Author Archives: Ahmed

On Zee TeeVee

If everything goes as planned, I should be on TV tonight sometime around 9:30 (6:30 PM GMT). Naif Abu-Saida has invited me to talk about blogging in the IT segment of the daily magazine show Min Al-Riyadh (From Riyadh) on Al-Yaum channel, a part of Orbit network. Since many people, myself included, don’t have a subscription to Orbit in their houses, it would be nice if someone (wink wink!) who has could recored the interview and upload it to YouTube.

I’m definitely not the first blogger to appear on the show: Herbaz and Milyani have done it before, and Naif himself is a fellow blogger, though his blog is strictly poetic. I’m nervous about this, but I guess it is understandable that live TV can be intimidating. Wish me luck.

UPDATE: Just left Orbit studios. I don’t know about the interview, I think I have had a hard time trying to put my ideas in sequence, but hey, it’s my first time. If you have watched it, please let me know what you think.

Who Else Wants a Good Textbook?

Secularism on the ethical side means chaos and mocking religion and virtue (…) Democracy is the political expression of secularism i.e. secularism is the origin and democracy is its branch in the political domain (…) The democratic system contradicts in its origin and essence the Islamic system

One of the courses I’m taking this semester is 104 SLM aka Political System in Islam. The textbook of this course has been revised several times over the years, and the latest edition in our hands today was authored by no less than six faculty members of the Islamic Studies department at KSU. Unfortunately, however, when start reading it, it falls miserably short as you would think this is some political party manifesto, not a textbook that is supposed to be fair and unbiased. The mentioned above quotes are just few examples of the gems that fill the textbook of choice for a mandatory course that all students in KSU, males and females, must pass in order to graduate. So much for raising political awareness in the youth.

Boom

While preparing to write one of the previous posts I had come across many images of the new projects under development in Saudi Arabia. I collected these images in this Ikbis album for your viewing pleasure. If one picture worth a thousand words, and if these pictures are any indication, then we are actually experiencing a new boom. Let’s just hope to come out of it with minimum damage.

Whatever Happened to Balanced Development

I watched Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum on television announcing the new national strategy for the United Arab Emirates last week. He was confident and direct, and not afraid to say the truth no matter how painful or embarrassing it could be. The way he talked about the ministry of justice for example was just unbelievable.

Few months ago, Mohammed bin Rashid, a true visionary, has locked the members of his new cabinet in a fancy resort in Dubai and told them they won’t leave the place until they come up with a clear strategy of the country for the coming years. Obviously, after making Dubai the miracle that it is today, he now wants to take the rest of the emirate with him to the future. Is there any doubt he would do it? I, for one, have no doubt. All the best to our brothers in the UAE.

Now moving to our magic kingdom, I guess I wasn’t the only one to be disappointed that the king’s speech to the Shoura Council carried no major announcements. The major news came later last week was launching a number of new projects worth US$31.5 bn in Riyadh. Amazing. That was my immediate reaction while watching the presentations on television. However, this also made me wonder about the “balanced development” agenda that many people were hailing the government for promoting last year.

Just last year, the media was abuzz with the news about the King’s visits to different corners of the country to launch new megaprojects in regions that were admittedly neglected and underdeveloped, including six economic cities that are expected to change the face of Saudi Arabia.

But probably our Najdi brothers got jealous seeing other parts of the country getting a little share of the development cake and decided to do something about it. I bet the rest do not envy the central region; I bet they are genuinely happy for their counterparts there; and I bet this leaves them wondering: was balanced development a true promise or merely a temporary slogan?

Al-Yamamh Girls are Blogging

Mrs. Lobat Asadi who teaches English at Al-Yamamah College in Riyadh has sent me a link to her project website that is used as a part of the course she is giving there. I know this practice might be common elsewhere, but I think this is interesting because I’ve never come across anything like this happening here in Saudi Arabia. Mrs. Asadi also provides links (check out the left sidebar) to blogs by her students. She thinks many people will enjoy reading the thoughts of these young Saudi women, and that “they are much more intelligent than people give them credit for.” I agree with her that many people underestimate the capabilities of our women, and I’m glad that blogs are offering opportunities to change the conventional thoughts.

Ray of Hope

Following my latest post, Khaled has written that although we have plenty of good blogs, we are still far behind our counterparts in countries like Egypt and Kuwait when it comes to using blogs as tools for stimulating political and social change. I agree with him, but I think this is not surprising, and I have written about it on previous occasions.

There are, imho, two main reasons behind this. First, the process of making decision in our country has always been restricted to an exclusive circle. Normal people hardly have any history of political participation, and our first, and only so far, democratic experience took place two years ago when we voted to elect half the members of municipal councils that we yet to see their effect on improving the quality of our everyday life. Second, I think that we as a society, as I perviously wrote here, lack the concept of collective action, even in fields that might be considered much less sensitive and dangerous than politics.

However, this is changing. The past few years have witnessed a notable increase in political awareness, and thanks to the revolution of communication and new media, people now have greater access to information and more outlets for free expression, and they are more willing to voice their opinions and discuss issues that used to be taboos. Just look at our blogosphere today and you would see a new rising generation of young tech- and political-savvy Saudis who consider reforming their country a noble cause that is worth fighting for and should not be let go, and are more than determined to make the change they dream of a reality everyone can touch. They are the hope of this nation, and we cannot afford to lose this hope.