The accident that happened in Saudi Arabia has led to discussions on the organization, besides the grief it has caused. Organizing and positioning close to 2 million people from different cultures and one hundred different geographies who share the same belief, who are in the same place for the same reason, isn't as easy as it seems. Herein, I believe that Saudi authorities have done the best they could in organizing the hajj (in the case of such diversity.) When examining the reasons for the accident, the culture of religion and differences should be looked into, aside from just interrogating the organization.
In the coming December, a historical moment will take place as women in the Saudi Arabia Kingdom will be given the right to vote for the first time and will be eligible to run for candidacy in the local elections. As a person who closely follows social-political changes and history through women, I am waiting for the elections and am just as excited as the Saudi women. The candidates, election campaigns and managers of these female politicians have already started to run. There are important questions, although they may seem petty for us that need answering. How will these campaigns run? Will female photos be used in the campaigns? How will they enroll, managing the campaigns and costs, and how the female candidates will reach their male voters are some of the issues that will arise for the Saudi women. Despite all the problems that will arise, we will be hearing the voices of the Saudi women, and this will be an important step for all the democracies in the Gulf. We support the fair representation of women in society. I hope they overcome all the obstacles they come across.
Just recently an article named “An Imprisoned Nationalist Reads Benedict Anderson” written by Nick Danforth on a blog caught my attention. The article wrote that Abdullah Öcalan was affected by Benedict Anderson's ideas. According to the article, Anderson argues that nations are real instead they are social formations. He is known for his book “Imagined Communities.” According to the author; “Many Kurds that sympathize with Öcalan understood that his rhetoric and economic development are just as dangerous as the dangers of capitalism. They want to live a better life and speak their language, no matter how much support they receive from the government.
Currently, a great majority of the Kurds accept a solution-oriented great autonomy and freedom in Turkey instead of founding a nation state. Otherwise, Turkey's economic boom and most of the Kurds living in and owning businesses in Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir will cause problems in the case of drawing new borders. Years ago, the Turks and Kurds ditching the problematic nation- state model had many different reasons. Yet, Benedict Anderson deserves the credit for ensuring the cooperation of the main actors...”
This article came to my mind while listening to discussions on the Kurds, thus I wanted to note them down.
