us was aroused and the World Cup fever started spreading like fire within us, and I realized that some of us were upset by this.

To anyone who was upset because the World Cup fever stopped the Gaza flotilla rush, I would like to console you. I would also like to assure you that the World Cup fever is a very normal phenomena that is not only expected, but also justified. Football is not a cause that has to be on our minds every minute of every hour of every day. It is just one of those events that we allow ourselves to indulge in every four years, and it is perfectly normal.

However, we cannot say this about the Palestinian cause. We need true supporters for the cause, and not just  people who when provoked by any new updates, will lose their excitement in a week or two. Gaza cannot be forgotten. The occupied lands cannot be dealt with excitement alone. The Palestinian refugees cannot be let free from our minds. So, what we need for this cause isn’t those who would treat this cause as they do the World Cup. No, we need those who are willing to live, die and give their all for it. We need supporters that can teach this cause to others and do not need to be taught about it. And finally, we need sincere people, people who do not go to sleep at night before thinking about every single person killed from this tragic siege; a siege history and the world have not seen anything like before. We cannot forget the children whom have been orphaned, injured or killed. Not in Gaza, not in Iraq and not in Quwaiza.

And until we can develop into those kind of supporters, please don’t judge anyone who calls Forza Italia.

I know I haven’t been active in my blog (and other blogs at that) recently, but starting today and for another 4 weeks, I will start writing a series of blog posts about certain controversial view points that come across my mind.

I’ll start each one with a true story that happened with me and then go on to discuss the issue, however I would like to stress that my critique is strictly to the situation and not personal at all. So, if you know me and think the story may be about you, please don’t take it personal.

A few days ago, we had Intellect first season’s closing ceremony. Because our sessions were quite serious, we believed that the best way to end the season was through doing something fun, so we had a Fun Day at a private beach, with BBQ, soap soccer field and swimming pool games and activities.

As most of us all know, last week, the Freedom Flotilla heading to break the siege on Gaza was attacked by the Israeli army and some of the humanitarians of the boats were killed, while others were held captive by the Israeli government.

Among those who were held captive was a good friend of mine, Kuwaiti Haya Al-Shatti.

After news of her arrest went out, a few girls (some of whom have never replied to any Intellect invitation) called me and asked that I cancel the Fun Day because of these recent attacks and I had politely told them that it wasn’t possible. However, I felt it was necessary we do something for this humanitarian cause. After discussing the issue with Intellect team, we decided that instead of making a passive change (canceling the event), we would make a more active change by continuing the Fun Day and holding a solidarity workshop in the beach and raising awareness among those who didn’t know anything about the case.

The interesting thing was, I had spoken to every single person who had advised me to cancel the event after we made the alterations to invite them to attend the Fun Day and participate in the workshop, and one of the girls simply replied that she had a dinner party the same day which meant she couldn’t attend!

Now, I was honestly quite shocked by her answer! Hadn’t she just told me that it would be “inhumane” and “rude” to continue with a Fun Day after what had happened?

I really believe that we have a serious issue in our society, that simply gives everyone and anyone a right to pass judgment on others and hold guardianship over them, while forgetting that in the meanwhile, others are passing judgments on what they are doing and saying.

I am appalled to say the least that this girl is one of whom calls herself the “leading generation”, a girl who sees in herself a role model for change in society.

I really believe that we have to educate ourselves in human relations, dynamics and social ethics, especially if we want to start a positive change in our society. We can never move this society forward unless we, the active youth, take ourselves up the ethical ladder and know the “how to” deal with others the correct and appropriate way.

We were divided into three groups, each group to investigate into an era of the Arab peninsula; either pre-Islamic, early Islamic, or the Saudi era. I was chosen in the Saudi era group.

We listened while the tour guide took us around the Saudi ward, explaining certain incidents and stating facts. Something bothered me though so I decided to ask her about it.

I asked, “Is Hejaz region considered a Saudi land under the reign of the kings of the 3rd kingdom of Saudi Arabia?”

“Yes”

“What about Janoob (Southern region)?”

“Yes, Janoob, Shamal (Northern region) and Sharq (Eastern region)”

“So why does the ward named (Saudi heritage) only contain Najdi cultural items?”

I spent half an hour trying to understand why Najdi heritage was labelled as Saudi heritage whereas Saudi Arabia includes Najd, Hejaz, Janoob, Shamal and Sharq among other regions. I wondered aloud if it were unusual we gave everything its proper name? So if we had an exhibit of cultural items belonging to the Najdi heritage, we’d find a label (Najdi culture) over them and not (Saudi), exactly like how the Hejazi items were in the Hejazi heritage ward of the museum.

So after I finished, the tour guide said; “Do you know what? Your absolutely right! But we are not allowed to say this” and I literally stood there speechless for a minute trying to apprehend what the guide had just said!

“Not allowed?” I asked, “Why not?”

“Because we don’t want to upset anyone”

Now, this sentence really got me thinking, have we honestly sabotaged our internal judgment system to an extent that we no longer know what would upset anyone and what wouldn’t? Why in the world would giving each heritage the correct label upset “anyone”?!

I don’t think Najdi people would take offense if we named their heritage as (Najdi heritage), would they?

What do you think?

Seven years to the day to the US and coalition troops illegal invasion of Iraq..

Seven years of humiliation and suffering to our fellow humans..

Seven years of semi-domestic war fueled by the US governments policies..

Seven years of yet another disappointment from the UN, another silence..

Where are the alleged weapons of mass destruction?

Isn’t that what legalized this whole war to start with?

I seriously don’t get why the world is silent at a time like this; when so much damage has been made and no obvious effort been made for damage-control..

To anyone who may be reading this; Speak up, listen up and don’t ever be shut up!

Please check it out and get in touch via email..

Also, Izzaty Islamy Third Youth Conference will be held in Dar Al-Hekma this Thursday, from 8am-11pm. It’s only for girls but they always provide good material, so check that out too..

I went to the book fair held in Riyadh last week, and became overwhelmed  not only by the quantity and quality of publishing and books, but by the crowd; it was literally packed! The sight of all those people from all sorts of different cultural and social backgrounds inside the book fair really made me proud.

Although not everything is going as planned today, I can’t help but feel a sense of pride and happiness; Saudi Arabia is really coming around (socially if not anything else). People are really going out and about and doing stuff.

Maybe I don’t make any sense but I’m really tired. Goodnight xx

As I said from my earlier post, I woke up startled to find out that I had fainted into a deep sleep that lasted almost 7 hours! I think I may have broken a record as I usually never ever sleep more than 3-4 hours daily. I called Renad to see what the girls had agreed on and she told me that most of them wanted to do some book shopping but that all of them were packing their bags and getting ready for check-out. We agreed that her group of girls would pack their bags and put them in the bus and go ahead and go to the book stores and the rest would take their time while they finished. By 10.30 am, we had all taken out our bags to the bus and I had finished checking out.

I sent them all to Le Notre for a delicious brunch while I went with Dalal to get the cake I had got for the girls celebrating the end of the trip successfully. We reached Le Notre at around 11.30 am to find it against Le Notre’s policy to allow cakes into the place!

So I kept the cake in the car and we started wrapping up. We made a video of everyone’s last words, feedback and suggestions and then we headed to the airport where we all checked in our luggage and agreed on meeting at Caribou Cafe.

There, we got out the cake (see image below) and made our party in the middle of the airport!

"Intellect 1st camp" cake

I got all the participants Wesal 2 album as a personal gift and then came the unexpected surprise! All the participants had chipped in to get me a present! They way they presented it to me really bought tears to my eyes. I still get speechless every time I look at it (see images below).

Aigner gold earrings

We <3 Amna t-shirt :$

After the hugs and farewell, we got into the plane and left Kuwait at 3.00 pm.

Truly, I feel blessed that my first experience as a group leader in a trip had ended with all the beautiful memories, the smiles and laughter, the midnight PJ parties, the friends and the bonds… and thank God, minimal casualties

Amna

18.02.2010

8.00 pm at my house