Marina Jaber, the woman who defies Arab bans. And she only rides a bicycle (photo)

REVOLUTION ON A BICYCLE

Marina Jaber , a 26-year-old painter, is a revolutionary on a bicycle . Her gesture, in itself, displaces the laws of stupidity, oppression, and war. It is the symbol of civil disobedience by a courageous woman who has decided not to waste any of her life . She challenges the narrow-mindedness of the Arab and Muslim world, where women are often considered inferior to men, with a genuine provocation: riding a bicycle, something forbidden to women in countries like Iraq and Iran . So much so that, according to the Iranian ayatollahs, a woman who uses a bicycle to get around is actually trespassing into the darkness of corruption and even prostitution.

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MARINA JABER

Jaber, here's the revolutionary gesture: she doesn't care about these constraints, and she rides her bike through the streets of Baghdad as if she were in any other Western city. She goes shopping, visits friends, comes and goes to her office. All by bike . So, one ride at a time, one pedal stroke after another, she began, and never stopped, to do what no woman in her city dared to do. And to think that, as Dina al-Shibeeb recounts in Al Arabiya , to continue riding her bike she even had to go against her family , traditionalists like many others. In fact, the use of two wheels, in these countries, is permitted up to the age of 12 : from that moment on, it is strictly forbidden because of the so-called "saddle taboo ," which, according to an old belief, could even take away one's virginity.

PEDAL AGAINST PREJUDICES

Her revolution began gradually . At first, she began cycling in the more "modern" neighborhoods, like Mansour and Abu Nuwas , documenting her "endeavor" with photos on social media , accompanied by an Arabic slogan: "I am society." In the following weeks, against all expectations, her Instagram profile exploded with followers, reaching 30. "We paint ourselves as victims of society, but we ourselves accept what is imposed on us," Marina declared in a recent interview. "So what is society? I am society ." In this way, with a seemingly banal gesture, she managed to overturn the useless sense of victimhood that often pervades different strata of society around the world. This young twenty-six-year-old, in fact, is convinced that the rebellion starts with her because she is the first to censor herself. Her revolution obviously doesn't have an easy life: in the more traditional neighborhoods, like Shora , they push her off, deflate her tires, and insult her. But she isn't discouraged and keeps pedaling.

The photos are taken from Marina Jaber 's Facebook page

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