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Quote by Manal al-Sharif

Work

Daring to Drive: A Saudi Woman's Awakening

This book is a personal account of a Saudi woman's life and her struggle for freedom and autonomy, focusing on the symbolic act of driving. It details her experiences growing up in a conservative environment, the challenges she faced, and her eventual decision to defy the ban on female drivers. The narrative explores themes of courage, resilience, and the broader fight for women's rights in Saudi Arabia, offering insight into the cultural and legal barriers that women encounter. more

Author

Manal al-Sharif
Manal al-Sharif

Manal al-Sharif is a prominent Saudi Arabian activist known for her advocacy for women's rights, particularly the right to drive. Born on April 25, 1979, she became internationally recognized after being arrested for driving in 2011, an act that was illegal for women in Saudi Arabia at the time. Al-Sharif's activism has been pivotal in the ongoing campaign to end the ban on women driving in the country. more

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“If you personally advocate that I be caged if I don't pay for whatever "government" things YOU want, please don't pretend to be tolerant, or non-violent, or enlightened, or compassionate. Don't pretend you believe in "live and let live," and don't pretend you want peace, freedom or harmony. It's a simple truism that the only people in the world who are willing to "live and let live" are voluntaryists. So you can either PRETEND to care about and respect your fellow man while continuing to advocate widespread authoritarian violence, or you can embrace the concepts of self-ownership and peaceful coexistence, and become an anarchist.”

“The degree of personal freedom that exists in a society is determined more by the economic and technological structure of the society than by its laws or its form of government. Most of the Indian nations of New England were monarchies, and many of the cities of the Italian Renaissance were controlled by dictators. But in reading about these societies one gets the impression that they allowed far more personal freedom than our society does. In part this was because they lacked efficient mechanisms for enforcing the ruler’s will: There were no modern, well-organised police forces, no rapid long-distance communications, no surveillance cameras, no dossiers of information about the lives of average citizens. Hence it was relatively easy to evade control.”