On September 19, 2011, the website, EthicalOil.org, posted an item about an attempt by the government of Saudi Arabia to prevent the airing of a television ad the organization prepared and has run.
Ethical Oil's Television Ad
The spot begins by showing a picture of a young woman with two strips of masking tape across her mouth. Other pictures, of Saudi Arabia, follow.
The voiceover, done by a woman, begins by saying that Canada buys more than 400 million barrels of oil from Saudi Arabia each year. She then goes on to list some of the human rights violations against women that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia engages in.
The ad points out that women in Saudi Arabia are not allowed to drive and there have been five recent arrests of women found behind the wheel. And women are not allowed to work or even leave their homes unless the have permission from their "male guardians." In Saudi Arabian courts, a woman's evidence is worth only one half that of a man's.
The brief ad concludes by saying that Canadians should not help fund this oppression of women in the Middle Eastern country. The commercial requests that "Ethical Oil" from Alberta's oil sands should be purchased and used rather than the oil imported from Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Arabia Hires Lawyers in Attempt to Stop Ad
On September 6, 2011, Ethical Oil was advised by Telecaster Services, a branch of the Television Bureau of Canada, that Telecaster received a cease and desist order from a large law firm retained by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The order "demands" that the television ad be withdrawn from the airwaves.
According to Ethical Oil, the organization made several requests to the lawyers to send the the documents that were forwarded to Telecaster Services. The lawyers have so far refused to provide the documentation to them.
On August 18, 2011, the ad was cleared to run by Telecaster Services. Since the clearance was given, the spot has run on the Oprah Winfrey Network (Canada).
Replying to Saudi Arabia's attempt to censor what can appear on Canadian television, Alykhan Velshi, the director of Ethical Oil, said, "This is a brazen act of domestic political interference by a foreign dictatorship that neither understands nor respects the rights of women or freedom of speech."
Steps Ethical Oil is Taking
After receiving notification of the cease and desist order, Ethical Oil decided to broadcast the spot again. Beginning on September 19, 2011, the ad will appear on the Sun News Network.
Velshi has written to Saudi Arabia's Ambassador to Canada. He challenged the ambassador to a televised debate about the contents of the ad.
The director has also written to John Baird, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, and to Dean Allison, the Chairman of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade. Velshi is asking for an investigation into the attempts by a foreign government to decide what Canadians can and cannot watch on their television sets.
EthicalOil.org
Ethical Oil was created in try to persuade individuals, companies, and governments to purchase "Ethical Oil" as opposed to "Conflict Oil." Ethical Oil is oil produced in democratic countries such as Canada that respect both the rule of law and human rights. Conflict Oil is oil produced and sold by countries such as dictatorships that have poor human rights records. Purchasing Conflict Oil helps fund the oppression of people such as political opponents, women and gays and lesbians. In some cases, money made from selling oil funds terrorism.
The organization was founded to help counter groups such as Greenpeace that oppose Canada's production of oil in the Alberta oil sands.
Arthur Weinreb - Weinreb is an author, associate editor and columnist with Canada Free Press and the Canadian Affairs Feature Writer for Suite 101.
Join the Conversation