Slavery unveiled

I'm not normally a fan of either Obama. You can probably guess from reading my blog that I would have voted for the other guy.

BUT I am so pleased with Michelle Obama for not wearing a veil recently in Saudi Arabia. Yes, I know about the importance of local customs and diplomacy, but sometimes a statement needs to be made. Saudi Arabia is a place of modern-day slavery, and its imprisonment of women is one of the most glaring manifestations of that. It is entirely appropriate for someone of Michelle's heritage and past to make a statement that she won't go along with an outward symbol of that slavery.

In the USA, we tend to think of Saudi Arabia as a place full of rich Arab, Muslim men because that's all we ever see on TV or in magazines. (Ironic that they won't show female hair out of some claim to holiness while Saudi males are burning up the internet and their satellite dishes downloading naughty stuff. Remember what they found on Osama bin Laden's computers after his death?) While it's certainly run by such, other people live there, too.

Obviously, there is the entire female population, which is trapped within walking distance of their homes unless a male drives them--and, yes, that includes situations of life and death--and forced to swaddle themselves in the Arabian heat lest they become too worldly. The "religious police" take that dress code so seriously that they forced girls to burn to death in a fire rather than be unveiled in public.

Then there is the enslavement of migrant workers by the Arabs, who are extremely racist. A friend who worked in Kuwait said that the Embassy of the Philippines there had cots in its hallways to take in Filipina migrant workers being raped and/or abused by their Kuwaiti employers, a common problem throughout the region.

Freedom of religion--not remotely, not even for other Muslims. Freedom of movement--only for male Saudi citizens. Equal treatment before the law--what law? Seriously, there is no uniform penal code.

If it weren't for Saudi Arabia's oil, the civilized world would shun it. Despite the newness of fracking as a technology and the understandable hesitancy of environmentalists to embrace it, I am very pleased that it has helped weakened the power of the Arab countries over the USA. Now if only we could get thorium reactors online....