Spreading Fellow Feeling Among Oft-Discordant Religions [Updated!]
- posted by Jim Leitzel @ 11:31 PM

Ah, Valentine's Day. It has a way of bringing the world together, no? Take the case of hardline Muslims and hardline Hindus. These groups are sometimes not on good terms, to put it mildly. But this time of year they find themselves in accord, in their shared enmity towards celebrations of Valentine's Day. Here's a story on those Saudi religious police, the "Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice," and their efforts to suppress the color red in the days leading up to Valentine's Day. And here's a complementary tale from India, where the Bajrang Dal are one group supplying Hindu anti-V-day vigilantes.

In both India and Saudi Arabia, however, many folks find a way of avoiding the strictures of the virtue promoters.

This is the second year that Vice Squad has been able to note the concurrence between Hindu and Muslim activists on the inadvisability of other people's Valentine's Day celebrations.

Update, Valentine's Day: Another Hindu anti-V-day group, Shiv Sena, has taken to calling Valentine's Day "Prostitution Day."

Labels: India, Saudi Arabia, Valentine's Day

 
What Could Be Next? Not Allowing Women to Drive?
- posted by Jim Leitzel @ 9:35 PM

Saudi Arabia has made it illegal to import, sell, or (apparently) possess camera cell phones. Why? They spread obscenity, of course.

Camera phones in places where people have an expectation of privacy are quite troubling, of course -- they have made a version of the mini cameras of spy-lore widely available -- and hence they frequently are banned in such places. But to make camera cell phones illegal throughout an entire country is, well, a much bigger step. There is hope (and precedent) that the ban will be forgotten:

"First they banned dolls, then they banned stuffed toys and now this. I don't know where all this will stop," said Turki, a 20-year-old student in Riyadh who did not want to give his full name and who owns a cell phone camera he bought locally.

Last December, the Interior Ministry announced a ban on importing dolls and stuffed animals, and gave merchants three months to get rid of them.

Because of their popularity, the ban on camera cell phones could fizzle like a similar crackdown on satellite dish antennas. Several years ago, the government launched a halfhearted campaign to ban satellite dishes to placate ultra-religious factions opposed to Saudis watching foreign television channels that show unveiled women, and more.

Despite the ban, rooftops in every Saudi city are covered with them, and subscriptions to a variety of foreign channels are freely sold.

My stuffed toy comes with its own camera phone.

Labels: obscenity, Saudi Arabia

 
"Suggestions" Not to Celebrate Valentine's Day
- posted by Jim Leitzel @ 1:14 PM

On February 2nd, Vice Squad noted the coercive tactics employed in Pune, India, to discourage celebrations of Valentine's Day. Such tactics are utilized much more widely, however. Reuters reports today on some similar Saudi coercion: "The kingdom, which implements a strict version of Islamic law, bans non-Muslim holidays and its morality police usually conduct raids to ensure shops do not sell gifts or ornaments on New Year, Christmas or Valentine's Day, which is named after a Christian saint."

Labels: Saudi Arabia, Valentine's Day