22 Rashid St., Egypt “Before the January 25th revolution, however, it was hard for people to gather freely to talk about politics but after the revolution, the place was more open than before because there were many people who gathered for meetings and discussed all kinds of ideas to make Egypt a better country and that led to making this place much more famous than before.”
(Colson, Your comment leveraged these thoughts. Thank you. And, yes, 10MahmoudBasiouny did justice to its claim as creative community.)
Freedom of association is one of the central provisions underpinning the work of International Labour Organization (ILO). (Source)
So if a parent-organization assumes that it is doing an impeccable job at guaranteeing its subject's needs, then why allow the subjects to assemble, right?
It also means that, if certain subjects under such organization decide to stretch the parent-organization's indulgence and assemble anyway, they lose their private rights. They lose their precious margin for mistakes (and what subject does not make mistakes?), they risk losing their granted civil privileges.
Consequently, they direct attention to the sub-organizations affiliated with them, which may or may not be welcome:
"I later got to know him better at Bridges Bookstore in Jeddah. He was a pillar of the store, which served a meeting and reference point for Hamza and his friends." (Source)
Hence the paradox: that if children really, really must publicly assemble while still living with paranoid parents, they should do so with respectful discretion and as far away as possible from public attention.
Okay, I can allow myself strong and provoking opinions on these matters. Nothing to worry about. No difficult choices or dilemmas. So,I admit, by definition my views are gratuitous. No risks involved for me.
Having said that...
Why oh why does this case make me think of the late Soviet Union? Also a totalitarian ideology ( and some perversions of religion are ideologies) and a totalitarian regime
Dissenters in that "workers' paradise" also jeopardized themselves and all that was associated with them. Yet they were indispensable for bringing about change.
The likes of this young Saudi guy will have to cope with similar major dilemma's. I can see their difficult choices. But let's hope a lot more will have the guts to peacefully fight for change.
[Peculiar coincidence. Yesterday a major protest movement started after the three ladies of "Pussy Riot" were convicted to two years imprisonment in Russia (because of their alleged blasphemous behaviour in protest to semi-dictator Putin's policies). Probably Hamza - also accused of blasphemy- deserves massive outside Arab support too.]
Last year, around the most heated time of Women2Drive campaign, I asked the Timekeeper, "Shall I risk going to jail for a cause like this?"
And he said, "Can you blog and practice yoga from jail? ("No, sir.") Won't that be a waste of your time? The law, Thou shan't do harm, is also applicable to oneself as onto others."
I regress. We're sore for losing Bridges, but, Colson, we're still practicing and writing and tweeting and retweeting. We're still doing what we can from where we are.
And if it were not for the upkeep of beloved little things, what big change do we have the right to hope for?
"... the right to assemble peaceably..."
ReplyDeleteIf we can't take that for granted, we should just take it.
(Btw what fine video 10 mahmoud bassiouny made - and I love the Django Reinhardt style music )
(Colson, Your comment leveraged these thoughts. Thank you. And, yes, 10MahmoudBasiouny did justice to its claim as creative community.)
ReplyDeleteFreedom of association is one of the central provisions underpinning the work of International Labour Organization (ILO). (Source)
So if a parent-organization assumes that it is doing an impeccable job at guaranteeing its subject's needs, then why allow the subjects to assemble, right?
It also means that, if certain subjects under such organization decide to stretch the parent-organization's indulgence and assemble anyway, they lose their private rights. They lose their precious margin for mistakes (and what subject does not make mistakes?), they risk losing their granted civil privileges.
Consequently, they direct attention to the sub-organizations affiliated with them, which may or may not be welcome:
"I later got to know him better at Bridges Bookstore in Jeddah. He was a pillar of the store, which served a meeting and reference point for Hamza and his friends." (Source)
Hence the paradox: that if children really, really must publicly assemble while still living with paranoid parents, they should do so with respectful discretion and as far away as possible from public attention.
Okay, I can allow myself strong and provoking opinions on these matters. Nothing to worry about. No difficult choices or dilemmas. So,I admit, by definition my views are gratuitous. No risks involved for me.
ReplyDeleteHaving said that...
Why oh why does this case make me think of the late Soviet Union? Also a totalitarian ideology ( and some perversions of religion are ideologies) and a totalitarian regime
Dissenters in that "workers' paradise" also jeopardized themselves and all that was associated with them. Yet they were indispensable for bringing about change.
The likes of this young Saudi guy will have to cope with similar major dilemma's. I can see their difficult choices. But let's hope a lot more will have the guts to peacefully fight for change.
[Peculiar coincidence. Yesterday a major protest movement started after the three ladies of "Pussy Riot" were convicted to two years imprisonment in Russia (because of their alleged blasphemous behaviour in protest to semi-dictator Putin's policies). Probably Hamza - also accused of blasphemy- deserves massive outside Arab support too.]
Last year, around the most heated time of Women2Drive campaign, I asked the Timekeeper, "Shall I risk going to jail for a cause like this?"
ReplyDeleteAnd he said, "Can you blog and practice yoga from jail? ("No, sir.") Won't that be a waste of your time? The law, Thou shan't do harm, is also applicable to oneself as onto others."
I regress. We're sore for losing Bridges, but, Colson, we're still practicing and writing and tweeting and retweeting. We're still doing what we can from where we are.
And if it were not for the upkeep of beloved little things, what big change do we have the right to hope for?
Your Timekeeper is a wise man indeed. And so are you :).
ReplyDeleteYou a wise man?? Metaphorically? No just my rotting brain. So: "And you obviously share his wisdom".
ReplyDelete