G20 Protest to End Gender Aaprtheid in Saudi Arabia and Free Nathalie Morin and her Children
On June 26, 2010, The Nathalie Morin Support committee and Muslims for Progressive Values Ottawa held a protest outside the Saudi Embassy in Ottawa seeking the return of twenty six year old Canadian Nathalie Morin and her three children and an end to gender apartheid in that country. The young Canadian and her small children have been severely abused and neglected by her commonlaw husband, Saeed Al-Sharahni and/or his family and the Canadian government has not obtained their return to Canada nor ensured their safety in Saudi Arabia. Ms. Morin is unable to leave the country as the male guardianship system of Saudi Arabia, does not permit women to leave in the absence of their husband's permission nor does it permit women custody of their children upon separation and divorce unless by consent of the father, even in cases of abuse. Gulf War I Veteran Mark Brousseau, relinquished his Kuwait Liberation Medal, awarded to him by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, along with all other troops on the three navy ships Canada sent to the Gulf in the first Gulf War, in opposition to the male guardianship system and in support of Canadian Nazia Quazi, who is now safely out of that country. Mr. Brousseau indicates that his comrade Michael Larocque of Nova Scotia shall be relinquishing his Kuwaiti Liberation Medal in favor of Ms. Morin and her children. They have set up a website to encourage other gulf war I vets to do the same. Please check out our site at www.mpvottawa.com for more information. A simultaneous protest was held in Washington DC as well. A clip of the protest can be seen on youtube a thttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_VX1wHlAXQE
Shahla Khan Salter, Chair, Muslims for Progressive Values Ottawa.
Hi Shahla, welcome to babble! Thanks so much for posting this!
I wish I could attend.
Please keep us up to date on Nathalie Morin's plight, Shahla. And can you explain other specific issues in which Muslims for Progressive Values have intervened to demonstrate those values?
Oh, and moving to activism.
I think, mod, that Shahla left another interesting posting by an activist up in Introductions. Did it get moved to feminism forum?
Perhaps a note could be left in introductions to tell her what is happenings with her postings? She may be, unlike some of us, so busy that she cannot track them down and so give up on us.
"Ms. Morin is unable to leave the country as the male guardianship system of Saudi Arabia, does not permit women to leave in the absence of their husband's permission nor does it permit women custody of their children upon separation and divorce unless by consent of the father, even in cases of abuse."
"Even in cases of abuse"? I find this a bit hard to believe.
Anyway, last I heard is that the sycophants at the Muslim Canadian Congress have the ear of both the Harper and McGuinty governments. Upon the MCC's request more than one Muslim clerics were swiftly banned from entering Canada. Upon the MCC's request Sharia mediation was banned in Ontario. Perhaps the MCC could use its "influence" on both levels of governments to convince them to care about Ms. Morin's plight.
I forgot. Neither governments give a fig about women here or there. Just islamophobes, racists, who want to stick it to Muslins and found the MCC as an idotic willing tool.
Now, could you tell me if there is a difference -in this particular case- between Saudi Arabia and Canada? Would it be more useful to spend energy on demonstrating and denouncing the Harper government instead of the Saudi Arabian Embassy?
MCC didn't ban faith based family law arbitration - the Mcguinty government did after MCC and another Muslim womens organization called CCMW - The Canadian Council of Muslim women got involved and demanded it with the help of the Womens Liberal Caucus of Ontario. MCC does know about this case I believe. It would be great if they worked to help Ms. Morin as well as they appear to have many of the same values and principles as MPV. Regarding denouncement of the Harper government, The Nathalie Morin Support Committee has a standing committee in Parliament which has communicated directly to demand Morins return with her children from the Parliamentary Secretary to the Dept of Foreign Affairs Deepak Obhrai who spoke at the Committee's last public hearing. And recently two out of three opposition leaders (not Ignatieff) invited Harper to put this issue on the G20 Agenda. But the Conservative government's party line in this case and in the case of Nazia Quazi who was stuck in Saudi until last month is - this is a private matter and Canada cannot interfere in Saudi law. On the other hand, the CCLA - the Canadian Civil Liberties Association disagrees and has sent a letter to the Harper government indicating it can demand the return of Nathalie Morin and her children under international law, but its demand as well is falling on deaf ears insofar as the authorities, both Canadian and Saudi are concerned. Public outrage is our only option it appears at this point. And I'll keep posts in the Walking the Talk section. Thanks.
Thank you Shahla. I am well aware of what took place in regards to Sharia mediation and who are the main and the auxiliary actors.
I have quoted you in my previous post saying: "nor does (Saudi Arabia) permit women custody of their children upon separation and divorce unless by consent of the father, even in cases of abuse." I do not think this is true, and if it is it would have been fair of you to indicate that such practice is un-islamic. Islam does not condone abuse and you know it.
We surely can carry out our struggles for change, reform or whatever without smearing and playing the tunes islamophobes and racists want to hear. Let us leave that to the MCC .
I know the MCC is aware about Ms. Morin's case. I also know that to advocate for Ms. Morin's case would be a helpful and positive undertaking and that is not something the MCC would do. Their "specialty" is to call for Muslims to be screwed and both levels of governments promptly oblige.
Now, if we start a rumour (unfounded, of course) that Ms Morin is an islamist and Canada should demand her rapatriation to be tried here in Canada, you will see how fast the MCC is going to act , how hard it is going to be lobbying and the Harper government will oblige. Once the women is in Canada, we will say it was just a trick to have the sycophant serviles of the MCC do something positive once in the MCC's life time.
Mahmud, domestic abuse is un Islamic. You are right. But in Saudi Arabia men who are abusive are not arrested and tried as they are here in Canada and only in extreme cases of abuse are they ever removed as guardians. Human Rights Watch has documentation of a Saudi case in which a woman was molested from the time she was four years old continuing into adulthood. Her guardian was removed after years of trials and appeals. There are judges in Saudi Arabia who become the guardians to women in such cases because they feel sorry for them and there is no one else. This is not Islam. This is a twisted version of Islam in Saudi Arabia. We have a duty to help Muslims and non Muslims who are being harmed by laws created falsely in the name of Islam and to try and change those laws. Will you help us? Send me your email address at khansalter@rogers.com and tell me where you are and what you can do. Allah swt loves us all - Muslims, non Muslims, all faiths, all colours, all classes, all orientations. Take care.
I have quoted you in my previous post saying: "nor does (Saudi Arabia) permit women custody of their children upon separation and divorce unless by consent of the father, even in cases of abuse." I do not think this is true, and if it is it would have been fair of you to indicate that such practice is un-islamic. Islam does not condone abuse and you know it.
Why the hostility? Shahla seems well aware that Islam does not condone abuse, as she self-identifies as a progressive Muslim.
She also did not imply that Saudi Arabia's laws are Islamic (although the rulers there may claim that they are). Being a committed atheist, I don't care at all what reasoning they may give to "justify" their horrendous treatment of women. The quoted law doesn't seem to surprise me, as women have no human rights in Saudi Arabia. It also doesn't surprise me that the Harper government is doing nothing to help this woman, while shaking the Saudi leader's hand and smiling at him during the G20.
Ghislaine,
I must have failed to adequately express myself.
For the purpose of preventing Shahla and her Committee from contracting the MCC syndrome and consequently lose credibility amongst progressives and less progressives, Muslims and non-Muslims, I invited Shahla to be more diligent so that her and her Committee would not appear to be yet another of those islam bashing businesses that have been mushrooming since the (US right wing "think tank") Rand Institute report and recommendations to "reform" Islam.
Yes, Shahla is well aware that Islam does not condone abuses. Not explicitly mentioning it leads to the understanding that Islam does condone it. Most people in the West think Saudi Arabia is representative of and interchangeable with of Islam.
If any hostility I harbor it is against Tarek Fatah and his MCC's despicable attitudes and rhetoric. Because progressives do not want to dance to his tunes, the Canadian left, he argues, is infiltrated and manipulated by islamists. No wonder the guy hasn't shown up on Babble for years now! But he does show up on the National Post and about every right wing, islamophobic racist media outlet.