Fatima Muhammad
Saudi Gazette
JEDDAH — Saudis on social media expressed mixed reaction to the action of two conservative men who entered the Jeddah Book Fair on Saturday and attempted to stop a female poet from reading out her poem in a public seminar.
A video of the incident has gone viral on social media. The video shows one of the men objecting to the poetess, saying what is going on in the book fair is against the Saudi tradition.
He also tells the person filming him that he does not bother being filmed.
Organizers guided the person out of the hall as he kept on raising objection against the presence of women “who speak in front of men,” and asking the audience whether they approve this. To his surprise a number of voices exclaimed, “Yes we approve of it.”
Ashjan Al-Hinaidi, the female poet, continued with her reading regardless of the verbal attack.
Al-Hinaidi, who had received an official invitation from the organizers of the book fair, said that though she has the right to lodge a complaint against these conservatives yet she preferred not to do so.
However, a hashtag on Twitter was devoted to thank the conservatives for their “brave reaction” at the book fair.
But another hashtag was trending under the title (yes we accept) in response to the objection of the conservatives.
Participants in this hashtag agreed that women can speak in public places and that the conservatives should not have interfered, especially that they are not representing a government body.
Wahid Al-Ghamdi, an author, wrote on his Twitter account, addressing the conservatives: “Your voice is no more the only".
