A Saudi woman was arrested Saturday after posting a YouTube video of herself driving. She has an international license and was abiding by local traffic laws. Her crime? Driving while female.
Saudi Arabia is the only country in the world to ban both Saudi and foreign women from driving.
Despite the lack of a written law prohibiting women from being behind the wheel, the religious police strictly enforce the country's interpretations of Islamic teachings.
Women who can't afford $300-400 each month on hired drivers must rely on male family members to drive them to work, school, the grocery store or even the hospital. In fact, Saudi women are often prevented from working, going to school, traveling, purchasing phones, getting married, or even accessing health care without permission from male guardians (called "mahrams").
Part of public school curriculum in Saudi Arabia is teaching boys how to use their guardianship rights.
Perhaps motivated by the powerful effects social media movements have had in the region lately, human rights activists started a Facebook and Twitter campaign, encouraging women in the country with international licenses to drive on June 17th.
To get things started, Manal al-Sherif, a 32-year-old mother and computer security consultant who learned to drive in the United States, posted a YouTube video of herself driving – a bold move as women who've tried in the past have been banned from travel and even lost their jobs.
In part due to public pressure, Al-Serif was released after signing a pledge to no longer drive, but authorities arrested her again the following day and she is now being held for "violating public order."
Al-Sherif recalls crying, as she stood stranded and alone on the street one night, unable to drive herself home despite having a license. She couldn't find a cab or get a hold of any male family members to pick her up, and became frightened as Saudi men harassed her for being out alone.
Another woman, Najla Hairiri, said that, although she did not get video footage of herself, she drove for 4 days last month, before being stopped, to show her daughter that women can and should be able to drive.
The campaign's Facebook page had 11,000 supporters by the time Saudi censors removed it.
From the page:
"We women in Saudi Arabia, from all nationalities, will start driving our cars by ourselves. We are not here to break the law or demonstrate or challenge the authorities. We are here to claim one of our simplest rights. We have driver's licenses and we will abide by traffic laws."
Saudi censors apparently do not have a problem with the page put up to counter the movement. Nearly 6,000 have "liked" the page, which demands that women who attempt to drive be whipped.
Want to help? Support the movement by sharing the message on Facebook or sending a Tweet.
As the Democratic and Republican parties shift father away from each other, more and more Americans are saying "sayonara" to both.
Info is everywhere, not just in those pamphlets political parties mail to you, and increasing numbers of Americans are making up their own minds about individual issues.
Just because you oppose gun control, doesn't necessarily mean you're against gay marriage. There are people that are both pro-life and against the death penalty or pro-choice and for it.
With so many of you freethinkers choosing not to align yourselves with either major political party, "moderate" is fast becoming a pretty vague description.
For those of us who appreciate being able to place everyone into neat little boxes, a non-partisan, "fact-tank" has created a quick quiz that sorts everyone into one of nine groups, ranging from conservative-to-the-core to liberal-as-they-come.
Take the official quiz here and find out if you're a "Post-Modern," "Disaffected," or one of the other seven types.
Believe it or not, we have had a president that fulfilled every one of his campaign promises. Read on for some fun fast facts about former leaders of the free world.
An orphan, dog-lover, Stanford grad and engineer, Herbert Hoover (1929-1933) decided that he would never take money for performing a public service. When he became president, he was required by law to accept a salary but donated the entire sum to charity. We heart him.
John Quincy Adams, skinny dipper
John Quincy Adams (1825-1829) was all about self-improvement and enjoyed 5am swims in the icy Potomac River. He became the first president to be interviewed by a woman, thanks to a female journalist’s knowledge that he swam naked. She showed up one morning and sat on his clothes until she had an interview.
James K. Polk (1845-1849) did every last thing he said he would do, if elected. He settled a dispute with Britain over the Oregon territory, established a sub-treasury, acquired California from Mexico, and lowered tariffs. He did it all within one term, then retired – talk about efficient!
George Washington's not-so-pearly whites
Here's one last tidbit for you - contrary to popular belief, George Washington never wore wooden dentures. However, he did have dentures made of human teeth, ivory, and animal teeth... ick!
Learn more about all 43 (yes,43!) U.S. Presidents at nps.gov.
A few months ago, we told you about an ambitious project called One Day on Earth, a documentary made by all of us, the citizens of the world.
On 10-10-10, thousands of you, along with people from the UN, non-profits like WWF and DonorsChoose.org, and even some award-winning filmmakers, grabbed cameras and shared stories of love, war, triumph, struggles and everything in between.
Hours upon hours of video has been added to an interactive, global map where you can find footage of just about anything.
A feature documentary is planned for this fall, but you can sort through the footage for yourself right now.
Here is a little taste of what happens in just One Day on Earth:
Daniel Radcliffe may be magic on screen, but the 21-year-old star does some pretty commendable things off screen too. In between filming blockbuster gold, he spends his free time promoting tolerance and acceptance to all who will listen.
Like all of us, Daniel was saddened by the recent string of suicides among LGBTQ youth and is asking everyone to join him in supporting The Trevor Project on SocialVibe. The Trevor Project is the only nationwide 24/7 suicide prevention lifeline for LGBTQ youth.
Suicide is a leading cause of death among young people and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning youth face factors that make them up to four times more likely to attempt to take their own lives. SocialVibe, Daniel, and The Trevor Project are asking for your help in preventing these tragic and unnecessary deaths.
"I think that with every generation, people become more open to those ideas and more aware and more educated,” Daniel told MTV earlier this year. “But it's a really, really slow process. If you take any family with parents who are bringing their kids up in a narrow-minded way that includes homophobia, it will take a very profound moment of realization to change those deep-seated views."
Visit the Trevor Project cause page on SocialVibe – socialvibe.com/thetrevorproject – and complete the short, sponsored activities. Each one that you complete directly raises funds to provide suicide prevention resources for LGBTQ youth in crisis.
After completing the activities, you can join SocialVibe and choose The Trevor Project as your cause to help even more. Have a blog? Add the SocialVibe WordPress widget or Blogger gadget to let your readers earn free donations for The Trevor Project.
Share the video on Facebook and Twitter to help spread Daniel’s message and get the word out about The Trevor Project’s life-saving work.
Calling all high school & college students! Want to make the world a better place and have a chance to win the trip of a lifetime while completing your community service hours? We’ve got just the thing for you: Invisible Children’s 2010 Schools for Schools program.
More than 2 decades of war left much of Uganda without access to education. Families were displaced, schools were abandoned, thousands of children were kidnapped and used as soldiers, and a generation grew up knowing nothing but war and violence.
Now that the LRA rebel army has left Uganda, Invisible Children is working to make sure that the next generation of leaders have access to quality education. They’re changing the course of history and asking you to be a part of it.
Here’s how it works:
- Sign up your school here. Be sure to check this page and make sure that yours isn’t already signed up.
- Rally the troops! Work with friends, teachers and your student government to get the word out on campus and start raising that dough.
- Turn in all funds by December 17th. The top schools will be announced on the 22nd, and each will have the opportunity to send a representative to Uganda to see the impact, firsthand.
Put “Change for Change” jars in classrooms, find out if $1 from each ticket to a dance can be donated, sell treats at football games or lunch, throw an s4s party. Check out the list of fundraising ideas that have been successful for other schools here.
The TV network Halogen will match donations up to $1,000 per school for a total of up to $100,000. Earn your school’s first $1,000 quickly to have it doubled!
Starting a tradition like this at your school would be a pretty sweet addition to any college app., but the best part is knowing that YOU are creating a better future for someone.
Whether you're a high school student, a 20-something, or a retiree, you can earn donations to help educate war-affected children in Uganda by supporting Invisible Children on SocialVibe.
Though extraordinary people can be found in every corner in the world, a gifted child born in a wealthy society has a significant edge over one born into poverty.
Image of poor child via charity: water (Ethiopia)
The same goes for the rest of us average folks. Looking at health, education, economy, and politics, Newsweek has ranked the top 100 countries in the world to find out which offer the best opportunities to live a “healthy, safe, reasonably prosperous, and upwardly mobile life.”
They refer to billionaire philanthropist Warren Buffett saying that his wealth and success can be attributed to being born in the United States at the right time and set out to learn whether those born in the US today have the same benefits.
Check out the top 20, as ranked by their team of experts:
1. Finland
2. Switzerland
3. Sweden
4. Australia
5. Luxembourg
6. Norway
7. Canada
8. Netherlands
9. Japan 10. Denmark
11. United States
12. Germany
13. New Zealand
14. United Kingdom
15. South Korea
16. France
17. Ireland
18. Austria
19. Belgium 20. Singapore
Do any of the rankings surprise you? Which criteria do you believe are most important to success? Share your thoughts in the comments.
truth's philosophy isn't anti-smoker or pro-smoker. They're anti-Big Tobacco.
Their only mission is to save lives by showing teens the facts - like the fact that every 6.5 seconds worldwide someone dies from a tobacco-related disease. So pretty much in the time it takes you to read this sentence, someone died.
How do they get their facts? They read lots and lots of documents. That's right, they're secretly huge dorks... or your BFFs, if you don't feel like spending hours looking up facts and reports from the CDC. I guess it all depends on how you look at it.
Like, they looked up this little tidbit: Tobacco companies spend around $34 million a day on marketing. Hmmm, why would you spend so much on marketing? I guess when you sell a product that kills more people than murder, AIDS, drug addiction, killer bee attacks, car wrecks and a bunch of other stuff, it helps to sugar coat.
So why would a legal product kill around 1200 people a day? Simple: nicotine ain’t the only thing hanging out in cigarettes. They actually contain hundreds of other chemicals like arsenic, cyanide, and benzene. Yeah, they're all poisons and they're also all found in cigarette smoke.
Cigarettes also share ingredients with antifreeze, nail polish remover, gasoline, pee (yup), and cow farts. Find out all the other wonderful things you can find in cigarettes here.
Don’t believe us? That's cool. All the facts are all at thetruth.com, so you can check for yourself.
From 2000 to 2004, approximately 450,000 fewer young adults have started smoking as a result of truth, the newest cause on SocialVibe. They would love to continue helping teens but need your support. To help them earn free donations, so they can continue to spread the truth, visit socialvibe.com/truth.
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