Professor Madawi Al Rasheed

Madawi Al-Rasheed, 20 March 2012

Source: www.opendemocracy.net

Saudi Arabia's support for the armed opposition in Syria reflects the way that the Arab spring is now hostage to regional rivalry, says Madawi Al-Rasheed.

Saudi Arabia’s enthusiastic support for the year-old Syrian uprising contrasts starkly with its condemnation of those in Tunisia and Egypt, its tepid support for revolution in Libya, and its counter-revolutionary role in Bahrain and Yemen. Its calls for the fall of Bashar al-Assad stem from two concerns: one internal and one external.
First, the Saudi regime seeks to contain internal dissent by demonstrating its Sunni credentials against an Alawite (and thus in its eyes heretical) Syrian regime. It is with relish that it watches its own hardline Islamists praying, tweeting and even sobbing on television in support of their Syrian Sunni brethren, who suffer under the iron fist of a Alawite order and a loyal ally of Shi'a Iran. It has tolerated its Wahhabi clerics calling on satellite television for jihad in Syria while bewailing the plight of Syrian women and children. For the Saudi authorities, Syria is a god-sent distraction for its radical Islamists, driven by hatred towards the Shi'a in general and Iran in particular.
The Syrian uprising thus diverts attention from serious internal Saudi challenges. Saudi society is polarised and agitated about corruption, unemployment and the continuous cycle of repression and arrests. Even if the frustrations, anger, deprivation and ideological and tribal schisms have yet to reach boiling-point, the cause of Syria allows Saudis a welcome opportunity to let off steam. At the same time, official support for its Sunni brothers in Syria allows the regime to demonstrate its religious credentials to its own domestic audience.

Source: http://www.bostonreview.net/BR37.2/madawi_al-rasheed_arab_spring_saudi_arabia.php

Last spring, a young Saudi named Muhammad al-Wadani posted a YouTube video of himself calling for democracy, human rights, and more jobs. Echoing Egyptian protesters, he declared, “The people want the downfall of the regime.” On March 7, shortly before a national day of protest planned online, he emerged from the al-Rajhi mosque in central Riyadh with a group of followers. Smiling and wearing an immaculate long white shirt, he held high a sign calling for peaceful demonstration. He was soon overwhelmed by plainclothes and bearded security forces who dragged him into their car and drove him to an unknown location.

Al-Wadani’s Dawasir tribal elders rushed to Riyadh to renew their allegiance to the regime. They issued a statement disowning their son as irresponsible and prey to outside influence. In the Arabian Peninsula, defying the aging leadership amounts to the rejection of parental authority and God. The consequences are banishment and withdrawal of family support, protection, and financial help.

Source: www.bitterlemons-international.org

Defeating Russia in the Arab world was a priority for Saudi Arabia even before it became a fully-fledged commitment in Afghanistan in the 1980s. The current Syrian crisis is perhaps one last opportunity to undermine Russia's eroded sphere of influence in the region. The Saudis may think that defeating Russia this time in Syria could add fresh vigor to their old mythology about defeating atheism in the world and supporting Sunni Muslims globally. While Russia has changed in the last two decades, the Saudi regime is still very much dependent on projecting itself as the defender of Sunni Islam. Such claims are enough to worry the Russians in their own backyard.

It’s not just about cars, argues Madawi Al-Rasheed

Source: the world today | february & march | 2012Saudi

The meaning of rights for womenIt’s not just about cars, argues Madawi Al-RasheedNews reports from Saudi Arabia often ap-pear bizarre and outrageous: young wom-en lashed for defying a driving ban; women accused of witchcraft beheaded; victims of rape stoned to death. Such practices are not unusual in Saudi Arabia and regularly exposed by organisations such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International.

The 2010 Global Gender Gap Report gave Saudi Arabia a high gender gap index, ranking it 129th out of 134 countries. Here, decisions about a woman’s education, her career choice, even health issues are made by male guardians. But Saudi women are mobilising to expose this discrimination.

The Saudi trinity: oil, God and security

Source: http://www.bitterlemons-international.org/inside.php?id=1455

Madawi al-Rasheed

With the winds of the "Arab spring" still blowing across the region, internally Saudi Arabia seems to have put in place three safeguards against the turbulence. Lavish economic handouts worth more than $70 billion were promised in February to absorb discontent. A package of economic, social, health and educational benefits was meant to absorb immediate frustration at lack of housing, jobs, health facilities, and welfare services. The regime promised more employment opportunities in two relevant sectors: the religious bureaucracy and the security services. The first absorbs the increasing number of graduates who cannot be employed in the private sector. The second strengthens the increasing militarization of Saudi society.

But this was still not enough. Religiously-sanctioned obedience to rulers had to be re-invoked to remind the constituency of a godly obligation. From the minarets of mosques, religious functionaries of the regime preached sermons in which they reminded their audiences of the obligation to obey God, the Prophet and the al-Saud rulers. They warned against demonstrations, civil disobedience and open criticism of the leadership. They glorified the current leadership for its adherence to Islam, and warned against chaos. They vehemently denounced Shiites for their agitations in the Eastern Province, where oil is abundant. Any call for demonstrations was depicted as a Shiite Iranian conspiracy against a pious Sunni nation. They called on the believers to support the rulers, much needed at a turbulent moment. Increasing sectarianism within Saudi Arabia is a reflection of an on-going cold war with Iran.

Book Review
In the Time of Oil. Piety, Memory and Social Life in an Omani Town. By Mandana Limbert. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2010.

In the Time of Oil explores local social change in Bahla,  a small town in the interior of Oman. This change is brought about by the 1970s oil boom and the development of the Omani state under Sultan Qabus, commonly believed to be the ‘author’ of the Omani renaissance. Endowed with new oil revenues, Sultan Qabus tried to integrate the Omani periphery, which had been the political centre of a rival Ibadhi imamate in the interior into the newly consolidated state of 1971. Assisted by a new bureaucratic elite, mainly Omani returnees from East Africa, he brought development plans and modernisation projects to the heartland of the country, historically associated with the vanished conservative Ibadhi imamate. Unlike other oil states of the Gulf region where the promise of an oil utopia enforced the legitimacy of authoritarian regimes, this book shows how in Oman, development discourse fostered mysteries, miracles, surprises and deferred dystopias. Because the new social and economic development was entirely generated by sudden oil wealth (the miracle), the new prosperity is seen as a fleeting moment, hostage to a memory of poverty and austerity and an uncertain future.

The Arab Spring has successfully removed three autocrats from the stage, while others may be on their way out. But it has brought three regional powers face to face, each competing to shape the outcome of the revolts in pursuit of its own national interest. Iran, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia are struggling either to contain the revolutions or model them in their image. All three seem to be competing in search of lebensraum, or a sphere of influence, where they aspire to create living spaces for ideologies, influence, capital, and military outreach.

This is the first of two "Free Speach Radio News" interviews with Professor Madawi al-Rasheed looking at the political situation in Saudi Arabia. The second interview will focus on the campaign in Saudi Arabia for women’s rights.
Part I
http://fsrn.org/audio/saudi-arabia’s-response-arab-spring-uprising/8632
Part II
Saudi Arabian activists push for women’s right to drive
http://fsrn.org/audio/saudi-arabian-activists-push-women’s-right-drive/8649

Saudi Arabia and Western Hypocrisy
An interview with "theREALnews"
Madawi Al-Rasheed: Washington is calling the worst repression in the Arab world "evolving reform"
Part I
http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=6859
Part II
http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=6867
Part III
http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=6891

ECONOMIES OF DESIRE, FICTIVE SEXUAL UPRISINGS
Saudi women and the chick lit revolution
Source:
http://mondediplo.com/2011/05/05saudisexnovels
ECONOMIES OF DESIRE, FICTIVE SEXUAL UPRISINGS
Le Monde Diplomatique-English edition May 2011.
Saudi women and the chick lit revolution
A new generation of Saudi women novelists is taking the topic of sex into the very public sphere of chick lit, causing shock waves in Saudi Arabia and beyond. By defying sexual constraints imposed by state and religion, they have exploded the myth of a society sailing on a sea of piety
By Madawi Al-Rasheed
Saudis are reluctant to respond to the revolutionary effervescence that is sweeping neighbouring Arab countries. With the exception of the Shia in the Eastern province, most Saudis have been co-opted into accepting limited political, human and civil rights in return for royal largesse. Even so, a revolution of a different kind is definitely taking place.
Young women novelists are stretching the boundaries in unprecedented ways. They are doing this through producing Saudi versions of the “chick lit” of the 1960s. A new generation of novelists is writing about women as sexual agents rather than submissive victims of patriarchal society.
Among many others are Raja al-Sani (Girls of Riyadh), Samar al-Muqrin (Women of Vice) and two pen names, Warda Abd al-Malik (The Return), and Saba al-Hirz (The Others). Their novels are published in the obvious place, Beirut, with the publisher al-Saqi taking the lead in promoting this new daring literature (1).

Listen to Professor Madawi Al-Rasheed (King's College) and professor Bernard Haykal (Princeton University) discuss on Blogginheads.tv
http://bloggingheads.tv/diavlogs/36025

Source:
http://www.opendemocracy.net/madawi-al-rasheed/saudi-complex-power-vs-rights

Saudi Arabia's rulers are deploying a mix of force and largesse to contain the threat of democratic protest. But an emerging civic movement is determined to persist, says Madawi Al-Rasheed.

In the era of oil, voluntary servitude may become the only option for a people deprived of basic human and civil rights. But behind the scenes and prison-bars there is hope in Saudi Arabia: most of all in an emerging civil-rights movement that is attracting Saudis of different ideological, regional and sectarian backgrounds. The Saudi regime is responding with attempts to suffocate this young movement via two classic strategies - sectarian politics and heavy policing. There are growing questions over the effectiveness of each.

The government in Riyadh continues to devote huge resources to sustaining a vast religious bureaucracy, promoting its upkeep of the holy sites, and sponsoring transnational Islamic institutions. In fact, however, the Saudi regime has lost most of its religious legitimacy. Its intimate alliance with the United States, and failure to defend Islamic symbols when they are or appear to be under assault - from Jerusalem to the incident of the Danish cartoons and Pope Benedict XVI’s retrieval of disparaging medieval sources - leave the royal elite looking incapable of living up to its religious narrative.

Saudi dilemmas and the Arab Peace Initiative
April 06, 2011 Edition 8
Source: http://www.bitterlemons-api.org/inside.php?id=49

The Arab Peace Initiative, proposed by Saudi Arabia's then-Crown Prince Abdullah (king since 2005) and announced during the Arab League summit in Beirut in 2002, is hard to resurrect amidst revolutions and protests in the region. Not only was the initiative a stillborn baby, but over time it became a corpse in need of a death ritual. We all know how important such rituals are for the living, but unfortunately, the illusion of peace persists while the reality attests that "no solution has become the solution".

For a long time, championing the Palestinian cause with either the threat of war, large economic handouts, peace initiatives or even simple delusional rhetoric has been Arab dictators' most favorite road to celebrity status. Turkey and Iran are the contest's most recent arrivals. Unfortunately for Saudi Arabia's king and other aspiring rulers, this road has become a dead end. Neither the Palestinians nor the Arab masses are impressed by previous performance.

Listen to Professor Madawi Al-Rasheed discuss current Saudi dilemmas on Leonard Lopate talk Show-WNYC Radio
The Saudi Royal family has been a close ally with the United States for decades; they are also one of the most repressive regimes in the Middle East. Madawi Al-Rasheed, Professor of Anthropology of Religion at Kings College, London, looks into the history of the family, how they rule the country with an iron fist and why a nascent protest movement there has been suppressed.
Source: http://www.wnyc.org/shows/lopate/2011/mar/24/backstory-house-saud/

How stable is Saudi Arabia?
Preachers of Hate as Loyal Subjects
Source: http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2011/03/14/how-stable-is-saudi-arabia/preachers-of-hate-as-loyal-subjects
How Stable Is Saudi Arabia?
Can the monarchy defuse frustrations by doling out benefits or are pressures for reform mounting? Preachers of Hate as Loyal Subjects
March 14, 2011
Madawi Al-Rasheed is professor of anthropology of religion at King’s College, London and author of several books, including "A History of Saudi Arabia."
Only in Saudi Arabia could Western-educated princes and Wahhabi religious scholars have something in common. Both speak the language of violence and terror. A week before the "Day of Rage" – the proposed demonstrations on March 11 calling for political reform in Saudi Arabia – the religious scholar Saad al-Buraik called for "smashing the skulls of those who organise demonstrations or take part in them."