Saudi Arabia is one of the worst places on earth to be a blogger. Or a woman. Or a lawyer. Or a human rights activist. Or just someone looking for a job.
Sometimes, it is not even a good place to be a Saudi.
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The title comes from a well known national song here. It can be translated as: this country is like no other.
When you live here long enough, you become so accustomed to the absurdities of life in the magic kingdom that nothing can surprise you anymore, and you can come across the oddest of news stories without a flinch. Some recent examples…
Saudi Gazette says that the Ministry of Islamic Affairs (MIA) has held a closed door meeting in Riyadh for “interpreters of dreams and visions.” As if it is not enough that our government has been trying to tell you who you can (or can’t) marry, now they are trying to tell you how you should interpret your dreams.
We have no constitution or written laws; our human rights record is dismal and corruption is becoming a common practice in the public sector, yet here is our government holding a closed door meeting to help us interpret our dreams. How about helping people to actually make their dreams come true? Oh, sorry, I guess that’s not on your busy agenda.
Speaking of dreams, a paper presented at the Saudi Travel and Tourism Investment Market held in Riyadh said the country’s expanding tourism sector will provide 900,000 new jobs for young Saudi men and women by 2020. No disrespect to the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities (SCTA), but this seriously wild dream calls for some extensive interpretation by the MIA people mentioned above.
What tourism are they talking about?
I have a suggestion for SCTA. Before embarking on your unrealistically huge ambition of making Saudi Arabia a tourist destination and invite millions to come, you, as well as many other government departments, may want to try make life more tolerable for those of us living here. I’m not talking about the enormous megaprojects you like to brag about so often (economic cities, techno valley, blah blah blah).
What I’m talking about is much more simple. Basics, really. People should able to meet freely in public without fear of being prosecuted. Organizing cultural and artistic events should not be a state security matter. Also, have you ever heard of public transportation? Yeah, we don’t have this.
A group of reform activists has published an open letter to King Abdullah, asking him to ensure public and fair trials for alleged terrorists and demanding other judicial and political reforms. The group, called “Advocates of Constitutional Reforms, Civic Society and Human Rights” (ACRCSHR), is currently trying to collect signatures from the public. So far, 37 persons have signed the letter.
Supporting the alleged terrorists’ right to a public, fair trial is a noble call, but I wonder if associating other reform demands with this call is a good strategy. I heard many reformists accuse the government of practicing political opportunism when they deal with different groups in the country, but isn’t this kind of association similar to these practices?
One activist said the letter signals the end of a stage that witnessed a cautious flirtation between the king and the reformists. The letter boasts a strong language, but is it going to make any difference? Some people think that the era of statements and open letters is over.
If I sound skeptical, it is because I am. The glacial pace of progress the country has made over the past few years is not exactly a good reason to get all excited over anything. What many leaders in the government and outside it don’t seem to realize is that more and more young people are being left frustrated and now are considering leaving the country to pursue their dreams away from here.
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The Onaiza girl case is back to make headlines after the court there upheld its earlier verdict. Judge Habib Al-Habib’s original stipulated that the girl must reach the age of puberty before determining whether she would continue her marriage solemnized in June 2007. A relative of the girl told CNN that the judge “insisted that the girl could petition the court for a divorce once she reached puberty.” The Court of Cassation had rejected the previous verdict and demanded that the case be reconsidered. But in Saturday’s hearing the judge stuck to his earlier verdict, after he failed to convince the husband to nullify the marriage contract in lieu of returning the dowry he paid.
I don’t understand the position of the judge. So he wanted the husband to nullify the marriage, but when the husband refused, he decided to stick to his earlier bizarre verdict? Anyways, I’m not surprised, especially when we remember that the Grand Mufti himself sees nothing wrong in marrying off girls who are 15 and younger. Sources told Saudi Gazette that if the elderly husband continues to refuse and the judge sticks to his verdict, the Court of Cassation will hand over the case to another judge. Let’s wait and see…
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Apologies for the hiatus. I was planning to write a long wrap-up post about the G20 Summit, but the week after my London trip was hectic and it’s too late now. Instead, I will link to some of what my fellow bloggers wrote.
The only thing that I want to add here is regarding the Saudi contribution to the IMF. I attended the press conference of British PM Gordon Brown where BBC Arabic asked him about this and he totally ignored the question. Later on the same day, I had a chance to ask the same question to Michael Froman, deputy assistant to Obama and deputy national security adviser for international economic affairs. He said Saudi Arabia did not publicly announce how much they plan to contribute to the IMF.
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Overall, attending the G20 Summit in London was a great experience, and the G20Voice bloggers were awesome. The best part was probably attending the Obama press conference. We had to stand in line for 90 minutes to get in, but it was worth it. Here’s my favourite moment from the event:
The mood at the ExCel Conference Center seems to be swinging between optimism and fear that things might collapse at the last second. The uncertainty is the result of the rift between American-British calls for more spending and French-German demands for more regulation. French President Nicolas Sarkozy called for a “global regulator” and said tougher regulation is “nonnegotiable.”
It seems that there are three camps now. First, you have the US, UK, and Japan who are pushing for greater fiscal spending to stimulate their economies. Then you have Germany, France, and probably the Czech Republic, who are pushing in the opposite direction. And finally you have countries like China, Russia, India, and Saudi Arabia, who will consider joining the first or the second camp, depending on where their interests are.
It is expected, though, that these difference will be played down and the final communique will come out in a language that each party can interpret differently.
Now when it comes to reforming the IMF, it is agreed that the need to reform the institution is urgent. However, G20 countries have yet to reach an agreement over the contributions every country will make to help the IMF fight the financial crisis. Thanks to a cushion of reserves Saudi Arabia built during six years of soaring oil price, the country was not hit very hard by the financial crisis, and that’s why the US and UK asked Saudi Arabia to increase its contribution to the IMF.
Rumors circulated last week that Saudi Arabia was considering increasing its IMF contribution in exchange for higher quotas. Finance Minister Ibrahim al-Assaf denied these reports, adding: “What is on the table now is for support from all the major member states of the fund.” Saudi Arabia is expected to contribute $100bn, but some sources suggest that the government prefers to decrease its contribution to $90bn.
Some Saudis think that the government should not listen to these demands. Fawaz al-Alami says it is time for big countries to realize that globalization rules do not give them the right to exploit the resources of the developing countries to fix their failed economic policies.
We are finally at the media center for the G20 Summit. I’m sitting on a long table with the rest of the G20Voice bloggers, and we are expecting a big day here. Everybody is talking about how World leaders are going to fix the global financial system through more regulation and transparency. Also big on the agenda is reforming the IMF and other financial institutions. More updates from here as news starts to emerge from behind the closed doors.
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