Stop lying for a change, will ya?

When I started reading Rasheed Abou-Alsamh’s new article, Saudis cling to outlet for free expression, I initially felt that he is writing about some godforsaken Latin country ruled by a military dictatorship and the secret police that I read about long time ago in a history book, then, I felt like breaking something, anything: 

For 14 years she has been gathering with some 150 other female Saudi academics for monthly diwaniyas, or salons. At the home of one of the group's members in Riyadh, the Saudi capital, they talked about the issues of the day: the plight of Saudi women, elections, civil society, and domestic violence.            

But now the professor worries that the government is beginning to stifle her salon and others, further backing away from making  substantial reforms.      

These discussion groups, which have been growing in number in recent years, are among the only outlets for collective expression  in a country where public gatherings and political parties are banned.    

She says she received a troubling call from a government official a few weeks ago asking her to register the group with the Ministry of Interior or face police action against her group. "The official kept calling me, but I said I would not believe what he was saying unless he could send me something in writing," recalls the academic, who asked for anonymity for fear of retribution.

"My husband was finally called in to have a meeting with a Riyadh Governorate official who told him that a new law was going into effect that would force all discussion groups in private homes who have guest speakers to be registered with the Ministry of Interior," she says.

Not only will these discussion groups apparently have to be registered with the government, but each may have to apply for  permission from the appropriate ministry depending on the topic being discussed, according to this academic. (more)

This type of repression, I assume, would never happen in a country which claims that its opening up for reform and citizen participation in policy making. No matter how you look at it, spying on and controlling what people do in their own homes is simply an infringement on the dignity and basic rights of citizens. Now this is no longer just an issue of freedom of expression alone, but also the internationally recognized right of free assembly and living freely without awaiting the approval of a patriarchal government that believes it owns its people from head to toe. So, here it is, I am fed up with this game of cards the government is playing with its so-called reform agenda. Once in every blue moon they throw a card which outlines actions permitted in this game, 10 days later they lay down 10 cards which lists all the forbidden actions that everyone should abstain from and would lead them to trouble (from harassing bloggers to haphazardly shutting down internet forums and canceling cultural events and the list goes on). So, dear government, for the sake of credibility, let's lay down the rules clearly once and for all because as habitual liars you have lost all respect.

Comments

[Northern shewolf]

" I initially felt that he is writing about some godforsaken Latin country ruled by a military dictatorship and the secret police that I read about long time ago in a history book,..."
My dear Aya, I am quite bewildered that you wrote this!?!? After all isn't KSA a theocratic/monarchical dictarorship? Hasn't it always been so, at least for as long as I can remember, and I am way older than you, hasn't it?
For Pete's sake! You even have a 'Religious Police ' that rudely pokes its nose into every aspect of people's lives: a truly bathetic institution by any world measurements of idiosyncratic government controls.
I truly understand and wholly sympathize with your sorrow and momentary mad desire to destroy something, ANYTHING in your disgust which I do share in spades! But my precious girl, you must have realized that the discourse over liberalization is just that: a mouthing of words for PR points with the liberal-minded at home as well as with the world scene, what the French charmingly call: 'la langue de bois'!
Of late in KSA there has been many violent incidents directed at western foreigners, all of course well kept under wraps since the higher echelon of needed expertise is obtained by hiring westerners it behooves the authorities to 'white out' such news.
I personnaly feel that the general social climate as well as the political winds are not blowing good tidings for any of us.
The despicable truth is that now is not the time to liberalize, no, no! Now is the time to get ready for the spoils of war.
I bow my head in shame at the evil that is done in our names, and my heart bleeds for the poor human beings caught in the jaws of conflict.

[Lori]

The government here gives with one hand and takes back with two, and amazingly it seems that a majority of the people are so...brainwashed? complacent? afraid? perhaps overwhelmed by the pressures of life under the weight of "the will not to know" that they don't seem to notice or care.

I came across the term cultural schizophenia awhile back, and it fits this place to a T. Believing one thing and doing another, life outside any reality, diorganized thinking...here's hoping that more Saudi nationals like yourself will wake up and take back your country.

[Paul Ulrich]

Hi. You or your readers might be interested in my novel, "Saudi Match Point", published last month by Blacksmith Books.

As far as I know, it's the only novel in English set entirely in modern-day Saudi Arabia.

One of its two intersecting plotlines follows the plight of a poor, oppressed Saudi woman desperate to escape an arranged marriage.

You can see more about the book and buy it at www.blacksmithbooks.com for $10, which includes the cost of international shipping.

Regards,
Paul