Saudi Arabia is suffering setbacks, in its war in Yemen, the oil price collapse and the COVID-19 pandemic, reports Rupen Savoulian.
Saudi Arabia
Protesters gathered outside the Sydney office of the Australian arms manufacturer EOS (Electro Optic Systems) on February 21 to oppose the sale of high-tech military equipment to Saudi Arabia, which is waging a genocidal war against the people of Yemen.
An air strike by the US-backed Saudi-led coalition on a hotel near the Yemeni capital Sanaa killed dozens of people on August 23, multiple news agencies have reported. It came as a humanitarian crisis extended its grip on the impoverished nation.
We condemn the terror attacks in London and Manchester, but we also need to call out the cynical and dangerous response from those in charge who have one solution — more of the same.
British Conservative Prime Minister Theresa May and US President Donald Trump are using these tragedies to ramp up Islamophobia, expand police powers, weaken civil liberties and strengthen the “war on terror” — the same policies that have failed to stop individuals from carrying out terror attacks.
Ms Saffaa is a Saudi artist currently studying in Australia. As part of her practice, she creates murals championing the freedom of women in Saudi Arabia — in particular drawing attention to the prohibitive “guardianship” laws.
Under these laws, women must be accompanied by a male “guardian” to do many every day activities — laws the Saudi regime slightly relaxed last month in a sign of pressure from campaigners.
Via Twitter, Saffaa’s work was taken up by a grassroots movement in Saudi Arabia and is now synonymous with the struggle to end these laws.
The pro-democracy movement in Bahrain has been severely weakened by the brutal wave of repression that began on March 15.
Attempts to reignite pro-democracy protests have been broken up by government security forces and strikes have been called off.
Troops from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates entered Bahrain on March 14 to help the Bahraini government “restore order” by attacking thousands of pro-democracy protesters.
