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debivort.... Nothing wrong with burkas, Keith -- except that the Western feminist movement has labelled them oppressive. I haven't heard any feminist say 'Ooooops, maybe we were wrong. Maybe our Afghani sisters really DO like to wear burkas, in the same way that we Western women have our own clothing habits, rules and taboos. Hmmmmm," our enlightened feminist would go on to say, "I wonder what our Afghani sisters say about our high-heels, our display of skin, our make-up, our tight-clothing.....is it possible that they don't see, whith all these things, how advanced and sophisticated we western women are???" cordell.... I think the issue is choice. Westerners can wear anything (or nothing, in many cases) but the the others must wear burkas. Most Westerners would find the lack of choice oppresive. Perhaps some Moslem women as well bridle at the lack of choice. > This is particularly so in Saudi Arabia where, indeed, the present Saudi > royal family came to power by mounting a jihad in 1902 with the assistance > of the Wahhabi sect, and have been indebted to them ever since. 1922 perhaps? It wasn't a jihad -- it was a tribal war vs. the Hashemites. The Saudi tribe WAS Wahhabi -- they didn't do it with the assistance of such a 'sect'-- it is simply a desert tribal Arabian school of Islam. And, yes, Wahhabism is a strong social and moral force in Saudi Arabia, and does stand in variance to modernizing -- meaning, for better or worse -- westernizing forces Generally, the oil-rich countries -- and not just the Arab ones -- have tended to become dependent on foreign labor, manual and professional. Oil revenue money is distributed freely, in effect, to nationals of the country, and they do not have to do any work. So the nationals become dependent on the foriegn workers, and fail to develop as a work force of their own. This is the reality behind many of the symptoms you point to. This is a very hard nut to crack. Saudi over-spending has left them in debt, and so this pattern is being severely challenged -- and for simple economic reasons and not religious ones. Will Saudi Arabia and the others, find a way, despite their wealth, to evolve a competent diversified indigenous workforce? This is, IMHO, the number one issue before them. I did a detailed study (including a large public opinion survey) several years ago of this stuation in one such country (not SA) and was impressed by how hard it was going to be. With this inmind, I have renamed our thread. Best regards, Lawry
