Category Media

More child marriages, Saudi nurses quit, SG fluff

  • Why my heart hurts and my stomach is turned, too.

    In Riyadh Newspaper today there was a report on a 65 year old man who suffers from Hepatitis B applying for a marriage health certificate to marry an eleven year old girl. The staff at the hospital were shocked not only by the shamelessness of the man but also of the eagerness of the girl’s parents to finish up the paperwork so they can go ahead with the wedding. So they are knowingly subjecting their daughter to not only a pedophile but also a disease.

    Some of the hospital staff apparently strongly disagree with the procedure and want to prevent the marriage but they have no power to. Marriage licenses are granted to hepatitis sufferers only after the healthy partner is aware and agrees but how can you expect adult consent and awareness from an 11 year old?!

    Sickening.

  • Half of Saudi women who enter the nursing profession quit their jobs because a) they don’t understand what it takes to be a nurse, and b) the social stigma and lack of family support. I have a cousin who wanted to become a nurse but her parent didn’t let her because of this reason.
  • Some people accuse me of being too negative, that I focus too much on everything that is wrong with this country and never write about the good things here. But the truth is, you don’t really need me to do that. Why do need to do that when Saudi Gazette runs stuff like this?

Saudi Liberal Forum to Shut Down

The Saudi Liberal Network, one of the biggest local forums, have announced today that the website will be shut down due “extraordinary circumstances and expensive costs.” In a short message posted on their homepage, the owners apologized for the sudden closure.

Earlier today I spoke to one of the forum moderators, who told me the decision to close the website was very difficult. “The owners have come under a huge pressure. They had no choice but to shut it down,” he said. The moderator did not reveal who was behind the pressure, but he said it was from “high above.”

However, this sudden closure could be temporary as we have seen in the past when the forum was closed for 8 months during the year 2008 and then reopened again. The website has also gone under many cyber attacks over the past five years. Such attacks have been a well-known feature of the war between liberal and conservative forums in the country.

My source tells me that the owners are currently looking into passing the ownership to a new group of people who can continue to carry the torch. But until a further announcement, the future of the Saudi Liberal Network remains unknown.

The View of Arab TV, i.zone advertorial in Arab News

  • Why most of women talk shows on Arab TV channels have four hosts? Amal Zahid jokingly says, probably because they accept the notion that one woman is not enough for a man. The reason, of course, is because most of these talk shows are modeled after The View. But I agree with Zahid that my friend Buthaina al-Nassr is more than capable of hosting her own show instead of sharing the table with three other women on Al Hurra. She has already done it with Al Ekhbariya, and I’m sure she can do it again.
  • Dear Arab News, I like you guys, but shame on you for publishing this piece without telling your readers that it is an ad. Seriously, shame on you.

Fake Posters

Moleculo has made these awesome fake posters:

You are invited to Riyadh International Cinema Festival. Live the real experience inside the theater.

Jeddah Metro: Commuting has become smarter.

Dear female citizen: It’s time for you to drive. You can do it.

Your duty as a citizen is to tell us about any unemployed person. Unemployment has been ended, completely.

The Grand Musical Event: the Saudi Opera, led by maestro Fahad ibn al-Balad. Now, at Buraida Opera Theatre.

Noura al-Faiz cut out, Op-Ed writers do interviews

  • So Prince Faisal bin Abdullah, the minister of education, had a meeting with teachers. Present at the meeting were senior officials at the ministry, including Noura al-Faiz. At the end of the meeting, photos were taken. Few days later, the PR department at the ministry published special print materials to mark the occasion. However, there was something wrong with the the cover photo: Noura al-Faiz has been cut out! Prince Faisal said he was unhappy that this happened.
  • Ashraf al-Fagih thinks it is so strange that an op-ed writer like him would do an interview. The writer in question is his fellow columnist in al-Watan daily Mahmoud Sabbagh, who prepared the questions for an interview with an STC executive that was published two weeks ago. I agree with most of what Ashraf says. Most Saudi journalists are unprofessional and lack basic skills. However, I don’t think that opinion writers are exempt from doing journalistic tasks like conducting research and doing interviews. Actually, I believe this must be at the heart of their writing.

Demolish?!

If someone told me this few days ago, I would have thought it was a sick joke. But then I watched the disturbing video and heard it from the horse’s mouth:

Shiekh (?) Yousuf al-Ahmad from Imam Muhammad bin Saud Islamic University in Riyadh has shamelessly called for demolishing of the Grand Mosque in Makkah and rebuilding it in a way that prevents women from mingling with men during tawaf and prayers.

Al-Ahmad argues that in the past nobody had the means to achieve that but now it can easily be done. The Grand Mosque can be completely demolished, he said, and then rebuilt all over again. Al-Ahmad suggests the Grand Mosque can have 10, 20, or even 30 floors, dedicating some of them exclusively to women.

I have nothing to say, really. I think the absurdity of this whole thing speaks for itself. How did we get here? God, have mercy on us.

Can You See the Rest of Us?

Janadriya festival is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year. The King inaugurated yesterday the two-week cultural extravaganza at Janadriya village, 45 km north-east of the capital. The festival will offer a variety of cultural dances, a massive open-air operetta, plays, seminars and more. The festival is organized by the Saudi Arabian National Guard (SANG), and has claimed even more significance since King Abdullah ascended the throne. After all, SANG is King Abdullah’s institution.

Out of the many events that take place during Janadriya, the operetta attracts most of the media’s attention. The operetta features the country’s finest talents in poetry, music, and acting. The King takes a front seat at the show every year, and the event is transmitted live on television.

Tonight Dubai-based MBC will broadcast the operetta, entitled “The Unity of Nation,” and during last week the satellite channel has been showing this promo over and over again:

The official name of Janadriya festival is “The National Culture and Heritage Festival of Saudi Arabia.” Does this promo represent what this festival is all about? Does it really convey the message of this event? I don’t think so.

For starters, apparently no one at MBC has a problem with the mispronunciation of the national anthem’s lyrics. Like it or not, I think this is just plain wrong. Now coming to the desert theme. Not only it is cliche and overused, it’s also a misrepresentation of our country. How many Saudis ride horses these days anyway? I keep telling foreigners that there is much more about Saudi Arabia than desert and camels, and then MBC come and give me this?!

The operetta is entitled “The Unity of Nation,” but I’m afraid that MBC could not see anything in this nation except for Najd. Where are the mountains of Aseer? Where are the palm trees of Ahsa? Where are the beaches of Jeddah and Dammam? Where is Makkah and Madinah? Where is the rest of Saudi Arabia?

Dear MBC, why can’t you see the rest of us?