Poverty in KSA

For people who have never been to Saudi Arabia, the fact that we are one of the biggest producers of oil often gives the impression of affluence. And in major tourist attractions around the world, every Saudi tourist is thought to be a member of royalty. That’s why I believe it’s important to show that [...]

H1N1 conpiracy theories

Yesterday morning the minister of health, Dr. Abdullah Al Rabeah publicly got himself and one of his daughters vaccinated at a launch ceremony for the H1N1 vaccine campaign. This was reported in today’s newspapers. So I went through the comments posted on the article and just as I suspected many if not most doubted that [...]

Saudi Women Activists launch the “Black Ribbons Campaign” on November 6th

This was posted on Facebook by Reem Pharaon and is making the rounds:

On November 6. 1990, 47 brave Saudi women drove their cars publicly in the capitol of Saudi Arabia, Riyadh, to demand their right to drive. They were subsequently detained, their passports were confiscated, and fired from their jobs.
On the 19th anniversary of this [...]

The Ideology of Control

This is from an article I wrote for the November issue of Relativity Online:
Ultra-conservative Saudi families, and they are a majority, have a general dynamic that few Saudis could deny.  Like old-fashioned western family ideologies, the father is the breadwinner, the mother takes care of the home-front, the sons are served and tolerated and the [...]

Saudi Shewolf

This song by Shakira inspired a friend of mine to do something really wild. Thursday night after a social obligation, she tucked her kids into bed and waited until they fell asleep. At about 1:30 am she put on one of her husband’s shmaghs (Saudi headdresses), opened the garage door and [...]

Please let us drive

The academic year is starting and it is so dreadful dragging the driver around. Tell me what should I do when I have a class that’s 90 minutes long and it takes a 30 minute drive to get there; it’s terrible to make the driver wait outside in the heat and I have to rush [...]

National Day Celebrations

We took the kids and went driving around Riyadh on National Day to see the celebrations. Unfortunately I forgot my camera at home and had to use my cell phone to catch these images. The streets were full of guys hanging out of their car windows with flags wrapped around their heads or waving them. Below [...]

I’m proud to be a Saudi

Whenever I’m talking to other Arabs and even fellow Saudis about Saudi Arabia, occasionally the question why is Saudi Arabia called Saudi comes up. And of course the question is not asked for a real answer but rather in a condescending manner. As though it somehow hurts our dignity to be called after the person who [...]

A word not unlike nigger

As a student of linguistics I know the immense weight that language carries beyond just a means of communication. And nothing reflects that in Saudi Arabia as does the use of the word hurma (singular) and hareem (plural) to refer to women. Before the ultra-conservative fundamentalist direction that many people of the GCC countries have [...]

I am Israel