Something Saudi

"Friends of the Muttawa"

2009-06-18T09:05:00.001-07:00

I heard from a friend yesterday, as she went shopping at the Al-Rashid mall in Al-Khobar, that she saw a group of young men, in short thobes and with long beards, standing by a bus-stop awaiting buses that brought in female passengers. Sure enough, a bus stopped and let out the women riding in it -- who 'happened' to be mostly, if not all, expatriates -- and started harassing the women and preaching to them, in the usual raised-voice-but-eyes-to-the-ground manner, to cover up. My friend then said that the women who came down were already in abayya -- the black cloak that covers women from their shoulders to the ground, which they wear when they go out in public. These men were telling them to cover their hair.

A few things struck me about this, which my friend also provided details for: the men had approached an area where mostly expatriate women would disembark, as most Saudi women do not use buses, and so they were most likely not Muslim: i.e. there should be no legal problem with their attire if they are already wearing the abayya. A second thing that struck me was that these men, who functioned as members of the Commission of the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice in preaching at these women, did not have a policeman with them, as members of the PVPV are required to. This means that they were not, formally, members of the PVPV. I then found out that a group of 'volunteers' exist who perform their same function, and that they call themselves "Friends of the Muttawa."

That such a group actually exists astounds me. It is bad enough that the actual PVPV exists: with rules as strict as theirs and their offensive methods, hardly anyone gets a chance to develop their own set of morals and 'rights' and 'wrongs.' Overall, that the 'morality police' exist makes people under their 'jurisdiction' less moral!

So these 'friends of the muttawa,' then? Sounds like just a group of men with extra time on their hands and the need to have some sense of authority, so they have chosen to go around telling women what to wear. I'm really not impressed.

Return to the blogosphere... and 'Saudi'

2009-04-28T07:56:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted anything in a long, long time. My apologies. There is a long series of events that prevented me from devoting much time to blogging at first, and then, after it all cleared up, blogging was 'out of my system' and I had to remind myself that I had this outlet.

Anyway, I hope this won't be happening again. Or, if it does, I'll announce my absence before hand. In my very meager defense, I had no idea that the absence would be this long.

Having said that, so much has happened since I last posted it seems pointless to try and play 'catch-up.' I got email after email in my inbox with different issues... from the case of the 8-year-old girl's marriage to a man decades older than her holding in court to the increased Sunni-Shia tensions and the anger of the Shiite population. Today, I even got an email about a Syrian woman literally thrown out of her home by her Saudi husband, who had secretly divorced her, and that she now lives with her 3 sons in a furnished apartment, awaiting an appeal. In the meantime, her ex-husband is arranging to be married to a 'woman from Asia.'

As all these things happen, and I'm sure there are more that I haven't heard about, it gets me thinking: I'm one of the several thousand Saudis who returned from university abroad recently (in my case, 2 years ago... which I still consider 'recently'). In other words, I'm in that group of Saudis that I see frequently referred to in the printed press and in blogs as the 'wave' of Saudis who, after studying and living abroad for several years, will surely come back and want to bring change with them.

This was my thought, too, as a student. During my senior year, I was both nervous and excited at coming back. I wanted to come back, even though I had the option of continuing my education abroad and extending my time in a more comfortable lifestyle. I was nervous because of all the challenges, constraints and obstacles that I knew would face me coming back, and excited at the possibility that all these brought. The possibility of change, that dawn comes after the darkest hour of the night, etc.

And in a country like ours, Saudi Arabia, there really is A LOT of possibility, mainly because there is a lot of room for improvement. And it excited me to be a part of that.

However, despite all my preparations... being back is harder than I thought. It probably always is that way: you prepare yourself for something and find that it wasn't quite the way you thought it would be -- there's always a stone, or two, that you left unturned.

I won't get carried away with that, because that's an endless (and nearly useless) topic. But there is something about being back that, although I had anticipated, I have failed miserably in handling. That disappointment is that, despite the multitudes of other just-back Saudi students, I have failed at reaching them.

That is to say, we are all dispersed, and this poses an extra challenge. I can't meet with my fellow like-minded Saudis, discuss our frustrations together, work as a group... there is nothing organized about the Saudi students coming back. I know the few that were with me in university, and a few of my highschool friends who went abroad too, although there weren't that many -- at least not Saudis. In total, in my two years back, I know and have met around ... 10 Saudis who studied abroad and recently came back, including myself.

And, while we don't meet together as a group or anything (imagine it, a club: 'Returned Saudis' !!), it's safe to say there is a generally mutual feeling of frustration, hoplessness and of giving-up. Most of us don't speak-up (whether in actions or words) because it is just so uncommon, and discouraged, around here for one to stick out, and those of us who do (or try) are muffled by the crowds. Our topics of conversation have changed from exciting ideas and possibilities and inspiring one another to managing our expectations, controlling our frustrations and just generally 'getting by.'

It saddens me to say it. It really does. But just like there is a group of moderate Saudis, of Saudis who believe in rights... etc, who remain silent out of fear or just as a way of conforming and 'fitting in' (the never-ending quest!), it frightens me to think that this 'wave' of Saudis that are expected to bring hope, change and new things to the country will do just that, in response to an environment that isn't so happy to welcome them.

This blog is really my attempt to break out of that and to give myself something to hope for. If nowhere else, than at least with myself: that I won't get too comfortable and complacent, too hopeless, too tired to keep up the struggle I feel we owe it to the Saudis who didn't get our opportunities, and couldn't see how things could, someday, be.

Uneven movement...

2009-03-25T00:34:00.000-07:00

It has generally been my concern that with Saudi Arabia, as with many countries that try to develop and change from the status quo, these steps are taken unevenly. Legislation and government decrees that are uneven aside, many people may not be up for reform. This would suggest that it is too soon for certains steps, whereas for other segments of society, it would be moving too slowly.

This is a pretty universal problem, I think, and one that is usually made more confusing when different authorities (for lack of a better word) aren't quite on the same footing. Disagreement, I believe, is healthy and natural, and is part of being diverse, which Saudi Arabian clearly is. These two articles that I'm about to post clearly indicate just how wide the range of opinions is on what 'should be' ...

Hardline Saudi clerics urge TV ban on women, music

Saudi rights group criticize religious police

In the first article, a group of Saudi clerics urged Abedlaziz Al-Khoja, the newly appointed information minister, to ban women from appear on TV and music. They believe that reforms should be made towards more conservatism and rigidity in the country, and are eager to influence and encourage the new minister to take steps that they feel the previous one never should have in allowing women to appear on television.

The second article is in a totally different direction altogether, where Saudi rights groups, which have been given more room by the government in recent years, criticize the religious police, which are also under government authority.

I believe that debate and disagreement can be healthy if it is done correctly and a multitude of different views learn to coexist together. But it takes a system, and a society, that can handle disagreement for it to be healthy. Is this what is happening, though? I'm not sure...

Social experiment on discrimination in the US

2009-03-21T00:44:00.000-07:00

Alright, so I know I should be posting about other things (that I hope I will get to), but I came across this video and thought I should share it... I know it's more about being American than it is about being Arab or Muslim, but it's still an interesting peice and really worth the watch.

First see this one, to explain a little bit...

And then this one...

The passion for those who defended her (note that both the clerk and the mutahajiba are actors) really moved me...

Riyadh book fair

2009-03-11T13:02:00.000-07:00

I am really truly saddened that I won't be able to make it this week to Riyadh's Book Fair. I know this now, Thursday evening, when the book fair finishes Friday. I just get so excited, thinking about what it is that people are reading... What they are writing... Who is reading and who is writing... And, especially, to feel that there ARE people doing both, makes me feel tremendously excited, and relieved.

After reading this article, I'm even more sorry that I can't make it. It is true, more and more people are writing books, and while many may not be Dickens or Najib Mahfouz, there is a sense that everybody has a story to tell, and that they can tell it (and it will be heard).

'Trashy novels' or not, I think it is great that more and more people are writing. I read the Girls of Riyadh, which the article says started the fad of 'anyone writing a book,' and while it isn't classical literature, it definitely moved people and inspired them. Isn't that enough of a qualification for it to command some respect and place in the Saudi literary movement?

And I think it should be encouraged, that people writing about their experiences or the experiences of those around them has a whole load of benefits. Sure, the 'quality' of the writing may not be up-to-par with the classical Saudi writers: their thoughts may not be as developed, nor their characters or conflicts. Many may just choose subjects or stories that would shock the reader, and find that to be the appeal and point. However, that they are picking up a pen or typing on a keyboard shows that the literary scene is changing in Saudi Arabia: it is not longer meant for just a small, esoteric group of people -- generally, those who were upper-middle class, who could afford education and had time to follow entire literary and thought movements. This current trend appeals to more people, with many different circumstances and backgrounds, and it is creating a sort of 'dialogue' that didn't exist before about everyday issues in KSA -- and involving more people in that dialogue.

I personally think this is great. And whether this will last or not, I can't tell, but at the very least it's a form of transparency in the country and 'civil community,' and, if nothing else, it would have opened more people to reading the classical writers than before.

Freedom of the press?!

2009-03-09T04:56:00.001-07:00

Just received this in a forward that I'd like to share...

Al-Hayat and Al-Madina (p. 36) reported that the Shoura Council has denied access to several journalists because they "failed to comply" with what the council wants published. Al-Hayat (pg.1&12) noted that its reporter Riyadh Al-Musalim was denied access to the council because he published a feature that said in part that new Shoura members were attended by servants bearing coffee.

My commentary: We know there isn't much 'Freedom of the press' or 'Freedom of speech' in KSA, but this really just goes to show you one thing: where the limits are, and when you are clearly crossing a line, is anybody's guess. That lack of transparency about what policy is, even, is really dangerous — and unfair.

A story of corporal punishment

2009-03-05T14:44:00.000-08:00

I took advantage of a rare fifteen minutes to myself (that coincided with Blogger working!) to read this article on the Arab News website about the need to prohibit corporal punishment for children.

The article is breif, considering the breadth of the topic (it's possible that more has been published on it since the call to ban corporal punishment came as part of the ISPCAN conference on Child Protection) and only touches lightly on what is a very serious issue. I'm disturbed by this quote: "Adults should know the mental and physical agony of children who receive bodily punishment in the presence of others" as it suggests that physical abuse done in private is O.K., and it doesn't recognize that verbal abuse is abuse, too.

Anyway, it's a serious issue and one that deserves an extended peice on it. However, I want to discuss my personal experience with corporal punishment at school and whatever light that might shed on children and their perception of their rights.

We were first-graders, and I had just moved into the school. It was my first experience in a Saudi private school, as I had spent my previous school-years in the States while my parents completed their studies. My Arabic wasn't the best, and I was reluctant to join this school with it's all-Arabic curriculum. However, I was told that it was amongst the best schools around and that the First Grade teacher knew of my challenges with the language and was compassionate.

The classroom itself was horribly dull: two black-boards, one infront of us and one behind us, our desks, that formed an incomplete square, with the missing side being the one at the front of the class, and the teacher's desk. By her desk there were two rulers: one short one, about 60 centimeters long, and one much longer one. She used these in the morning to draw lines on the board that she could write on, but was more creative in their uses afterwards.

It was quite typical, actually, for the teacher to use one of the rulers to tap at a word on the board and, when frustrated, tap at the student's shoulder. It was never fun, and it's regularity didn't make it any easier to take. It never, ever felt usual.

However, there was a much more advanced type of punishment that the teacher reserved for one girl: Ashwag. She sat next to me, as we were seated by height, and was particularly nervous. I imagine that we were all frightened and nervous about the prospect of getting hit by a ruler: it stung and would leave a mark for days. And it was humiliating. But Ashwag didn't know how to keep her nervousness in, and when it came her turn to read-out a word or answer a question, she stuttered.

I don't recall how often this happened, but after a few stutters, the teacher would shout at Ashwag to get out of her seat and go to the center of the incomplete square, and told her to kneel. She then would beat her with the ruler on her back. The first few times, Ashwag would yelp or wail, and then she would just cry. The teacher would then have her go back to her seat and continue with the lesson as if nothing had happened, as if Ashwag wasn't crying and as if she hadn't beat her infront of a classroom full of six-year olds, and that Ashwag wasn't one herself.

On one occasion, I remember the teacher had even told Ashwag to strip her vest and shirt infront of us, and beat her on her bare back. I'll never forget the red markings that appeared, one after the other, on Ashwag's back, or the horribly painful look on her face as she cried and still received them. Every time that she came back to sit down was horrible, too: she'd continue to cry, and the teacher would continue with the 'lesson,' and we would follow suite. As if nothing had happened.

It fills me with shame, now, to think of how we let those incidents affect our relationship with Ashwag. We didn't play often with her -- I have more memories of her sitting on her own, eating her lunch, than of her joining us to play tag. I felt bad for her, and so would sometimes ask her to play with us, but was always, always releived when she'd decline. I didn't want to interact with her much, I imagine that not many of the other girls did either, but for me it was a clear perception that I didn't want whatever it was that she 'had' that made her get that special attention to rub off on me. I didn't want it to spread to me. So even when she offered to share lunches with me, as we sat next to each other, I would share mine but never eat from hers. She had the kind of germs that made you get beat up. We made it her fault.

Unlike most of what you would hear about kids who get abused or witness it, we told our parents. We told adults in school, we told whoever would pretend to listen. Nobody believed us. Or if they did, they didn't do anything. My parents thought I was having difficulty adjusting to the new school and was looking for a way out of the school that I hated. The teacher was also incredibly nice to our parents, and to anybody outside of the classroom. We eventually finished with First Grade, all of us anxious, nervous and guilty wrecks, and Ashwag never came back for Second Grade. I saw her once in a car a few years later, in what looked like pajammas. I heard she was homeschooled.

As for the teacher, she was kicked out of the school five years later. We were told she was caught mid-beating when the principal came in, but I can't confirm it. In any case, that is at least 5 more classes of traumatized children, and 5 more potential stories like Ashwag's.

Madinah incident

2009-02-26T22:45:00.000-08:00

I have to admit, sheepishly, that I only found out about this recently. It started over a week ago, I understand, but there has been zero coverage in the Saudi press (at least the ones that I read, aka Arab News, Saudi Gazette, Al-Watan and Asharq Al-awsat) and so I only knew to search for it online when I got a forward about it, and read some other blogs, too.

There's always an issue of reliability when it comes to these things, since the Sunni-Shia divide is a really sensitive topic in Saudi Arabia. So I will only post this article from the Associate Press, which still leaves much to be wanted, but they have a reputation of reliable coverage. You can do your own research, otherwise.

On that note, there have been plenty of videos on YouTube that attempt to document the events that started the clashes between the religious police and the Shia pilgrims at Madinah. There have also been many blog-posts about this, my favorites being Ahmed's at Saudi Jeans.

Besides the incidents, which are really regrettable, what makes me really said is reading the comments made to some blog-posts and especially to the YouTube videos. More than anything else, they demonstrate that little has changed in Sunnis or Shiite understanding 'The Other.' It doesn't seem like there is much of an attempt to, either. Most of what I have read, from both Sunnis and Shiites, are insults, racist comments (I don't know if I'm using the word 'racist' correctly) and personal attacks. It is wrong, and extremely sad.

We have a long way to go.

Reasons not to marry a non-Saudi woman??!!

2009-02-23T12:39:00.000-08:00

It's late, and I ought to be in bed right now... but I couldn't help myself. I clicked on a link that I had left to read later, and luckily enough, it was this article from the Saudi Gazette about Saudi men marrying foreign women.

For once, I'm actually relieved at the decision the Shoura Council didn't take. Their decision to make sure that Saudi men take responsibility for their dependents from a union with a non-Saudi woman is welcome. I know, only time and cases will tell what exactly will happen when it comes to it, but that they took that step at all is a long overdue relief.

As for those who oppose their decision, and think that there should be tougher restrictions on such marriages to a. protect the Saudi male from financial exploitation, b. protect the family and children of that union should the couple divorce, c. encourage Saudi men to marry Saudi women so that spinsterhood decreases, and d. to discourage Saudi men from marrying a nonSaudi woman as a second wife, which would deplete his financial resources and cause him to neglect his first wife (a Saudi woman) and her children.

So, here is what I have to say to that:

a. It makes no sense to protect anybody from financial exploitation of that sort: manipulative and convenient relationships exist everywhere, and are certainly not confined to inter-national relationships. In fact, they are usually telling of both parties in the relationship, as insecurity, naivety, or what-have-you, are required for somebody to be blind to being exploited. I don't think 'protecting' people from growing up (yes, I said it!) is a correct way to solve this. Furthermore, if they think that Saudi women wouldn't marry for money or convenience -- then they haven't seen the dark side of the marriage market!

b. Children of a divorce should be protected, whether they are the children of a Saudi man and a foreign woman or a Saudi man and a Saudi woman. In fact, if the couple is Saudi does not insure the security and protection of the children, as the Saudi wife can sometimes face rejection (sp?) from society and would become incarcerated -- problems that always affect the children. There are countless of issues here that lie in problems with marital/divorce courts and the judicial system, not in the choice of the spouse's nationality. It's absolutely absurd thinking that these problems only exist for a Saudi woman: it's like saying, "Why learn how to read another language when it just encourages the chance of spelling mistakes in your mother tongue?" Answer: Maybe you should strengthen your mother then instead of looking to blame learning a second language!

c. Ah, this one is a good one: trying to decrease spinsterhood among Saudi women. This actually contradicts d., since d. suggests that men who marry non-Saudis usually marry them as second wives. Meaning: they have already done their part to decrease Saudi spinsterhood with Wife #1. However, that aside, there are pleennnnttttyyyy of reasons for why there are many spinsters -- and bachelors -- in Saudi Arabia: difficulty of meeting members of the opposite sex, tribalism, the impossibly long list of 'requirements' for suitable partners, family standards and pressure, the expenses of Saudi weddings and engagements.... etc. I really don't think that making it hard for men to marry non-Saudis is going to suddenly encourage them to marry Saudi women: it will either increase the number of bachelors in Saudi, or the number of divorces (for those who rush). Why create more problems?

d. Well, let's imagine that men aren't allowed to marry non-Saudis for a moment. Then, let's imagine that a particular man is unhappy in his marriage to his Saudi wife, and thinks that maybe, if he marries a second one, everything will work out fine. (This is logic that I do not understand, and before I continue let me make it clear: I do not support second, third or fourth wives!) Given that entire scenario, which is a plausible one... What's to stop said Saudi man from marrying a second Saudi woman and neglecting first Saudi wife and Saudi kids? Nothing. I have friends who's fathers did just that, and when it comes to marrying a second, third or fourth wife, it reeeeally doesn't matter where they come from in terms of how much attention the first and her family get.

One last comment I would like to make: I think it would have been really appropriate for the Shoura Council to decide that Saudi husbands should take responsibility for their wives and children, in marriage and divorce, whether the woman is Saudi or not. There are plenty of Saudi-Saudi marriages that end, and leave the children to fend for themselves -- for a lack of many things in the current system.

Still, it's a tip-toe of progress, hopefully!

More than just a newspaper

2009-02-23T06:21:00.001-08:00

I'll tell you from the onset: I'm an old-fashioned person. I like the feel of paper in my hands, the ripple of the pages as I try to read them and that crumpling sounds as I turn them. It reminds me a little bit of the father figure in movies, who was always reading a newspaper in the morning as the wife cooked and the kids ran off to school. Or a university professor, poring over pages and pages of research, trying to find that one link that makes it all fit, studying the pages - as if to find a missing clue with a detectives magnifying glass. I just love the intrigue, and that sense of 'near' productivity: it's all worth it, all the reading and contemplating, even if it's just in a well-informed opinion or a series of events that somehow reveal a motivation of sorts. Even if it's over a period of weeks or months, it's always worth it. And it's not instant gratification.

This is why I like to read newspapers. I can leave a country, and rather than stay loyal to my hometown's newspaper, I find another to read during my stay -- there's just no substitute for that feeling of paper in your hands and something to get done.

However, during my university years, I found it necessary to check-out the Arab News website every so often, in an attempt to keep up with te news of what's going on home. Today, I found out that despite the Saudi Gazette getting more physical circulation within the Kingdom than the Arab News (about 5,000 more copies, according to the 2006 Middle East Media Guide), the Arab News gets more than 1.5 million hits on its website every week.

This makes the content of that website very interesting, as it obviously caters to a different audience than the Saudi Gazette newspaper, which doesn't have nearly as many hits on its website.

What distinguishes the Gazette is that it covers more of Saudi Arabia's domestic news. It'll pick up local stories that are either low-profile or of low international interest, which I think is the main difference between the two. With the 1.5 million hits online, the Arab News is just one of the public faces of the Kingdom, a position that is the royal family is well-aware of, as the current editor-in-chief, Khaled Al-Maeena, was appointed by the government. He is also highly qualified, I might add, and proactively involves the Saudi community with the newspaper and vice-versa, publicizing important events that would have otherwise gone largely unnoticed in the Kingdom.

In addition to that, due to the close connections between the newspaper and members of the royal family, 'The Green Truth,' as it is fondly called, is more than a window into another side of Saudi Arabia -- it is a window into the Saudi government's plans. Every story that it runs -- and there have been quite a few controversial ones -- has been OKed, in one way or another, by the government. From stories that reveal the brutality to domestic workers, to horror-stories about the religious police (the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice): all of these go through some sort of government radar before they hit the printing press. Even challenging op-eds are there because somebody gave it a nod.

While I don't mean to demonstrate that there is 'micromanagement' involved in the production of the paper -- I don't know whether the authority to OK stories and topics is delegated, or how -- the intention is that the newspaper is one of the government's methods to nudge the country, and its people, forward. And to, maybe, help change the country's negative image to those who check the website online.

Happy reading!

Segregated?!

2009-02-14T22:24:00.000-08:00

Wow, many things to catch-up on and I've been off-line for a week! (It wasn't intentional.) It's a little late for a Valentine's Day special, but I may just post one anyways when I'm done with the catching-up. Anyhow, back to schedule...

Yesterday, King Abdullah made a whole list of new appointments to the government cabinet, the first since he became King in August 2005. Included in this new appointments is Nora bint Abdullah Al-Fayez, with positions such as adviser to the Prince Salman Social Center and member of a variety of committees, who is the first Saudi woman to be appointed in the Saudi government cabinet.

The general sentiment — at least among my coworkers and friends — is a happy, optimistic one. I honestly didn't know all that much about her before she became appointed, but even after reading the articles, the position that Al-Fayez is in and her current/future challenges are ones that even she cannot really anticipate, nor can any of us anticipate how she will handle them.

However, Al-Fayez's appointment is entirely unprecedented: there's never been a woman in a government position in Saudi Arabia before her. And while she is deputy education minister for girls' affairs, which is a position that is a little vague in its responsibilities and authorities and what she will be able to do, the emphasis that she is getting for being the first female in a government position worries me that what she does — or doesn't do — during her time in office will reflect upon all the women of Saudi Arabia. This is actually not that different from racial issues in the United States now that President Obama is in office, and I fear it will make the racial/gender debate an even more tense one: if they fail, it's because she is a woman/he is black; but if they succeed: it's proof that the system works.

What really disturbed me in yesterday's article in the Arab News was a quote from Ali Al-Twati, a Saudi academic and writer, who said, and I quote (from the article, which paraphrased what he said): "...segregation makes it easier for women in the Kingdom to reach high leadership positions. There are more women in key positions in the country than in developed countries..."

That worries me. For one thing, Al-Twati himself admitted, earlier in the article, that it "is compulsory, not optional, to have women occupy leadership positions. Since the number of schools in Saudi Arabia exceeds 10,000, girls need a reference in the ministry to listen to their issues and understand them."

If that is the case, and Al-Twati agrees with both points that he made, how can he explain that it took this long for a woman to be in a position that he thinks should have always been run by a woman anyway?

Also, that he thinks that the credit should go to segregation for Al-Fayez reaching the position she has is bizarre. All that segregation in the workforce, or in government, means is that some positions will always have women in them, and others will always have men. There would be (and there already is) a very real glass wall that would prevent those who are qualified, regardless of their gender, and have the experience and capacity to implement the changes that need to be taken, to reach those places.

"Affirmative action" as it was known in the United States is absolute nonsense: sure, it's good to give more of a chance to those who need it, but to base that on race or sex is nonsense. It does coincide that those in dire need of help, whether financial or educational, tend to be in the 'minority' groups (there are more women in Saudi Arabia than there are men), but that is due mostly to years and years of bad and unjust policy than it is to an inherent weakness that this view suggests.

What women are, in Saudi Arabia, is disenfranchised, i.e., they are not given the power to act, do, develop or progress as they would naturally: there are very real obstacles that are put in their way and prevent them from doing so.

Al-Fayez's appointment is not about how segregation is successful: it's about how gender lines are finally being crossed, although meekly (she is, after all, deputy minister of education for girl's affairs: a very safe place to put a woman), to give those who deserve the position and understand the challenges that they would face the chance to do what they are actually qualified to do — regardless of sex, race, or the like.

Even though it was the King who appointed her, and not a Saudi public, Al-Fayez's appointment makes it a story that goes against segregation: as she works in a position that has only ever been held by men, and works among colleagues who are all male, to find a niche where she can do what needs to be done inspite of the invisible barriers that she will face.

However, having said that, I have one last comment to make: I sincerely hope that Al-Fayez was appointed because she is the right person for the job, regardless of her sex. The girls of Saudi Arabia will not be better off because it's a woman who's not doing her job right instead of a man.

:)

2009-02-06T22:40:00.000-08:00

Alright, so was feeling a little off this morning and thought to watch this... Sharing it in hopes that it will put a smile on some faces :)

We can't always be serious!

Enjoy! Hope this is the beginning of a great week for all.

Correcting some false impressions

2009-02-04T15:27:00.000-08:00

Sometimes it amazes me, how little some people (I want to say many people) know about what Saudi Arabia is really like. I don't know if it's all sensationalized in the news that they get, or if the Kingdom just has a really bad reputation and public image that, compounded with common ignorance, makes up for the most bizarre assumptions.

When I leave the country for vacation or for study/work, a big part of what I do when I talk to people who I just met (friends of a friend, work-related or otherwise), most of the comments and questions I get are quite bizarre... and sometimes it seems that I'm inadvertently made 'ambassador' of my country, or at least a public relations representative: they will mostly ask me about the country itself, what my life is like there, etc, and mostly just to understand and inform themselves rather than a particular interest in me. (Although they almost always ask me why I'm not covered in 'that black thing,' why I have a good English accent or say something like 'But you seem so liberal!')

I've been asked if I have internet or an email address (for those of you who haven't quite realized this still -- blogs require an internet connection), whether my father or brother has to take me everywhere I go, and, the most common question, actually, is if I had to go to school on a camel!

Most probably like this idea and romanticize it. I think my answers disappoint them!

This sort of 'misinformation' is usually popular and, sometimes, encouraged amongst people who don't really know. I say this because I just received a forwarded email, from a good friend in Lebanon, that had in the subject line (in Arabic) "First underwear shop opens in Saudi Arabia."I could tell that the email had been forwarded to her humourously. Her own comment was one of shock and amusement.

The email had this photo, and another similar to it but from a different angle:

Of course, I replied back (Reply to all) and corrected the email: we've had dozens of lingerie stores in Saudi Arabia for years, and I have never seen any such reaction to them. The photos are bogus and the email misinformed, as 1. A photo as obvious as this was probably staged. 2. The boys are dressed in Omani dress, not Saudi. 3. There is no indication that this is, in fact, the first shop of its kind to be opened where-ever this was taken, or that the boys aren't just being funny.

Whoever first created the email and spread it either falsely assumed or intentionally distorted the original information, because it probably sounds better -and funnier- to say that this was in Saudi Arabia.

Slight challenge of blogging

2009-02-03T06:52:00.000-08:00

It's funny, I've only been blogging for about a month now, but it seems to already be a part of my system... at least my internal one. If I go more than two days without blogging, I start to feel weird and uncomfortable. My brain goes into think quick mode where it tries to make a thousand witty and insightful comments per minute — and store them — to give me a sense of having blogged in some way, if only in my head.

I still don't know in what direction this blog should go, but it seems to be more of a personal 'insights and observations' blog than anything else. I would love for it to be an objective blog, where I state 'facts' (Sorry, but I almost don't believe there is such a thing) and situations, then write about the response of certain individuals to it .. i.e., journalism ... but realistically, I don't have the time to do the proper research required to produce something that would be beyond doubt in that way. So, I resort to personal-journalling-blogging, and constantly feel the need to swarm it with disclaimers.

DISCLAIMER!

It's strange, because most of the work that has been keeping me busy has been mindless, silly tasks that require next-to-zero brainpower and a lot of time. It shouldn't exhaust me so much, but it definitely kills my morale. And with a dead — or dying — morale, everything is exhausting.

Or I could just put it down to this: there needs to be more hours in a day!

Excuse the nearly-meaningless post. Sara out.

A little silent rage 1

2009-01-30T22:45:00.000-08:00

I have silenced myself on two different occasions, this past week, when I felt that maybe I shouldn't have. Both incidents absolutely infuriated me, and while I'm not feeling the built-up anger now, I'm hoping that writing about it will give it some sort of channel — rather than have it fester inside.

The first incident was a few days ago, when I received a forward from a Jewish acquaintance who I met with my family on vacation around three years ago. He was 74 years old then, and was assigned to sit at our table for dinner while we were on a ten-day cruise. It made for interesting chats, as another man we had on our table was a former British military veteran and had served in Palestine before Israel was created: he told us about how the Arabs used to live, how great it was... until 1948. I took frequent bathroom breaks to write down some of what was said.
With Roger (the Jewish dinner-mate), we never hid our support for the Palestinians, and he never hid his support for Israel. I think we only actually got into a debate once, but it ended when we realized it was going nowhere. Otherwise, the 'acquaintance-ship' worked well: he would point out to us when bizarre European foods had alcohol or pork in them, and we would share his greif over photographs of him at different Holocaust memorials that he carried, and over his memories. Our tours included Germany and Latvia, so there were a lot of Holocaust memorials on the way. Right now, as I type this, I feel I didn't speak-up for the Palestinian cause as much as I should have: draw the similarities, be a little more honest... open up for proper dialogue. I think I was more polite than honest.
Roger has since emailed every so often, updating us on his family and life — emails that I return a little less frequently. In them, he calls himself 'Papa Rog'.
However, the line of politeness was drawn a few days ago, when he sent this forward. It was a 'Letter to the BBC' about how their coverage of the Gaza conflict was completely unsympathetic to the Israeli cause and that their correspondents are 'anti-Semitic' and that "anti-Zionist and anti-Semitism are the same." It goes on, and on, and on... from explaining that Israel has gotten "used to" the world's criticism and anti-Semitism to the point that it "doesn't care," to explaining that only "a Jew could understand the emotional history of Israel" ... and that it means "Never again."

It makes me angry. Must everything be about the Holocaust and the debt the world owes the Jews? I mean, if Palestinians must contend with a state that has existed on their land for the past 60 years and get around to accepting and dealing with it, mustn't Jewish people accept that it has been even longer since the Holocaust, and that they can't keep playing that card every time they want a taste of silent sympathy and guilt from the world in the form of a blank-cheque?
I just realized the similarities between my silence and that which I just explained. I will respond to him, after all. I had decided not to, because of his age. I now think that is more of an excuse, on my part, than a reason.

Seeing through... what?

2009-01-28T14:49:00.000-08:00

So I got to talking to one of my colleagues today about a good friend's documentary, Seeing through the Sand, that came out last year. The film documents a group of Harvard students' visit to the Kingdom -- the Eastern Province, Riyadh and Jiddah -- and their preconceptions before the trip and impressions afterwards. It's a really interesting 50-minute flick. I strongly recommend it.

Anyways, **spoiler alert!** there is this part in the documentary -- which was actually really well done and honest, but not brutal, if you ask me -- where one of the visiting students asks: What about women's rights (and rights, overall)? Why aren't things moving faster on that front? To which one of the Saudi participants answered: you can't force change. It is coming, but it has to come from the inside and at its own pace... You can't force it from the outside and quickly. (Note: These are not word-for-word transcriptions, just me paraphrasing from what I remember and what was discussed...)

The student then commented at the answer she got: Ok, I understand what you're saying... But when it came to technology, and the major changes that come with it, it wasn't gradual... Loads of people started using cell-phones with abandon. (Again, this is not a literal transcription ... just paraphrasing the idea.)

The student has a point. Technology was a huge change in Saudi Arabia, one that changed the way people interacted with each other, communicated and did business... and it pretty much picked-up like a wild bush-fire. Whether this is positive or negative is beside the point; the point is that it did.

So why can't we do the same with the other changes? Or at least be more proactive about them, push them a little harder... Decide that they are as natural as the need to use cell-phones has become to our daily lives? Is it really that we're waiting to evolve and for change to come 'on its own', or is it something else?

Gaza conflict talks in Bahrain

2009-01-26T02:18:00.000-08:00

So, today I'm going to two talks that I'm extremely excited about. I'll have to make this short, as I need to catch up on my reading before the talks. I only just heard about them yesterday, I'm not sure why they're not better publicized, but here they are:

FIRST PRESENTATION
“Gaza Eyewitness: Assisting Children in Palestine, Lebanon and Iraq”
Discussions with Mrs. Barbara Lubin, Founder and Director,
Middle East Children’s Alliance (MECA), Berkeley, California

Adliya Rotary Club Dinner & Meeting
6:15 p.m. Diplomat Hotel, Manama, Bahrain

SECOND PRESENTATION
“Defeating the Palestinian Peace Offensive:
The Real Motives Behind Israel’s Massacre in Gaza”
Lecture by Professor Norman Finkelstein,

Sponsored by the Palestine Support Society
8:00 p.m. Diplomat Hotel, Manama, Bahrain

[See http://www.mecaforpeace.org/, and http://www.normanfinkelstein.com/ for background information. Also, article on Barbara Lubin entitled “for Charlie” in The Link monthly, Vol. 39 Issue 4, of Americans for Middle East Understanding (AMEU).]

Hopefully, I'll post more about them later.

Objectivity?

2009-01-24T05:43:00.000-08:00

I've been going through the posts I have already made on this blog, and those that I intend to make, and realized that they are lacking in objectivity. The one topic that I have discussed more than others -- the Gaza conflict -- I have discussed from one side, I must admit.

I am not ashamed of this realization, which I will explain soon enough, even though it may hurt the validity of my arguments. I know that I did not create this blog to be politically correct or flawless in my views: I created it for myself, as much as I did for others, to represent myself and my views and to give those who read a chance to address them and challenge their views, as well.

I have some basic journalism training, and I know the rules to reporting. (Rule number one: Be impartial, you are a fly on the wall.) The general consensus is that objectivity is the cornerstone of good journalism, a consensus that is more traditional as it represents reporting information regardless of interest groups, sponsorship and public opinion: elements that nowadays play a larger role than they used to in the mechanics of mass-media.

Today, few can deny that there are issues are not shown in the 360 degree angle that they deserve, nor are they given the attention that they deserve: the conflict in Darfur, poverty in Africa and the Palestinian-Israeli conflict (I know there are plenty that I have missed, but as I am a consumer of mass-media, that just proves my point). This misrepresentation may cause other news reporters to "over report" the side that seems neglected, or for those with a vested interest in the 'alternative take' to sponsor publicizing it as well (this is the category that most party-run news channels fall under). The latter usually doesn't take long to become a form of propaganda.

On the other hand, there is another take on objectivity that Robert Fisk ( and here), who reports sympathetically to the Palestians from Beirut, Lebanon, takes: that journalism must be truthful, but not neutral. Fisk agrees with Israeli journalist Amira Hass and quotes her: There is a misconception that journalists can be objective ... What journalism is really about is to monitor power and the centres of power." (Reference at Robert Fisk's wikipedia entry). He also had this to add about traditional objective journalism:

“Journalism school - oh, you’ve always got to be 50/50. Half your report has to be on one side and half on the other, right? Well, that’s okay if you’re covering a football match, or a public inquiry into a new highway around Auckland. But the Middle East is not a football match, it is a massive human tragedy.
“You must ask why [an incident occurred] and most journalists don’t want to. They want to ask how and who. And then they say, ‘we will let the reader decide’. But the reader is not bloody well there.
“Look, I think we should be objective and unbiased - on the side of those that suffer. That’s our job.”

And, finally, a clip that demonstrates this:

So what is it, then?

Creating 'a plan'

2009-01-20T01:23:00.000-08:00

At work yesterday I was asked to join a workshop that would help tackle some work-related issues. Usually, I attend these workshops with a huge load of skepticism, as they are usually little more than talk about doing something that seldom gets done.

This one, however, was a little different. The facilitator used Edward de Bono's lateral thinking concepts. Few of us knew what this meant, but we didn't need to. The facilitator kept us pretty much in the dark about what we were doing until we actually had to do it, and then she would just ask us a question and we separated into teams to discuss it. Then, everybody would put down their points underneath that topic.

When we were done it occured to me that it would be interesting to use it to work out other issues... Anyway, I'm going to use the original example of improving our department.

I'll try not to be too boring!

1. Vision:
What is the best possible that our department should be? What are the characteristics of an ideal department?
Here, we started talking about the ideal. What it ought to be, regardless of obstacles and difficulties. We came up with things like: creative, credible, transparent, diverse backgrounds of members, empowered... etc.

2. Current reality:
What is the department's current reality? How would you describe it?
Our answers: vague, passive, fire-fighting (i.e. only handles situations after they are out of control), ... etc.

3. Obstacles:
What are the obstacles that prevent us from transforming from our current reality, to our ideal?
Our answers: resistance to change, false beliefs about ourselves, false beliefs about others, personal agendas, rigidity, dependency on outsiders, lack of transparency, lack of team-spirit...

(I promise you, this all sounds a lot worse than it actually is!)

4. Have you seen any of the characteristics of the ideal department anywhere?
This wasn't asking if we've ever seen the perfect department, which would have been difficult and defeatist. But when it comes to single characteristics, like transparency, or credibility... Of course we have. We started listing a few companies and organizations that were exemplary in certain ways...

The point: It is possible.

5. Resources: What do we have now? What's going for us now?
Our answers: the will to change, people with expertise, youth, financial ability... etc.

6. Feelings: Hahaha, this was a little goofy, but it was a break from all the serious thinking. Each person had to write down one positive feeling about the tasks ahead, and one negative one.
We started with the negative first, because they needed addressing and to get them out of the way. Then we listed the positives, because they help keep us going and lift us up.
A. Negative: Overwhelmed, fear of failure, fear of the unknown, lost, running out of time... anxious, skeptical.
B. Positive: Challenged, excited, enthusiastic, that we have nowhere to go but up... , passionate.

AND THEN, finally, there was one last topic: Action.
We created these: Set clear goals, assume active roles, raise awareness, identify responsibilities and take initiatives... and then continue reflecting and revisiting our goals.

Then there was a tiny question, just to keep us kicking: How do you know you've gotten to your 'vision'?
Answer: It's a process, and the vision will constantly change as we revisit where we are...

Ahh, okay. Summing this up now.... Imagine if we tried to tackle major issues, like economic and social reform,and conflict resolution this way. I daresay, things would be a little clearer...

Disclaimer!

2009-01-17T00:51:00.000-08:00

Okay, so after having a conversation with a friend about how seriously some people may take blogs and the 'facts' (opinions) that bloggers post on them, I felt it prudent to put a disclaimer here:

Most of everything that I write about here (so far) is based on my experiences, my understanding of things and, essentially, my perspective. None of what I say is beyond argument or discussion. I hope that I help shed light onto some things, or at least make the shadows seem clearer, but I also can only hope that those who read this take it all with a tablespoon of salt.

And, on the matter of 'my perspective': that's always changing, too, as I think that any rational or mature adult's perspectives and understandings should. What is reality -- or truth, for that matter -- other than a representation of how we see things and understand them?

Thanks!

President-elect Obama...

2009-01-14T23:02:00.000-08:00

... is already a disappointment, before he has even moved to the White House.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWXx2VYoqbU

Still new to the 'blogosphere'

2009-01-14T12:48:00.000-08:00

So I'm not exactly counting the days (weeks!) that I've been running this blog for, but it's up and semi-running for a few weeks now and well... it's feeling pretty interesting.

I'm almost certain nobody is reading this now, and for now that's fine with me. I'm still new to the whole blogger thing and I'm enjoying having fun with it, seeing what it is that I can do...

You know, it's not AS challenging as I thought it would be (I think that if, and hopefully when, I get an audience it will be more challenging since I'll start to feel more self-conscious), but it's also not as easy... There's always the question about what kind of things you want to write about. How personal you want to be... Is it an online journal or a forum for debate and discussion? Well, this one is too young for the latter so the possibilities are endless...

And I'm liking it.

On another note: I've stopped watching the news constantly and swallowing any peice of information that I can about Gaza. Instead, I'm reading some articles that will tell me something I don't know, and am working on organizing a fundraising Gaza awareness event sometime soon... Hopefully, I can help more than just myself in doing this...

Good bye, simpler black or white...

2009-01-12T06:59:00.000-08:00

I never, EVER, thought that I would say or write something remotely positive about U.S. President George W. Bush. Never. But, having just watched his Final News Conference, it's almost as if he suddenly became a proper president... It was a wonder to see. He expressed his views and emotions on his presidency quite clearly and charismatically, and explained his reasoning behind some of his more controversial decisions... taking the criticism to the very end.

There's one thing that occured to me and to my father, who was watching beside me... George W. Bush is fairly easy to understand. In fact, he has usually been TOO easy to understand, in his oversimplistic logic and rationale. The 'you're either with us or you're against us' mentality made everything the past 8 years fairly predictable... as bad as it got. And it didn't require expert analysts to see the flaws in some of his policies, and was even easier to criticize him... The game of politics has been a child's game for the past several years.

Now, with Barack Obama we enter ino more complex ground. Analysts will have to work harder, opinion leaders will have to do more research in forming opinions... Things will be far less simpler and much harder to predict.

In a world that has spent 8 years of being black or white, I hope that the addition of grey will serve to improve things...

Who is it that can't handle it?

2009-01-11T19:03:00.000-08:00

So, a few days ago I was reading this article in the Jan. 7th edition of the Arab News. I live in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia, so going to Bahrain is relativly (key word here) simple. Like many other Saudi ladies, I had/have the opportunity to learn how to drive there. I still havent done it simply because, unlike the women in the article, I don't live there so it would be a little difficult to get a CPR number (similar to residency), which is required to sign up in their driving school.

Even if I never actually use it in my country in my lifetime (Saudi still hasn't allowed women to drive, even though around this time last year it was 'leaked' to the press that by the end of the year women would be allowed to drive.), I still need to learn how. It's an important skill, I've realized, that allows you to figure out maps and directions better and to know when a driver is messing up and to correct him. Drivers here can sometimes drive like mad-men, though usually they are not worse drivers than the Saudi men themselves.

Ironically, one of the reasons that women aren't allowed to drive is because it would create situations in which women would have to deal with men on their own (if in an accident, or dealing with traffic police, or just being on the street with other men...). I find this ironic because, even if a woman is in the car with a driver driving, if there is an accident she still has to deal with men. I'll talk more about this in a later post, but expat drivers are usually considered sub-par in nationality and would frequently be given the blame in an accident for that simple reason. So, if a woman is present in the car with the driver, she must speak up.

In the article that I was reading, it says that these women in Bahrian who work, live and drive have no problem being independent. In fact, they use their Bahraini licenses to drive in Europe when they're traveling with their families...

It's always been confusing to me... many women in Saudi Arabia are independent, even if not in how they get somewhere, and are very strong role models to the rest. Others are capable of such independence but prefer to be dependent, either because they fear it or think it unnatural. And then there is the third group, who would be independent but have far too much stopping them, including government regulations and the men in their lives who are powered (and not empowered) by them.

As for men, many, cannot handle independent women. Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of fathers who encourage their daughters to study abroad and learn to live on their own; and husbands who support their wives' ambitions through the twists of the government's bureacracy and many more. But there are also those on the other side, and I cannot explain they treat the women in their lives any other way than that they cannot handle their independence.

It is this group of men, I think, who hound women in cars on the street all the time... what would happen if they had to actually drive alongside her, and not her driver?

Things get blurry...

2009-01-08T04:00:00.000-08:00

I don't know where to start. I know I've been writing a lot about Gaza — almost all the posts on this very young blog are about it — but is it ever too much? Truthfully, I'm not sure...

I've been doing a lot of reading online about Gaza. I check out MEMRI for their updated news, as well as the various BBC and Al-Jazeera updates. There's a variety of journalist bloggers there, such as Bowen's Diary (BBC again). I read Robert Fisk's work, of course, and anything I can find on Israel's liberal newspaper, Haaretz. I go from one political commentary to another, collecting opinions and printing statements to hang on my walls. It seems that, as if to make up for my 'voluntary ignorance' these past two years, I've rushed to cram every bit of information about what is going on in Gaza now into my head, as if to feed my ego and satisfy my helpless insecurity that at least SOMEBODY knows and feels what is going on.

And what good has it done? All I can say now, with all the statements and opinions whirring in my head, where fact and fiction have blurred and Hamas' are no different than Israel's, and the Arab League and United Nations have only added to they grey, that I went from feeling angry, determined and helplessly frustrated to ... angrier, sadder, and more helpless.

Is there no end to it all? And what point is there to all the information that we consume? All the news and exposure if it all it amounts to, like ignorance, is nothing. A less blissful nothing, for sure, but nothing all the same.

I see nothing. No action, no stance. No change. Sure, there's a 'pause' in military action today, but does that count for change at all? It is hopelessly frustrating and infuriating: makes one want to just forget all about informing him/herself. What do we do with these emotions? They're just.... there. No means of venting or expressing: we're not even allowed to demonstrate in Saudi Arabia.

Anyway, I had a point. I want to add this: One other piece of literature that I've been reading, that I came across two months ago quite by accident (the author is an acquaintance of a colleague), is this book, Gaza: Legacy of Occupation, by Dick Doughty. The author spent some time in Gaza in the early 1990s and I took to reading it sometime last week. I've only reached page 18, but he made an excellent point when, still in Gaza, he took a look at the photos he took of the desperate life there — a point that rung too true in my head today, more than 15 years later.

I quote:

"I think it's my reaction to legions of other photographs from 'hot spots' around teh world — Gaza is certainly one — that show them as relentlessly dangerous, exotic, spectacular, full of violence and zealotry. That there is an overwhelming surfeit of such imagery, to the point where it numbs far more than it moves, or it excites the aesthetic senses instead of the moral ones, is a condition the information-consuming classes have had to contend with for some years now. Is it really tha twe don't care, or do we lack some connecting link, a spark to engage our sense of mutual responsibility?"

He goes on to say: "Big issues are often defined through the stories of selected individuals. But the voice of a newscaster or reporter remains an institutional, detached voice, and the produces of the news are now more like a kind of realist theater than ever. News isn't a forum in which connections can be forged."

I can't explain it, but reading about life in Gaza... the people's regular, mundane, habitual stuff through Dick's pen, (though the mundane to them is still spectacular to us: they deal with horrific things on a daily basis, and only since they've increased exponentially over the past -- what is it, 13 days now? -- have we begun to feel it again...) makes it more real. More... tangible. It makes me, as a reader, more human.

Office politics should stay in the office

2009-01-06T08:58:00.000-08:00

It's 8 p.m. and I just came back from work. I didn't have a proper meal all day, just snacks, and have been rushing to get this project I'm working on right... and then, when it was all done: I had put in my 120% and was picturing how amazing the end product would be, it occurred to me that it probably won't turn out all picture-perfect like I imagined it. Not because I won't be able to do it-- I always give room for 'changes in plan' -- but because managers above me an my team members will intervene. They'll get involved, micromanage, without allowing for discussion or debate. They will rarely be open to others' ideas and, sadly, they won't have the project's best interests in mind. They'll push for whatever it is that will get them that promotion, that raise, get an approving nod from somebody higher up who makes them do the same.

It becomes simply about doing whatever it is that the 'bigger boss' likes best.

And then it occurred to me, that's not much different than our leaders and politicians. Look at what's going on in Gaza and the relative silence of the international community and especially the Arab states. Look at it! If that doesn't bring somebody to tears, make somebody want to do something to stop it... I really don't know what would. I just can't understand why the Arab governments do nothing (Egypt's government is an entirely separate story!) and I'm thinking, each one is trying to lay low. Not cause any waves or even ripples. It's no longer about what is right for the people of Gaza, or what is just, it's about their own interests... and, unless given a really good reason to act (like a revolt or dangerous puvlic demonstratins... ) the Arab governments are going to acquiesce and remain relatively silent.

Efforts to collect money and provide medical supplies mean nothing when a strong international political stance is not taken. How did our governments lose their spirits?

A change of heart?

2009-01-02T11:12:00.000-08:00

I started out this post feeling quite helpless, what with the news, the continuous massacre in Gaza and the cowardice of the Arab governments.

But, then I turned on the TV. Usually, wathing the news is even more depressing, partly because of the skewed perception international media corporations have of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and also because of the sense of despair and helplessness that soon comes with it. It was a little different for me, this time.

I was pleasantly surprised to see that EuroNews, and even CNN (a usually biased news agency), were talking about the disproportionate number of casualties between Israel and Gaza, and the extent of the Israeli attacks and their effects on Gazan citizens. Maybe this was a one-off occurence, or maybe I've gotten that disillusioned with global media that a little 'honest journalism' feels like a victory, but it gave me a little hope.

I was further surprised to see that CNN, and Orbit News 1, aired "The Long War" by Tim Llewellyn, a BBC program. Mysteriously, though, there isn't a record of the program online -- not even on the BBC website -- but it nevertheless discusses the origines of the conflict, and the early Israeli terrorist tactics: from the Haganah, Irgun (lead by Menachim Begin, a Nobel Peace Prize laureatte) and Ben-Gurion. What is most interesting to me is that they were intentionally brutal in their missions (missions that were held long before there was a conflict to speak of) to drive fear into the hearts of the Palestinians, and thus have them flee the land.

I'm not going to go as far as to think that just a few shows in the media means there is a change of heart, (who knows what's being shown in the US, afterall?) but it is still, slightly, encouraging.

On our minds?

2008-12-30T20:48:00.000-08:00

I'm not sure if this is the case for most (maybe you can say it about some in Qatif), but what's been going on in Gaza has been on my mind... And it disturbs me that it seems that it's not been on many other people's.

I feel I need to qualify my statement... Before I left Saudi for university, I knew next to nothing about what went on outside of the Kingdom. In fact, I didn't know that much about what was going on in the Kingdom, either. It was all very far-removed from my reality, and quite irrelevent, and I only 'opened my eyes,' so to speak, when I left the country, was exposed to a culture where global politics and social issues were discussed more openly, and started to take an interest in them.

Since I've come back to Saudi (almost two years now!), I've found it quite easy to get back into that routine. I wasn't required to know much or give many opinions -- let alone qualify them -- in my social interactions or in my surroundings. In fact, despite my bachelor's degree in Political Science, I went a good 6 months without ever tuning into a news channel or reading much more than the headlines of a newspaper.

I'm not sure if this was the case for most, but I'll leave the question about what kind of a culture we have in Saudi, and why, aside for now (which is it: uninformed, apathetic or silent?). What I'm really wondering is... is it on our minds at all?

Getting Started...

2008-12-27T09:22:00.000-08:00

So I've wanted to have a more 'active' lifestyle for the longest time now, and have put it off for a number of reasons... In fact, it was going to be my New Year's resolution for 2009 until, just a few minutes ago, I was clicking around the web and just thought 'Why wait? Why not start now?' So here I am.

I'm not sure exactly what I'm looking for in starting a blog. I know that I feel I have things to say, whether they're legitimate or not is another thing, but who knows how long that lasts for either. Too often you hear about people who get started on something, get super excited and then the novelty wears off and they just leave it... I don't know if this'll be one of them, or if I'll run out of things to say or maybe the will to say it. But, if it's any indication, I haven't run out of observations since I've been back in Saudi (almost two years now) and sometimes it drives me crazy wanting to vent about it or SAY/DO something. So here we are.

Take care.