No Women. No Play. Concert in Washington DC

By: Maryam Khan

No Women. No Play. is holding a concert in DuPont Circle on July 31st from 2:00 pm to 6:00 pm, in effort to raise awareness concerning women’s rights violations in Saudi Arabia. This campaign is regarding the Olympic Games as Saudi Arabia is the only country in the world that prohibits women from participating in the Olympics or any athletic event. The Institute for Gulf Affairs, hopes to gain support to pressure the International Olympic Committee and ban Saudi Arabia from participating in the 2012 Olympics due to this discrimination. The logic is simple, if the women cannot play, than the men should not be able to as well. The official Charter of the Olympic Committee states that a country may not prohibit anyone from participating in the Games on the basis of race, religion, or gender. This events goal is to further expose this issue and give the women of Saudi Arabia the opportunity they deserve to play in the Olympic Games.

Musicians, performers and speakers will come together to help raise awareness.

Some confirmed speakers and performers are —

Marcella Jones, two-time 1st place winner of Syracuse University’s Talent Competition

Yvette Benjamin (aka Free), Freelance singer/songwriter of soul and down-tempo music

Erin Matson, NOW Action Vice President

Besama Adriana Alghussein, Palestinian-American women’s rights activist

For more information about the event, visit: http://www.gulfinstitute.org