The recent NYT article on Saudi Arabia confirms what seems increasingly
apparent -- that Saudi Arabia is a powder keg waiting to blow up. There are
progressive people there, of course, such as Crown Prince Abdullah, but the
conservatism there seems to stamp on any initiative -- such as allowing
women to drive cars as mentioned below.
However, as in other Muslim countries, it may be the women who will break
the the male stranglehold for the sake of their children. In Afghanistan
during the Taliban administration, many women held school classes in their
homes even at the risk of being publicly beaten (at best) or executed. In
Bangladesh, despite the fierce resistance of local landlords, money-lenders
and, in many instances, their own husbands, it is the women who are taking
up loans from the Grameen Bank in order to start small enterprise projects
such as raising laying hens.
In Saudi Arabia, with its higher standard of living (though now in jeopardy
as related below), two thirds of Internet users are women at home. Because
they can't show themselves in public unless covered from head to feet
(except for eyes, hands and feet) they are effectively barred from all
economic activity and they have taken to starting businesses from home.
There are now many new businesses dealing, for example, in fashions, travel
bookings and conference arrangements on the Net. ("How women beat the
rules", The Economist 2 October 1999)
Three cheers for the courageous and resourceful women in these countries!
>>>>
THE SAUDI CHALLENGE
By Thomas L. Friedman
I could tell that Saudi Arabia had undergone a big change since I last
visited when I checked into the Sheraton Hotel here and the desk clerk was
a Saudi. Five years ago, the hotel owner would have been a Saudi but the
clerks and key hotel personnel all would have been imported labor from the
Philippines, Pakistan or Lebanon. Not anymore.
Today, with the oil boom over, the Saudi economy can no longer afford the
welfare net that once guaranteed every Saudi a government job. Since 1980
Saudi Arabia's population has exploded from 7 million to 19 million, thanks
to one of the highest birth rates in the world and zero family planning.
Meanwhile, per-capita oil income has fallen from $19,000, at the height of
the oil boom in 1981, to about $7,300 today. With less money trickling down
to sustain extended families or bloated government offices, several million
Saudis are now unemployed, underemployed or taking jobs they never would
have before.
To soak up all the unemployed here, Saudi Arabia will have to learn how to
drill human oil wells. That is, its crude oil wells built an impressive
infrastructure, but they can't sustain the future. Saudi Arabia will be
able to thrive only if it can reform its schools to build young people who
can innovate and create wealth from their minds � not just from their wells.
That means revamping the overcrowded Saudi universities, which right now
churn out endless graduates in Islamic studies or liberal arts, but too few
with the technical skills a modern economy demands. It also means revamping
the Saudi legal system to attract foreign investors to create jobs. That
means real transparency, rule of law, independent courts and
anti-corruption measures.
Without those changes, this country is going to get poorer and poorer,
because 40 percent of the population is under 14 � meaning the biggest
population bulge hasn't even hit the labor market yet. This could be
dynamite. In December an end-of-Ramadan youth brawl erupted on the Jidda
coastal road, during which the crowd turned against the police and shouted
anti-government and anti-U.S. slogans, leading to some 300 arrests.
The good news is that a move was already afoot before Sept. 11 to begin
English education � and more teaching about the world beyond the domain of
Islam � in the fourth grade instead of the seventh, which will start next
year. But with extensive class time devoted here to teaching Islam, often
by rote, shifting students to more independent thinking in other areas
won't be simple, and already has conservatives grumbling. "We are now in
the middle of a major change of our education system," said Khalid
al-Awwad, the deputy education minister for curriculum. "It will be based
on the idea: Think global, act local."
The bad news is that the only top leader of the al-Saud ruling family who
has reformist instincts, and is untainted by corruption, is the aging Crown
Prince Abdullah. But he is often stymied by his brothers or
traditionalists. When the Crown Prince proposed letting women drive � so
Saudi Arabia would not have to employ 500,000 expatriate chauffeurs to
shuttle women � he was blocked by conservatives. This is also a problem for
middle-class Saudis who can't afford chauffeurs. "I have a man who works
for me who has three daughters," said a Saudi businessman. "He's constantly
having to leave work to drive his daughters home from school or somewhere
else. It affects productivity." Imagine being a Saudi man with six
daughters and no chauffeur � that's a soccer dad on steroids.
Leaders like to make changes here the gradual "Saudi way" to keep the
peace, but that may no longer be possible. "You can make people change with
time, but do we have the time?" asks Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi. "With
globalization, I don't think we have time. We are living in a crystal ball
now. People see what's happening worldwide on every screen."
We have a stake in Saudi success. Almost all of the 15 Saudi hijackers on
Sept. 11 came from one of the country's poorer regions, 'Asir, which has
recently undergone a rapid but socially disruptive modernization. As one
middle-class Saudi put it to me: "The problem here is not Islam. The
problem is too many young men with no job and no university and nowhere to
go except to the mosque, where some [radical preachers] fill their heads
with anger for America. Every home now has two or three not working. This
is the real problem."
>>>>
�New York Times 19 February 2002
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�Writers used to write because they had something to say; now they write in
order to discover if they have something to say.� John D. Barrow
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Keith Hudson, Bath, England; e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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