Yahoo – AFP,
28 October 2013
Riyadh
(AFP) - A Saudi video mocking the kingdom's unique ban on female driving has
gone viral, featuring a male performer singing "no woman, no drive",
an adaptation of Bob Marley's famous song.
Nearly 3.5
million people had seen the 4:15-minute video by Monday, two days after the
adaptation of the reggae legend's "no woman, no cry" had been posted
on YouTube.
"Say I
remember when you used to sit, in the family car, but backseat," sings
Hisham Fageeh, a Saudi who introduces himself as an artist social activist,
dressed in traditional white thawb cloak and checkered red headgear.
The video
that sarcastically tells women not to consider getting behind the wheel was
posted on the day set by female activists to launch an new campaign to defy the
kingdom's ban on women driving.
At least 16
women were stopped by police while at the wheel on Saturday. They were fined
and forced along with their male guardians to pledge to obey the
conservative-kingdom's laws.
Fageeh goes
on to mock a claim by a Saudi cleric that driving would hurt women's ovaries
and bring "clinical disorder" upon their children.
"Ovaries
are safe and well, so you can make lots and lots of babies," he sings.
"In
this bright future, you can't forget your past, so put your car key away,"
the song continues.
Women who
in the past have defied the ban, which is not even enshrined in law, have run
into trouble with the authorities.
In 1990, 47
women who got behind the wheel in a demonstration against the driving ban were
stopped by the authorities.
In 2011,
police arrested a number of women who defied the ban and forced them to sign a
pledge not to drive again.
Saudi women
are forced to cover from head to toe and need permission from a male guardian
to travel, work and marry.
The New
York Arab-American Comedy Festival this month introduced Fageeh as an
up-and-running stand-up comedian who performs in Arabic and English.
On his
YouTube account, "HishamComedy", Saudi-based Fageeh has posted many
of his earlier videos, including 16 episodes of "Isboiyat Hisham," or
Hisham Weeklies, including some reflecting on the lives of Saudi students in
the United States.
"A
simple contribution by me and my colleagues on the occasion of the" women
driving campaign, Fageeh wrote on his Twitter account, on October 26, referring
to his latest release.
Related Articles:
Saudi Arabian women vow to keep up campaign against driving ban
Few Saudi women get behind the wheel after threats
Image taken from a video uploaded by Saudi activists on YouTube
on October 17, 2013 shows a fully veiled woman driving in Riyadh
ahead of a planned nationwide day of defiance of the ban on
women driving (YouTube/AFP/File)
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