I thought this was a really powerful read that covered a lot of interesting and important points.  As an expat it's far too easy to slip into the lazy habit of judging (and damning) everything that infuriates you about your adopted home.  You gradually develop a sense that you somehow have a right to judge, as if you were ever invited to be there and share your opinion in the first place.  My standard response to that is similar to the old lady in this story: if you don't like it, stop causing problems and go home.  

But what about when, as in this case, it's a real and legitimate concern?  Don't we have an obligation to speak and effect some change in whatever small way?  This reminds me of the long and winding discussions in my final year political theory seminars, Cosmopolitanism vs Communitarianism, and other elaborate ways of spending 4 years of tuition fees.  But as Sarah writes here, this is basically "idealism married to imperialism" which has a pretty dangerous logical conclusion, as the history of colonialism demonstrates.

I liked Sarah's conclusion: as plain travellers (or expats) we don't have a natural right to just stick our nose in. Much better to spend enough time that you can learn the language, actually understand the culture and build relationships with local movements to make a constructive contribution:  "I have begun fighting for womens rights in ways that look very different from a girl shouting at a man on the street: translating at conferences of women human rights defenders, writing petitions for womens rights causes."