WEBVTT 00:00:01.267 --> 00:00:05.795 Allow me to start this talk with a question to everyone. 00:00:05.795 --> 00:00:08.057 You know that all over the world, 00:00:08.057 --> 00:00:10.852 people fight for their freedom, 00:00:10.852 --> 00:00:13.058 fight for their rights. 00:00:13.058 --> 00:00:16.219 Some battle oppressive governments. 00:00:16.219 --> 00:00:20.955 Others battle oppressive societies. 00:00:20.955 --> 00:00:24.811 Which battle do you think is harder? 00:00:24.811 --> 00:00:27.283 Allow me to try to answer this question 00:00:27.283 --> 00:00:30.363 in the few coming minutes. NOTE Paragraph 00:00:30.363 --> 00:00:36.179 Let me take you back two years ago in my life. 00:00:36.179 --> 00:00:39.135 It was the bedtime of my son, Aboody. 00:00:39.135 --> 00:00:41.819 He was five at the time. 00:00:41.819 --> 00:00:44.259 After finishing his bedtime rituals, 00:00:44.259 --> 00:00:48.341 he looked at me and he asked a question: 00:00:48.341 --> 00:00:51.572 "Mommy, are we bad people?" NOTE Paragraph 00:00:51.572 --> 00:00:54.032 I was shocked. 00:00:54.032 --> 00:00:57.189 "Why do you say such things, Aboody?" NOTE Paragraph 00:00:57.189 --> 00:00:59.524 Earlier that day, I noticed some bruises 00:00:59.524 --> 00:01:02.107 on his face when he came from school. 00:01:02.107 --> 00:01:04.073 He wouldn't tell me what happened. 00:01:04.073 --> 00:01:08.136 [But now] he was ready to tell. NOTE Paragraph 00:01:08.136 --> 00:01:10.947 "Two boys hit me today in school. 00:01:10.947 --> 00:01:14.316 They told me, 'We saw your mom on Facebook. 00:01:14.316 --> 00:01:19.102 You and your mom should be put in jail.'" NOTE Paragraph 00:01:19.102 --> 00:01:22.243 I've never been afraid to tell Aboody anything. 00:01:22.243 --> 00:01:26.947 I've been always a proud woman of my achievements. 00:01:26.947 --> 00:01:29.162 But those questioning eyes of my son 00:01:29.162 --> 00:01:31.987 were my moment of truth, 00:01:31.987 --> 00:01:35.740 when it all came together. 00:01:35.740 --> 00:01:40.158 You see, I'm a Saudi woman who had been put in jail 00:01:40.158 --> 00:01:42.293 for driving a car in a country 00:01:42.293 --> 00:01:47.248 where women are not supposed to drive cars. 00:01:47.248 --> 00:01:49.639 Just for giving me his car keys, 00:01:49.639 --> 00:01:53.495 my own brother was detained twice, 00:01:53.495 --> 00:01:55.108 and he was harassed to the point he had 00:01:55.108 --> 00:01:57.096 to quit his job as a geologist, 00:01:57.096 --> 00:02:00.430 leave the country with his wife and two-year-old son. 00:02:00.430 --> 00:02:02.528 My father had to sit in a Friday sermon 00:02:02.528 --> 00:02:06.200 listening to the imam condemning women drivers 00:02:06.200 --> 00:02:08.168 and calling them prostitutes 00:02:08.168 --> 00:02:10.504 amongst tons of worshippers, 00:02:10.504 --> 00:02:14.816 some of them our friends and family of my own father. 00:02:14.816 --> 00:02:18.400 I was faced with an organized defamation campaign 00:02:18.400 --> 00:02:21.382 in the local media combined with false rumors 00:02:21.382 --> 00:02:24.240 shared in family gatherings, in the streets 00:02:24.240 --> 00:02:26.984 and in schools. 00:02:26.984 --> 00:02:29.328 It all hit me. 00:02:29.328 --> 00:02:31.522 It came into focus that those kids 00:02:31.522 --> 00:02:33.816 did not mean to be rude to my son. 00:02:33.816 --> 00:02:37.886 They were just influenced by the adults around them. 00:02:37.886 --> 00:02:41.355 And it wasn't about me, and it wasn't a punishment 00:02:41.355 --> 00:02:45.169 for taking the wheel and driving a few miles. 00:02:45.169 --> 00:02:48.018 It was a punishment for daring to challenge 00:02:48.018 --> 00:02:51.715 the society's rules. NOTE Paragraph 00:02:51.715 --> 00:02:56.252 But my story goes beyond this moment of truth of mine. 00:02:56.252 --> 00:03:00.048 Allow me to give you a briefing 00:03:00.048 --> 00:03:02.240 about my story. 00:03:02.240 --> 00:03:04.276 It was May, 2011, 00:03:04.276 --> 00:03:06.235 and I was complaining to a work colleague 00:03:06.235 --> 00:03:08.069 about the harassments I had to face 00:03:08.069 --> 00:03:09.857 trying to find a ride back home, 00:03:09.857 --> 00:03:13.341 although I have a car and an international driver's license. 00:03:13.341 --> 00:03:15.466 As long as I've known, women in Saudi Arabia 00:03:15.466 --> 00:03:17.952 have been always complaining about the ban, 00:03:17.952 --> 00:03:20.368 but it's been 20 years since anyone 00:03:20.368 --> 00:03:22.400 tried to do anything about it, 00:03:22.400 --> 00:03:24.600 a whole generation ago. NOTE Paragraph 00:03:24.600 --> 00:03:26.736 He broke the good/bad news in my face. 00:03:26.736 --> 00:03:29.893 "But there is no law banning you from driving." NOTE Paragraph 00:03:29.893 --> 00:03:32.097 I looked it up, and he was right. 00:03:32.097 --> 00:03:34.776 There wasn't an actual law in Saudi Arabia. 00:03:34.776 --> 00:03:36.916 It was just a custom and traditions 00:03:36.916 --> 00:03:40.932 that are enshrined in rigid religious fatwas 00:03:40.932 --> 00:03:42.936 and imposed on women. 00:03:42.936 --> 00:03:46.024 That realization ignited the idea of June 17, 00:03:46.024 --> 00:03:48.465 where we encouraged women to take the wheel 00:03:48.465 --> 00:03:51.193 and go drive. 00:03:51.193 --> 00:03:55.048 It was a few weeks later, we started receiving all these 00:03:55.048 --> 00:03:58.254 "Man wolves will rape you if you go and drive." 00:03:58.254 --> 00:04:00.920 A courageous woman, her name is Najla Hariri, 00:04:00.920 --> 00:04:03.520 she's a Saudi woman in the city of Jeddah, 00:04:03.520 --> 00:04:05.134 she drove a car and she announced 00:04:05.134 --> 00:04:06.863 but she didn't record a video. 00:04:06.863 --> 00:04:08.723 We needed proof. NOTE Paragraph 00:04:08.723 --> 00:04:11.584 So I drove. I posted a video on YouTube. 00:04:11.584 --> 00:04:13.495 And to my surprise, 00:04:13.495 --> 00:04:16.384 it got hundreds of thousands of views the first day. 00:04:16.384 --> 00:04:18.090 What happened next, of course? 00:04:18.090 --> 00:04:19.984 I started receiving threats 00:04:19.984 --> 00:04:24.546 to be killed, raped, just to stop this campaign. NOTE Paragraph 00:04:24.546 --> 00:04:28.158 The Saudi authorities remained very quiet. 00:04:28.158 --> 00:04:30.338 That really creeped us out. 00:04:30.338 --> 00:04:32.465 I was in the campaign with other Saudi women 00:04:32.465 --> 00:04:34.418 and even men activists. 00:04:34.418 --> 00:04:36.882 We wanted to know how the authorities 00:04:36.882 --> 00:04:40.490 would respond on the actual day, June 17, 00:04:40.490 --> 00:04:42.219 when women go out and drive. 00:04:42.219 --> 00:04:44.277 So this time I asked my brother 00:04:44.277 --> 00:04:46.368 to come with me and drive by a police car. 00:04:46.368 --> 00:04:49.122 It went fast. We were arrested, 00:04:49.122 --> 00:04:52.806 signed a pledge not to drive again, released. 00:04:52.806 --> 00:04:56.018 Arrested again, he was sent to detention for one day, 00:04:56.018 --> 00:04:58.281 and I was sent to jail. 00:04:58.281 --> 00:04:59.906 I wasn't sure why I was sent there, 00:04:59.906 --> 00:05:03.083 because I didn't face any charges in the interrogation. 00:05:03.083 --> 00:05:05.370 But what I was sure of was my innocence. 00:05:05.370 --> 00:05:07.835 I didn't break a law, and I kept my abaya 00:05:07.835 --> 00:05:11.711 — it's a black cloak we wear in Saudi Arabia before we leave the house — 00:05:11.711 --> 00:05:14.693 and my fellow prisoners kept asking me to take it off, 00:05:14.693 --> 00:05:17.366 but I was so sure of my innocence, I kept saying, 00:05:17.366 --> 00:05:19.591 "No, I'm leaving today." 00:05:19.591 --> 00:05:23.047 Outside the jail, the whole country went into a frenzy, 00:05:23.047 --> 00:05:25.351 some attacking me badly, 00:05:25.351 --> 00:05:29.076 and others supportive and even collecting signatures 00:05:29.076 --> 00:05:33.319 in a petition to be sent to the king to release me. 00:05:33.319 --> 00:05:35.103 I was released after nine days. NOTE Paragraph 00:05:35.103 --> 00:05:37.789 June 17 comes. 00:05:37.789 --> 00:05:40.479 The streets were packed with police cars 00:05:40.479 --> 00:05:42.640 and religious police cars, 00:05:42.640 --> 00:05:44.943 but some hundred brave Saudi women 00:05:44.943 --> 00:05:46.975 broke the ban and drove that day. 00:05:46.975 --> 00:05:50.063 None were arrested. We broke the taboo. NOTE Paragraph 00:05:50.063 --> 00:05:55.406 (Applause) NOTE Paragraph 00:06:00.407 --> 00:06:03.799 So I think by now, everyone knows that we can't drive, 00:06:03.799 --> 00:06:05.984 or women are not allowed to drive, in Saudi Arabia, 00:06:05.984 --> 00:06:08.282 but maybe few know why. 00:06:08.282 --> 00:06:10.866 Allow me to help you answer this question. NOTE Paragraph 00:06:10.866 --> 00:06:14.002 There was this official study 00:06:14.002 --> 00:06:16.046 that was presented to the Shura Council -- 00:06:16.046 --> 00:06:18.310 it's the consultative council appointed 00:06:18.310 --> 00:06:20.293 by the king in Saudi Arabia — 00:06:20.293 --> 00:06:22.334 and it was done by a local professor, 00:06:22.334 --> 00:06:23.652 a university professor. 00:06:23.652 --> 00:06:28.015 He claims it's done based on a UNESCO study. 00:06:28.015 --> 00:06:31.007 And the study states, 00:06:31.007 --> 00:06:34.799 the percentage of rape, adultery, 00:06:34.799 --> 00:06:38.239 illegitimate children, even drug abuse, 00:06:38.239 --> 00:06:41.327 prostitution in countries where women drive 00:06:41.327 --> 00:06:44.849 is higher than countries where women don't drive. NOTE Paragraph 00:06:44.849 --> 00:06:46.186 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:06:46.186 --> 00:06:47.689 I know, I was like this, I was shocked. 00:06:47.689 --> 00:06:50.809 I was like, "We are the last country in the world 00:06:50.809 --> 00:06:52.762 where women don't drive." 00:06:52.762 --> 00:06:54.928 So if you look at the map of the world, 00:06:54.928 --> 00:06:56.621 that only leaves two countries: 00:06:56.621 --> 00:07:01.007 Saudi Arabia, and the other society is the rest of the world. NOTE Paragraph 00:07:01.007 --> 00:07:04.095 We started a hashtag on Twitter mocking the study, 00:07:04.095 --> 00:07:06.563 and it made headlines around the world. NOTE Paragraph 00:07:06.563 --> 00:07:08.327 [BBC News: 'End of virginity' if women drive, Saudi cleric warns] NOTE Paragraph 00:07:08.327 --> 00:07:09.592 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:07:09.592 --> 00:07:12.263 And only then we realized it's so empowering 00:07:12.263 --> 00:07:13.727 to mock your oppressor. 00:07:13.727 --> 00:07:18.226 It strips it away of its strongest weapon: fear. NOTE Paragraph 00:07:18.226 --> 00:07:21.830 This system is based on ultra-conservative 00:07:21.830 --> 00:07:23.737 traditions and customs 00:07:23.737 --> 00:07:26.984 that deal with women as if they are inferior 00:07:26.984 --> 00:07:29.481 and they need a guardian to protect them, 00:07:29.481 --> 00:07:31.685 so they need to take permission from this guardian, 00:07:31.685 --> 00:07:33.851 whether verbal or written, all their lives. 00:07:33.851 --> 00:07:36.307 We are minors until the day we die. 00:07:36.307 --> 00:07:40.213 And it becomes worse when it's enshrined in religious fatwas 00:07:40.213 --> 00:07:42.915 based on wrong interpretation of the sharia law, 00:07:42.915 --> 00:07:45.105 or the religious laws. 00:07:45.105 --> 00:07:47.230 What's worst, when they become codified 00:07:47.230 --> 00:07:49.681 as laws in the system, 00:07:49.681 --> 00:07:53.077 and when women themselves believe in their inferiority, 00:07:53.077 --> 00:07:55.567 and they even fight those who try 00:07:55.567 --> 00:07:59.137 to question these rules. NOTE Paragraph 00:07:59.137 --> 00:08:03.403 So for me, it wasn't only about these attacks I had to face. 00:08:03.403 --> 00:08:06.217 It was about living two totally different 00:08:06.217 --> 00:08:09.177 perceptions of my personality, of my person -- 00:08:09.177 --> 00:08:11.889 the villain back in my home country, 00:08:11.889 --> 00:08:13.912 and the hero outside. NOTE Paragraph 00:08:13.912 --> 00:08:17.987 Just to tell you, two stories happened in the last two years. 00:08:17.987 --> 00:08:20.365 One of them is when I was in jail. 00:08:20.365 --> 00:08:22.023 I'm pretty sure when I was in jail, 00:08:22.023 --> 00:08:26.474 everyone saw titles in the international media 00:08:26.474 --> 00:08:30.519 something like this during these nine days I was in jail. NOTE Paragraph 00:08:30.519 --> 00:08:33.996 But in my home country, it was a totally different picture. 00:08:33.996 --> 00:08:35.665 It was more like this: 00:08:35.665 --> 00:08:38.697 "Manal al-Sharif faces charges of disturbing public order 00:08:38.697 --> 00:08:42.439 and inciting women to drive." NOTE Paragraph 00:08:42.439 --> 00:08:45.473 I know. NOTE Paragraph 00:08:45.473 --> 00:08:47.522 "Manal al-Sharif withdraws from the campaign." NOTE Paragraph 00:08:47.522 --> 00:08:50.089 Ah, it's okay. This is my favorite. NOTE Paragraph 00:08:50.089 --> 00:08:52.486 "Manal al-Sharif breaks down and confesses: 00:08:52.486 --> 00:08:54.298 'Foreign forces incited me.'" NOTE Paragraph 00:08:54.298 --> 00:08:56.657 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:08:56.657 --> 00:09:01.854 And it goes on, even trial and flogging me in public. 00:09:01.854 --> 00:09:05.282 So it's a totally different picture. NOTE Paragraph 00:09:05.282 --> 00:09:07.054 I was asked last year to give a speech 00:09:07.054 --> 00:09:09.666 at the Oslo Freedom Forum. 00:09:09.666 --> 00:09:12.251 I was surrounded by this love 00:09:12.251 --> 00:09:14.386 and the support of people around me, 00:09:14.386 --> 00:09:16.571 and they looked at me as an inspiration. 00:09:16.571 --> 00:09:19.433 At the same time, I flew back to my home country, 00:09:19.433 --> 00:09:21.358 they hated that speech so much. 00:09:21.358 --> 00:09:23.897 The way they called it: a betrayal to the Saudi country 00:09:23.897 --> 00:09:25.489 and the Saudi people, 00:09:25.489 --> 00:09:28.850 and they even started a hashtag called #OsloTraitor on Twitter. 00:09:28.850 --> 00:09:32.119 Some 10,000 tweets were written in that hashtag, 00:09:32.119 --> 00:09:34.937 while the opposite hashtag, #OsloHero, 00:09:34.937 --> 00:09:36.721 there was like a handful of tweets written. 00:09:36.721 --> 00:09:38.661 They even started a poll. 00:09:38.661 --> 00:09:41.944 More than 13,000 voters answered this poll: 00:09:41.944 --> 00:09:44.970 whether they considered me a traitor or not after that speech. 00:09:44.970 --> 00:09:47.996 Ninety percent said yes, she's a traitor. 00:09:47.996 --> 00:09:51.886 So it's these two totally different perceptions 00:09:51.886 --> 00:09:53.493 of my personality. NOTE Paragraph 00:09:53.493 --> 00:09:55.517 For me, I'm a proud Saudi woman, 00:09:55.517 --> 00:09:57.116 and I do love my country, 00:09:57.116 --> 00:10:00.045 and because I love my country, I'm doing this. 00:10:00.045 --> 00:10:02.910 Because I believe a society will not be free 00:10:02.910 --> 00:10:05.453 if the women of that society are not free. 00:10:05.453 --> 00:10:15.382 (Applause) 00:10:15.382 --> 00:10:17.734 Thank you. 00:10:17.734 --> 00:10:20.550 (Applause) 00:10:20.550 --> 00:10:23.174 Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. 00:10:23.174 --> 00:10:35.938 (Applause) NOTE Paragraph 00:10:35.938 --> 00:10:39.615 Thank you. NOTE Paragraph 00:10:39.615 --> 00:10:43.836 But you learn lessons from these things that happen to you. 00:10:43.836 --> 00:10:46.054 I learned to be always there. 00:10:46.054 --> 00:10:48.292 The first thing, I got out of jail, 00:10:48.292 --> 00:10:51.612 of course after I took a shower, I went online, 00:10:51.612 --> 00:10:54.831 I opened my Twitter account and my Facebook page, 00:10:54.831 --> 00:10:57.119 and I've been always very respectful 00:10:57.119 --> 00:10:58.626 to those people who are opining to me. 00:10:58.626 --> 00:11:00.226 I would listen to what they say, 00:11:00.226 --> 00:11:03.159 and I would never defend myself with words only. 00:11:03.159 --> 00:11:05.567 I would use actions. When they said I should withdraw from the campaign, 00:11:05.567 --> 00:11:08.725 I filed the first lawsuit against the general directorate 00:11:08.725 --> 00:11:12.967 of traffic police for not issuing me a driver's license. 00:11:12.967 --> 00:11:14.942 There are a lot of people also -- 00:11:14.942 --> 00:11:17.247 very big support, like those 3,000 people 00:11:17.247 --> 00:11:19.611 who signed the petition to release me. 00:11:19.611 --> 00:11:22.815 We sent a petition to the Shura Council 00:11:22.815 --> 00:11:26.047 in favor of lifting the ban on Saudi women, 00:11:26.047 --> 00:11:29.256 and there were, like, 3,500 citizens who believed in that 00:11:29.256 --> 00:11:30.889 and they signed that petition. 00:11:30.889 --> 00:11:33.760 There were people like that, I just showed some examples, 00:11:33.760 --> 00:11:36.872 who are amazing, who are believing in women's rights in Saudi Arabia, 00:11:36.872 --> 00:11:39.600 and trying, and they are also facing a lot of hate 00:11:39.600 --> 00:11:43.408 because of speaking up and voicing their views. NOTE Paragraph 00:11:43.408 --> 00:11:45.785 Saudi Arabia today is taking small steps 00:11:45.785 --> 00:11:47.994 toward enhancing women's rights. 00:11:47.994 --> 00:11:50.192 The Shura Council that's appointed by the king, 00:11:50.192 --> 00:11:52.546 by royal decree of King Abdullah, 00:11:52.546 --> 00:11:56.154 last year there were 30 women assigned to that Council, 00:11:56.154 --> 00:11:58.682 like 20 percent. 00:11:58.682 --> 00:12:01.410 20 percent of the Council. (Applause) 00:12:01.410 --> 00:12:03.570 The same time, finally, that Council, 00:12:03.570 --> 00:12:06.562 after rejecting our petition four times for women driving, 00:12:06.562 --> 00:12:09.137 they finally accepted it last February. 00:12:09.137 --> 00:12:14.127 (Applause) 00:12:14.127 --> 00:12:15.964 After being sent to jail 00:12:15.964 --> 00:12:18.817 or sentenced lashing, or sent to a trial, 00:12:18.817 --> 00:12:20.906 the spokesperson of the traffic police said, 00:12:20.906 --> 00:12:25.217 we will only issue traffic violation for women drivers. 00:12:25.217 --> 00:12:26.655 The Grand Mufti, who is the head 00:12:26.655 --> 00:12:29.431 of the religious establishment in Saudi Arabia, 00:12:29.431 --> 00:12:33.543 he said, it's not recommended for women to drive. 00:12:33.543 --> 00:12:38.073 It used to be haram, forbidden, by the previous Grand Mufti. NOTE Paragraph 00:12:38.073 --> 00:12:43.622 So for me, it's not about only these small steps. 00:12:43.622 --> 00:12:45.187 It's about women themselves. NOTE Paragraph 00:12:45.187 --> 00:12:46.839 A friend once asked me, she said, 00:12:46.839 --> 00:12:49.590 "So when do you think this women driving will happen?" NOTE Paragraph 00:12:49.590 --> 00:12:52.339 I told her, "Only if women stop asking 'When?' 00:12:52.339 --> 00:12:55.113 and take action to make it now." NOTE Paragraph 00:12:55.113 --> 00:12:56.767 So it's not only about the system, 00:12:56.767 --> 00:13:03.210 it's also about us women to drive our own life, I'd say. NOTE Paragraph 00:13:03.210 --> 00:13:09.362 So I have no clue, really, how I became an activist. 00:13:09.362 --> 00:13:13.329 And I don't know how I became one now. 00:13:13.329 --> 00:13:16.977 But all I know, and all I'm sure of, in the future 00:13:16.977 --> 00:13:19.745 when someone asks me my story, 00:13:19.745 --> 00:13:21.977 I will say, "I'm proud 00:13:21.977 --> 00:13:24.833 to be amongst those women who lifted the ban, 00:13:24.833 --> 00:13:28.608 fought the ban, and celebrated everyone's freedom." NOTE Paragraph 00:13:28.608 --> 00:13:31.905 So the question I started my talk with, 00:13:31.905 --> 00:13:35.105 who do you think is more difficult to face, 00:13:35.105 --> 00:13:38.062 oppressive governments or oppressive societies? 00:13:38.062 --> 00:13:40.961 I hope you find clues to answer that from my speech. NOTE Paragraph 00:13:40.961 --> 00:13:42.417 Thank you, everyone. NOTE Paragraph 00:13:42.417 --> 00:13:47.185 (Applause) 00:13:47.185 --> 00:13:50.309 Thank you. 00:13:50.309 --> 00:13:55.993 (Applause) 00:13:55.993 --> 00:13:59.517 Thank you. (Applause)