WATCH: No Woman, No Drive

After a weekend that saw many women of Saudi Arabia take to the wheel and then to YouTube to defy the Kingdom’s driving ban, it was actually a male Saudi comedian whose video ‘No Woman, No Drive’ got the biggest social response…

The video – which has now gone viral with over seven million views on the original upload since Saturday – depicts 26-year-old comedian Hisham Fageeh singing Bob Marley’s classic ‘No Woman, No Cry’ – but with his own special lyrical twist that targets the topical driving ban.

The satirical version of Marley’s hit includes such lyrical gems as ‘ovaries all safe and well, so you can make lots and lots of babies,’ which is said to be in response to Sheik Salah al-Luhaydan – a cleric who opposed women driving by saying they could damage their ovaries and therefore risk birthing babies with defects.

Although questionable whether Fageeh’s video is meant to support or oppose women drivers in Saudi Arabia, some of the women who defied the ban have shared it, seeming to imply that they deem it complimentary to their cause.

When asked by the BBC to speak out on this topic, Fageeh would not comment and simply stated instead: “My philosophy is that you do something you think is funny and hope that other people enjoy it. I’m not aiming to do anything political, just to entertain”. Well, the video certainly does that!

Watch the recently uploaded version of the video* here:

*(This video only has a few thousand hits as the original has been removed.)

By Chelsea Forsyth