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A minicast.

momentum

"To think of the part one little woman can play in the life of a man, so that to renounce her may be a very good imitation of heroism, and to win her may be a discipline!" - George Eliot, "Middlemarch"

In Saudi, where men fear revere her effects in public, the woman's initiative and willingness to lose whatever the guys think as privileges is gaining momentum at creating that sustainable social change in Saudi. So even though Manal As-Shareef has passed on the torch and promised not to commit social suicide drive in Jeddah, the media (a.k.a. King and Mufti) is on guard of her sex's wrath.

On one side, Arab News covers the fatwa banning the mingling of sexes in public offices. On the other, we see consolatory efforts on soothing the woman's wrath: Women working in lingerie shops, encouraging the barely effective right to vote on municipal elections, and a boost of 70 thousand jobs for women.

If we can ignore the procedural difficulty to have 70 thousand adults working productively in segregated sections of the workforce (hence employing 70 thousand men to represent and drive them to work and back), ignore that bribery bubbles always burst can only slow the inevitable, I can't help but feel positive imagining the conversations in the mixed family/female sections of Saudi.

We're almost there, Yumma.

Long Drive Ahead

I really like the idea of girls driving in Saudi. It’s hopeful, it’s pretty and sort of liberating.

But I don’t and wouldn’t drive for as long as I possibly can.

I can drive in Indonesia but choose not to. Simply because I’m too lazy to look after a car (I barely shower, man), and because it’s faster, safer and environmentally friendlier to get an Ojek (taxi-motorbikes).

Besides, whether or not I can drive is irrelevant when I’m stuck in a 6-hours traffic jam, in a flooded city, going at 8.3km/hour, which is more or less how fast I can pedal my mountain bicycle.

Needs

Whether or not women can drive in Saudi, whether it’s a Maserati or an 18th century carriage or a donkey, the issue here is personal mobility. Getting between places. Logistics. Getting things done.

People need personal mobility to fulfill basic needs: to buy food, get to work, to get the education that got them working and – here we go again – pay for the convenience of personal mobility. I could go on, but my point is, fi car wala mafi, there have been ways that Saudi women have gotten by without being able to drive.

The argument that the right to drive should be granted gratis, whether or not women need it, bores me. In places where women-driving is the norm, women who must drive are the middle classes and women who are chauffeured are the extra-comfortable. Think about it. When women started demonstrating for the right to drive isn’t it also an indicator that there is a lot of basic needs lacking in that society?

And when basic needs are lacking to the extent that it is driving women out of their homes, armed with a mind that’s ready for whatever may come, doesn’t it  show a symptom of a deeper and more complex desperation underneath?

So what gave? What basic need has been desperately lacking in Saudi? If we ever cracked this part of the puzzle, then the anger that is ruining the journey we’re on, might lighten up a bit.

Law

When it comes to basic needs, the law of لا ضرر و لا ضرار thou shall not do harm, is the only rule that applies.

If driving (the mean) could distract us from doing our jobs and obligations (the ends) then something is not done right. If driving in Saudi could put me in jail, or if driving in Jakarta is going to make me late for my appointments, then wouldn’t it be better, faster and safer to find other means of transportation?

It’s not a moot point; because critical shortages bring supplies of creative solutions. In Jeddah, every one of my girlfriends’ phones are fortified with an armada of freelance drivers. And these girlfriends exchange drivers’ contact numbers, and the drivers recommend one to another.

Legal rights aside, women in Saudi do own the streets. These women make a pretty strong – albeit pink - economic pillar, supporting families who’ve got the cars and not the ways. And let it be known that this credit includes my fellow Saudiyyats as well as my non-Saudi mother and non-Saudi girlfriends as part of the resilient and versatile force behind that pink socio-economic wheel.

Power

Fact is, being able to drive does not guarantee the fulfillment of basic needs, nor does it come free of other additional difficulties. For example: The time we spend waiting for a driver is actually less than the time (and energy and money and worry) we spend on waiting for the mechanic to balance the wheels, or for a turn at the gas station.

Being able to drive doesn’t necessarily create more freedom, or the sudden ability to take better photos or pass exams. And if you’re the type who worries about karmic inventorying, then before the gates of heaven or hell the Auditors are not going to ask you if you knew how to drive. They will ask you instead where you went. And where you got the money to get there. And what you did when you reached your destinations.

On the other hand, whether or not women in Saudi can drive, whether or not they have drivers’ licenses or barely educated beyond tricycles, they have undeniably done heck a lot of good already on the streets, in their homes and as dutiful citizens and resident of Saudi Arabia.

Reread that line again until you can recite it by heart. Then own it. Squeeze every bit of pride in it, for how you’ve managed to get by every day deserves plenty of due acknowledgement.

Priorities

Alfarhan mentioned that our priorities are different from each other; and that the least we could do is to respect each others’ journeys to reach those personal goals. I am all for women driving. I am all for personal mobility and the freedom to self-actualize, as fair and far as they may be optimally achieved. I just hope that we remember during this long journey ahead to look out of the window and enjoy the view and remember what we’ve done so far to make it look so gorgeous.

I wish us all a pleasant journey. توصلون بالسلامة

How to Trigger a Social Revolution in Saudi

Another question: What was the last experience that made you a stronger person ?

"The strongest tree in the forest, is the one that grows the slowest." - David Swenson

Strength doesn't just pop up all of the sudden. It's not a technological upgrade. With humans, it's the accumulation of everyday actions that strengthens our areas of expertise.

A mother is strong enough to carry her children because her body got used to their weight development since pregnancy. Writers entertain a lot of muses and ideas because it's a habit for them to play with words.

The strength of lines on our faces and light in our eyes also indicate the emotions and thoughts we have entertained throughout the years.

It's the daily practices that count.
قال صلى الله عليه وسلم: ما أُعْطِي أحد عطاءً خيرًا وأوسع من الصبر

Ask me something. Anonymously. Or not.

Big Ideas, Daily Practice

Milestone

Mubarak's resignation is only so good for as far that he's there to be blamed for Egyptian unhappiness. Because decades after the euphoria is gone, and you wake up still hungry and unemployed, you'll wish there was a Mubarak, or invent another Mubarak, to blame for your unhappiness.

We know this because it has happened before. So many times before. The fall of a tyrant doesn't guarantee the people's happiness. Heck, barely guarantees their meals. Ask the French during the Reign of Terror after the fall of Antoinette's head. Ask Sumiati, twelve years after the fall of Soeharto's regime.

News flash: After the fall of a tyrant, people would still hungry. The unequal distribution of wealth shall maintain. And to those who're still hungry, you barely could sell the idea of a God if you don't bribe them first with a decent lunch.

Freedom, justice, dignity…man, these are great ideas that can't bring the food home. Subjugation, humiliation, oppression aren't so bad if you can sustain your family's basic needs through honest work.

Habit

The common folks are cool at attending prayers because it's a habit. It's a habit to stand up in lines. It's a habit to respond to commands spoken loudly, authoritatively (adzan, preacher's voice). It's a habit to discuss and converse afterwards what the sermon was about and then move along in thoughtful hope. En masse.

In real life, the habit to comply is necessary to sustain those fragile and relative eight hours of freedom. We realize that the poor spend more hours on labor, with less chances of achieving their ideal selves. The poor actually got lesser time to spend on choosing which ideal self they got to be. They can't afford thought.

And that, the freedom from thought, is the poor man's good fortune.

Big Ideas, Daily Practice

Great ideas (justice, freedom, dignity, compassion) are worthless if they are not followed with daily practice. And the daily practice of great ideas always come in simple, boring and uninspiring forms. The practice of great ideas come in the form of adhering to the universal laws, in maintaining proactive attitude towards the deadlines and dishes and the dregs of life.

And that's okay too, you know? Because there is always honor and grace in labor. And that's a promised reward we give ourselves, every time we are done with that one-more-shirt-to-fold.

8 Hours of Freedom

Let's say that these are the basic needs for sustained survival:
- Clean air
- Clean water
- More or less 2000 calories of healthy food intake
- 8 hours of Sleep
- 8 hours of labor
- Enough environmental security to maintain all of the above, a.k.a. home, bed, cleanliness, political stability, social intimacy, etc.

Anything beyond those are "wants".

In a 24 hour day, if 16 of those hours are spent on sleep and work, that leaves us with 8 hours of relative freedom. That leaves us, a.k.a. the middle class with internet access and time to spend on reading blogs, with relatively 8 hours to spend in practicing religion, making elaborate tantric love, choosing what to wear and eat and play, standing in lines, immersing in hobbies and be creative.

Beyond the necessary needs for survival, we have choices in spending those hours of relative freedom. Those 8 hours in a day add up to 56 hours/week, 2912 hours/year. If it takes 10 thousand hours to be a great at something, how have we spent our 8-hours-a-day-of-freedom for the last five years?