On Friday, Alicia Keys posted the details about organizing the Women to Women Summit to honor Women’s Day, posting motivational quotes. However, the singer-songwriter’s inspiring message on the position of women in Saudi Arabia was not taken lightly by human rights activists.
This has led to severe backlash and condemning her decision to hold a Summit there. Pharell Williams, the “Happy” singer will be joining Alicia Keys to discuss “how women are pushing the culture forward in Saudi Arabia and around the world.”
I am thrilled to be back on stage, this time in Jeddah, performing in a place I have never performed in before, and in a way I never have in this region,” Keys said. “I’m also so inspired to connect in a meaningful way with the amazing women there to discuss cultural, creative and boundary-pushing narratives we are collectively and individually leading. In light of International Women’s Day, it’s the perfect time to discuss important issues affecting us.
Alicia Keys looks at Lewis as does the entire TeamLH ❤️ pic.twitter.com/iBfvHV0oAT
— Mona (@Monaa_LH44) March 8, 2024
Alicia Keys Faces Backlash Upon Her Decision To Hold A Women’s Summit At The Formula One Grand Prix
Alicia Keys is well-known for her charity and activism, and she has extensive experience in the field. In 2002, she participated in a protest at New York City Hall over projected budget cuts to student education. The Grammy Award winner contributed via donations to Frum Tha Ground Up, which grants scholarships to children and teens, as well as co-founding Keep A Child Alive, which provides medicine, orphan care, and social support to families living with HIV or AIDS in Africa and India.
Her participation in the Women’s Summit at the Formula One Grand Prix may appear normal and simple, but human rights activists, including Peter Tatchell, believe the 43-year-old should avoid performing in a country that “restricts human rights and targets several minority groups to this day.”
Alicia Keys and Pharrell Williams should not be performing in Saudi Arabia. It’s a dictatorship that persecutes women, LGBTs and religious and ethnic minorities. Women are in jail because of the country’s sexist laws. The regime murdered and dismembered the journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
-Peter Tatchell
Tatchell describes Saudi Arabia as a dictatorship that oppresses women, LGBTQA+ people, and other religious and ethnic minorities. He claims that women are still imprisoned today as a result of discriminatory and sexist policies. It is hypocritical for a dictatorship to convene a “Women’s Summit.” Peter Tatchell is appalled by Alicia Keys’ choice to attend and perform at this Summit.
It is total hypocrisy for Saudi Arabia to host Alicia Keys for an International Women’s Day event when the regime jails advocates for women’s equality. I’m shocked that she is colluding with this whitewashing of Saudi misogyny.
-Peter Tatchell
The Women’s Summit will be held at the Formula One Grand Prix, supported by Alicia Keys’ husband, Swizz Beatz, rapper and record producer, with his creative agency Good Intentions, along with international music platform MDLBeast. Alicia Keys and Pharell Williams will be singing together before the main event of the Grand Prix.
I want you to remove any ideas in your mind that you are not going to create the destiny that you believe in for yourself. I want you to remove that from your vocabulary, the word “not” or “can’t” or “won’t”, let’s get rid of that.
-Alicia Keys on Women’s Day
Source: Peter Tatchell
