Talking of 'Wimmin of the Left' and their fear of some groups. Did you know that the Saudis (along with Brunei and Qatar), are still allowed by the Olympic Committee to not send any women to the Olympics?
When black athletes weren't allowed to represent South Africa - this racial apartheid was condemned and South Africa was expelled from the Olympics. All with the vocal backing of the left .... roll forward 60 yrs and there is just a handful of states (all muslim) where women can't compete at the Olympics. Yet despite flouting the Olympic Charter on equality in an a flagrant manner, Saudi Arabia remains an Olympic member of good standing.
So where are the left-wing protests outside the Saudi embassy buildings?
Despite the statement by Saudi Arabia's Olympic Committee head Prince Nawaf bin Faisal that they would "not be endorsing any female participation at the moment" ... complete silence, or rather a few comments by 'human rights watch' ... but not a word from Labours Ed Milliband, nothing from anyone on the left or prominent feminists. The International Olympic Committee is spineless when dealing with the Muslim world and has merely said that "the IOC does not give ultimatums nor deadlines but rather believes that a lot can be achieved through dialogue". But as recently as last month they ran a story on their website that predicted that Saudi Arabia would include women on their team. Oops!
In fact the Saudis have effectively wiped out all women's sport participation inside their country (a fact which alone should exclude them from IOC). Schoolgirls PE is forbidden in state schools, and virtually all of the country's gyms for women were closed by the government two years ago. In fact, all of the country's officially licensed 153 sports clubs are closed to women, and women are prohibited from even attending any sports events.
It seems there are two rules operating here ... weak Afghanistan can be banned under IOC rules for the same offence, Iraq can be banned because of a technical rule about the make-up of their national Olympic committee, but Oil rich Saudi Arabia (along with the two other oil states), is allowed to practise sexual apartheid against its own women and remain in the Olympics .... sheer bloody hypocrisy.
Update: They are now sending two women ....
When black athletes weren't allowed to represent South Africa - this racial apartheid was condemned and South Africa was expelled from the Olympics. All with the vocal backing of the left .... roll forward 60 yrs and there is just a handful of states (all muslim) where women can't compete at the Olympics. Yet despite flouting the Olympic Charter on equality in an a flagrant manner, Saudi Arabia remains an Olympic member of good standing.
So where are the left-wing protests outside the Saudi embassy buildings?
Despite the statement by Saudi Arabia's Olympic Committee head Prince Nawaf bin Faisal that they would "not be endorsing any female participation at the moment" ... complete silence, or rather a few comments by 'human rights watch' ... but not a word from Labours Ed Milliband, nothing from anyone on the left or prominent feminists. The International Olympic Committee is spineless when dealing with the Muslim world and has merely said that "the IOC does not give ultimatums nor deadlines but rather believes that a lot can be achieved through dialogue". But as recently as last month they ran a story on their website that predicted that Saudi Arabia would include women on their team. Oops!
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| Men Only In Saudi Sports |
In fact the Saudis have effectively wiped out all women's sport participation inside their country (a fact which alone should exclude them from IOC). Schoolgirls PE is forbidden in state schools, and virtually all of the country's gyms for women were closed by the government two years ago. In fact, all of the country's officially licensed 153 sports clubs are closed to women, and women are prohibited from even attending any sports events.
It seems there are two rules operating here ... weak Afghanistan can be banned under IOC rules for the same offence, Iraq can be banned because of a technical rule about the make-up of their national Olympic committee, but Oil rich Saudi Arabia (along with the two other oil states), is allowed to practise sexual apartheid against its own women and remain in the Olympics .... sheer bloody hypocrisy.
Update: They are now sending two women ....
