Current Events | The Gad About Town

Protest Is Not Polite

Posted on June 25, 2015 by Mark Aldrich

Oh, the media is ridiculing Jennicet Gutiérrez, an activist and protester that President Obama shushed during an event last night. That is, if and when they bother to use her name or discuss things like issues.

Few are reporting what Ms. Gutiérrez was speaking about. That must change. I will try to do my part with this column. The issues she spoke about at the event deserve attention and, more important, action now. There is a community that is suffering terrible harm right now as I type this simply because its members are different and are seeking a new life in a new country that they hoped would be safer for them.

The President handled the protest that she launched into—alone, with no support from anyone—during a dinner last night at the White House in an almost tolerant/amusingly annoyed way, which is fine, I suppose, but not many are reporting what the event was: the White House was publicly hosting a Pride Month event, which is a sentence that I never thought that I would ever be able to type. This makes me happy.
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Three Years in Prison for Blogging

Posted on June 17, 2015 by Mark Aldrich

Today is the third anniversary of Raif Badawi’s arrest and the beginning of his imprisonment in a Saudi Arabian jail. One thousand one hundred and nineteen days since he was taken from his wife, seen in the photo above, and their children. Many protests are planned for today at embassies around the world; English PEN delivered a letter to 10 Downing St. today demanding official help in securing his immediate release. It was accepted but not by PM Cameron.

The immigration minister of Québéc, where his wife and children live, granted him a special immigration certificate a few days ago, which is remarkable and kind and, should he be released, needed. Declaring him welcome will not pry him from prison, and Saudi Arabia has already officially complained about Québécois “meddling,” however.

Raif Badawi’s story has earned more and more media interest in the last week. First, the fears expressed in this space (“A Sense of Injustice“) and elsewhere that the flogging that was suspended in January would be resumed came to naught, even though the supreme court reaffirmed his sentence last week. He was not flogged last Friday. Official reasons were not given, yet official and ominous statements of outrage at the global effort on Raif Badawi’s behalf continued to be released.
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