Interviewed by Rasheed Abou-Alsamh

Qusay Politics, Saudi 0 Comment

Rasheed Abou-Alsamh asked to interview me for an article he was writing for Al-Ahram (This is the published article) However, none of the questions were used, and I was quoted from this blog post. I asked him if I could publish the Q&A here, and he didn’t mind, so here it is.

1. The Day of Rage, which was set to take place in the kingdom on March 11, didn’t take place after the government warned Saudis not to protest publicly and a heavy security presence was put on the streets of major cities. What happened to the protesters? Were they scared or was there never really a big enough movement of people to actually come out on the streets and protest?

I do not think people want a protest or a change in the regime, they want things in the current system to be fixed and more transparent, last year expats transfered 166 billion dollars from the gulf , unlike other countries which had revolutions, we do not yet go out looking for just any job out of our countries. People might fear the government, but they also fear loosing all what they already have, which is good, but people will always aspire for more, which is a good thing.

2. Do you think that the recent announcement by King Abdullah of an economic package of $37 billion, including a raise of 15% for all government employees and more money for housing, will appease the demands of middle and working class Saudis? Do you think this was a shortsighted attempt at bribing the people and essentially buying the loyalty of citizens?

In my opinion, this has not been a one time thing that has not happened before, the “royal givings” have happened before, people do not like them being called royal givings (makramat malakiyah) anymore, the 15% was there and it is now fixed, the more money for housing has been in the works but the timing of this does make me question the motive, however, it is not a bad thing, which came at the right time.
3. Rumors have been rife that the government will hold municipal council elections later this year, and might even allow women to vote (though not be candidates themselves). Do you think they will go ahead with these, given that they are already long overdue, and should have been held in 2009 when the terms of the first partially elected councils expired?

I have not participated in the elections, nor do I know who won, or what the candidates did after being elected, I have not seen any change because of them, and I am not sure if the government has seen any positive come out of this. The Jeddah elections for example got a lot of scrutiny from people.

4. Do you think there is any possibility of the recent revolutions in Egypt and Tunisia influencing the minds of Saudis? Have they been supporting these popular uprisings? And do you think there is the risk of the recent Shia unrest in Bahrain affecting Saudi Shias in the Eastern Province?

I do not think that anyone in the world has not been influenced by the Tunisian and the especially the Egyptian uprise, even China was blocking news about the egyptian revolution I do hope it influences the minds of Saudis in a good way, not the revolution for the sake of revolution kind. As for Shias, what I know is that they have always had their demands in Bahrain and Saudi and those demands have not changed much, it is the current events that have let some light shine on them.
5. Nawaf Obaid in a recent article for Foreign Policy said that there will be no uprising in Saudi Arabia because most Saudis follow the Salafist branch of Islam and do not believe it is right to protest against legitimate rulers. Do you agree with his line of thinking, or do you think he represents only a small group of Saudis?

That could be a reason for some, and it has been a recurring theme in Friday speeches. I do not know if that is true or not, as you know, saudi is a vast land with people of various customs and traditions. However, people still hold religious scholars and their opinions in high status.

6. Many observers of Saudi society would say that in general Saudis are too complacent and scared of pushing too hard for change. Would you agree with this statement? And why or why not?

As you know I have been blogging about change, as little as 50 years ago Saudi had a 95% illiteracy rate, now we have university graduates who have no jobs, I do not think anyone would disagree that this is a fast enough change in any nation, I think what most are afraid of is the feeling of a loss of identity from the rapid change in the past decades.

Thank you very much for taking the time to answer my questions. Do feel free to add any more comments/observations that you think are important.

And please correct any gramatical errors or spelling mistakes