Driving Change in the World

When I was three or four my parents bought me a pedal car, a small metal-bodied car with pedals that propelled the car forward. I loved that car. I became quite fast driving it around our house. When I was a little older my father put me on his lap and let me steer our car down the street. I absolutely fell in love with driving and got my first license as soon as legally possible, at sixteen years and one month old.

To me driving represented freedom and self-determination, thrill and satisfaction, solitude and meditation. It still does. I love to drive.

I simply cannot imagine how I would feel if, after all that, my government told me I was not allowed to drive a car because I was too tall, too dumb or because I was a man.

I’ve been hearing stories here and there about women wanting to drive in Saudi Arabia for some time now. Today I read a story on Huffington Post about Saudi women asking Hillary Clinton to help them be allowed to drive. I say go for it. They should also appeal to Laura Bush since “W” and his family are closer to the Saudi royals than Hillary.

There is a petition which I signed on the Change.org website, which was recently cyber attacked by China because of their support for Chinese artist/activist Ai Weiwei.

According to Women of the Revolution, Manal al-Sharif dropped her campaign to call for the driving ban to be lifted. She was detained and released on May 21, 2011 and rearrested the next day and released on bail on May 30, 2011. She’s a computer security consultant but she can’t drive.

A video of her driving and discussing the ban was posted on YouTube. It is here.

Saudi Arabia is the only country in the world that prevents women from driving so it’s not a Muslim thing as perhaps the “Shariers”—my new word to denote those who try to scare gullible Americans that American Muslims are trying to institute Sharia law here in the US in much the same way the “Birthers” tried to scare gullible Americans that Obama…you know the rest—might have us believe.

Wahabism is the dominant form of Islam in Saudi Arabia. And Wahabism is as fundamentalist conservative as the Reverend Ted Haggard was before he realized the door to his closet was opened.

We cannot surmise for certain that granting women the right to drive would commence in Saudi Arabia a social revolution for gender equality, but there may, however, become a large number of Saudi soccer moms.

In Iran, women are working as taxi drivers, picking up only women as fares. And, as Lubna Hussein made progress for women in the Sudan in 2009 by wearing trousers, the Muslim world is slowly changing.

This morning, while driving to work, I saw a crowd of Syrians outside the CNN building on Sunset Boulevard holding signs that read “Free Syria” and “Where is the media?”

That may be their mistake; confusing CNN with legitimate media, thinking that CNN cares. But I used to do that too—protesting outside Rockefeller Center in 1986, hoping to raise NBC’s awareness and concern about the forced relocation of the Navajo just so Peabody Coal could strip mine coal.

A century ago the American Suffragist movement was working hard to gain women the right to vote, which it won in 1920. Saudi women will get the right to drive one day.

Maybe royal Saudi nephew and Fox News investor, Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal, can help. I suggest we all write him letters asking him to intervene directly at Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal, c/o Fox News Channel, 1211 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY  10036.

This can have a double affect. Bin Talal has already called for it. Show him and shower him our support. And it makes visible again, the close connection between Fox and bin Talal, the guy who wanted to fund the Ground Zero Mosque that Fox on-air conservatives were against.

We may also want to write to “W” at his Presidential Center. The website talks about Middle East’s “Wave of Freedom”, a Bush Institute Area of Engagement is “human freedom” and one of the Bush Institute’s Integrated Initiatives has a women’s initiative. Bush has to do some good in the world. You can send them an email at lwike@bushcenter.com. You may need to copy and paste this email address. And I say why not?

Perhaps for the betterment of the world we should commit to this century being the century of women. We have Hillary encourage the Saudis to give women the right to drive and we allow the Iraqis, Afghanis and Libyans to successfully encourage Hillary, Barack and the rest of us to give women in those three countries the right not to have their children and babies killed in our wars.

I’m harping on the death of children in war again, eh? What a downer. Well, here’s an upper. “Drive My Car” performed by the man who wrote it (with Lennon) and sang it, ex-Beatle Paul McCartney.

Persepolis

I got back a little while ago from Santa Barbara and have not had the time to put into a piece about Obama being a wimp on the public option.

While up there, my friend and co-writer Rinde on our honor killing script, had me watch Persepolis, an animated feature by Marjane Satrapi, based on her graphic novel, and Vincent Parannoud that was nominated for a 2008 Academy Award for best Animated Feature. The English version stars the voices of Gena Rowlands, Sean Penn and Iggy Pop.

The story is based on Ms. Satrapi’s life beginning with her childhood in Iran before the fall of the Shah and how the changing Iran affected her life and the lives of those around her. It is funny, and sad and enlightening.

Neo-cons and other idiots, like John Bolton, would have us go to war with Iran because of the religious regime and the nuclear power/bomb controversy, Persepolis allows one to identify with people in Iran, through the story of Marji. Her ups and downs and fears, doubts and confusion mirror our own. But what Marji survives, we in America could never comprehend because we have not been controlled by a ruthless dictator, nor have we had a strict religious government control every aspect of our society and our country—yet (give the tea baggers another four-five years)—and we have never been at war and had our family members killed by the authorities simply for their beliefs.

As told from the perspective of little Marji, beginning as a little girl and growing into adulthood in Teheran and abroad in Austria, it is very charming and endearing, especially as the more serious themes of the film are presented.

Normally Americans seem to have problems enough with French culture by itself. However, Persepolis adds another culture to the mix and makes the world thrice smaller. The humor is universal and transcends any cultural barriers real or perceived to the individual viewer.

The visual style is minimalist but powerful. The animation is constantly clever and inventive.

The world becomes smaller and the people in countries we are told are our enemies become our friend through popular cultural endeavors like Persepolis. As the east and west come together through conflict and tension in many circles, a film like Perspolis can make the fear go away.

We in America need as many Persepolises as possible—especially when it comes to people in Muslim countries—especially right now. We need to know that people are people.

Free Maziar Bahari

Iran is never far from my thoughts. Our stupid neo-conmen like John Bolton who want war to bloody the nose of Khamenei and Ahmadinejad with a war could not have done what the Iranian people themselves are doing by trying to take their country back, perhaps inspired by a speech—not warfare—but a speech by Obama and America’s election of him, a president with Muslim family members and a Muslim name.

Watching Rachel Maddow tonight, there was an interview with Paola Gourley, the very pregnant wife of Canadian journalist and filmmaker, Maziar Bahari, who is imprisoned in Iran, without charge and denied access to an attorney.

There is a website one can go to and a there is a petition to sign. I signed the petition and am number 4714.

I see it this way: the Iranians are like the Republicans in the U.S. They are slowly losing every measure of power they once held. Whatever the Iranian power mongers do in reaction to the Green Revolution further isolates them and, next election, there definitely will be a change in elected officials—if not before. The youth of Iran wants change.

Support the freedom of Maziar Bahari and that of journalists all over the world.

Iran Some More

I haven’t used this space to express my solidarity with the people of Iran in about a month. Apologies.

I remember back in the early 80s many of us wore a Solidarnosc button and then there were the CISPES (Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador) stickers. There doesn’t seem to be the same thing going on right now for the benefit of the people of Iran. And now is when there should be some form of solidarity.

I may be wrong, but it seems like things may have shifted momentarily to a somewhat more positive set of circumstances in Iran. Ahmadinejad picked a First Vice President even the hard-liners don’t like, Rafsanjani seems to be getting into the middle of things which may be keeping Khamenei sort of off balance by injecting some sense into the situation, having stated that many have doubts about the June 12 election results, and, most importantly, the will of the Iranian people has not been beaten. They keep coming back to protest despite threats of the police forces and the Basij.

At the end of Rafsanjani’s speech last Friday, when the traditional chant of “Death to America” is usually called, many chanted “Death to Russia”, according to the New York Times, because Russia accepted the disputed election results.

Recently, Mohsen Rezai, a conservative political candidate warned that the rupture in Iranian society attributed to protests over the election results could lead to the disintegration of Iran.

We Americans need to do as much as we can to support those in Iran at war with their government. We must do everything possible as people to bring peace before the neo-cons can figure out an angle to go to war with Iran. It seems they may be stymied now, but neo-cons don’t need reasons other than those they can invent and tout by lying to the American people.

Thankfully this happened when Bush was out of office because he and his neo-conmen would use this as an opportunity to inflame the situation as a prelude to war.

It seems that this is a perfect opportunity for the youth of Iran and the youth of the U.S. to strengthen ties. We may need to learn their lessons one day, especially when Schwarzenegger and the Legislature keep screwing things up that we have to take back California from the politicians who are ruining it. Schwarzenegger is California’s version of Ayatollah Khamenei, refusing to look at reality. More on that tomorrow.

But back to the larger issues: I see these developments in Iran as an opportunity for Americans to reclaim our country as well, by honoring the anti-tyrannical, anti-oppression efforts of the Iranian people against their leaders. These are well-respected principles in America. It is exactly what our own Revolution was about 233 years ago.

Plus, we can exert our own foreign policy to become friends with the Iranians. American is hated by many throughout the Muslim world because of our country’s support for Israel at the expense of the Palestinians and because of our overthrow of this democracy for oil and this other hypocrisy between what we say and what we do and our--you get the idea.

But, more importantly, we the American people need the Green Revolution to help straighten up Iraq when that starts failing. Because when it does, the neo-cons will pressure Obama to do some stupid things just as they are doing now with Afghanistan.

Here are some websites to become involved. NedaNet, Anonymous Iran, StopAmadi, and Persia.org.

I don’t watch much TV news. The only exception is MSNBC at night after work when I begin writing, but before escaping into the original SNL to regain some balance from the stress of the day.

I don’t understand what happened with MSNBC’s coverage of Iran. It was massive until Michael Jackson died.

Perhaps if Iran’s protestors all wore white sequined gloves or suddenly did the moonwalk they might just be back on.

Ahmadinejad’s choice for vice-president, Esfandiar Rahim Mashaie, is reported as insisting on serving as VP. This brings American and Iranian people closer to together through the obvious similarity: we also had a vice-president who insisted on serving—Dick Cheney. He was only on the vice-presidential search committee and purposefully found no one so he could be VP.

Let’s hope the new round of demonstrations in Iran yesterday keep widening the cracks the protestors have already begun to make in their oppressive government.