http://madawialrasheed.org/index.php/site/index/ en a.dilli@btinternet.com Copyright 2013 2013-05-13T02:24:00+00:00 /index.php/site/english_352/ /index.php/site/english_352/#When:02:24:00Z Salman al-Awdah: In the shadow of revolutions The Middle East in London Magazine April-May 2013 Madawi Al-Rasheed charts how religious scholars in Saudi Arabia reacted and adapted to the Arab uprisings There is nothing that prompts us to encourage revolution as it is enshrined in danger... .It just comes when  profound reform has stumbled. Salman al-Awdah, Islamist Like all of us watching the Arab world in the last two years, Saudi Islamists (I refer throughout to the Salafi Islamists) were taken by surprise when the Arab masses marched en masse calling for the downfall of their regimes.  Official Saudi religious scholars  immediately warned against the chaos of revolutions, banned demonstrations, and called for respect and obedience to rulers. Despite this, they supported the uprisings, perhaps in anticipation of Islamist parties and movements replacing the old regimes in Egypt, Tunisia and beyond.  They were, however, cautious when revolutionary effervescence started creeping into the heart of Arabia.  Amid Saudi calls for demonstrations, civil disobedience and change via the internet, they held back from endorsing such calls, as if to assert that neither they nor their followers were ready for peaceful collective action.  Instead, they applauded the bravery and determination of Arab protestors abroad and shifted their focus to local battles with the Saudi regime against detention of prisoners of conscience, the legitimacy of peaceful collective action and the right of the people to be represented in an elected assembly. News And Views 2013-05-13T02:24:00+00:00 /index.php/site/english_351/ /index.php/site/english_351/#When:02:16:00Z   Source: http://www.al-monitor.com Saudi Arabia is neither an island of tranquility in a turbulent Arab sea nor a country on the verge of revolution. Rather, it is a kingdom in regression, plagued by regular reshuffling of princes and lacking energetic leadership with a serious vision for the future. Its aging king, Abdullah, has had two of his most senior brothers, Minister of Interior Naif and Minister of Defense Sultan, die within the last two years while he continues to hold on to the reins of power as an honorable senior member of an expanding clan-turned-corporation. All King Abdullah can do these days is micromanage the demands of the second-generation princes eager to secure a political post after his death, hence he regularly reshuffles. News And Views 2013-05-13T02:16:00+00:00 /index.php/site/english_343/ /index.php/site/english_343/#When:08:55:00Z The Arab uprisings posed serious challenges to Saudi Arabia at the level of society and leadership. Activists engaged in intense debates, and both real and virtual protest, to which the leadership responded by fighting for security and survival. The uprisings added to the regime's internal succession burdens as Islamists in other Arab countries won seats in elected parliaments. The regime responded by deploying tight security measures at home and adopting three strategies to contain the outcome of the Arab uprisings: containment, counter-revolution and revolution. This article examines the intersections between the local and regional challenges facing Saudi Arabia at a critical historical moment. It demonstrates that Arab revolutions and the empowerment of Islamists in neighbouring Arab countries contribute to Saudi Arabia's losing its unique Islamic credentials. The regime is eager to contain the uprisings in such a way as to remain the sole Islamic model in the region. Full Article can be found here News And Views 2013-02-10T08:55:00+00:00 /index.php/site/english_342/ /index.php/site/english_342/#When:08:48:00Z Madawi Al-Rasheed, A Most Masculine State: Gender, Politics, and Religion in Saudi Arabia. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 2013. Source: http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/9722/new-texts-out-now_madawi-al-rasheed-a-most-masculiJadaliyya (J): What made you write this book? Madawi Al-Rasheed (MAR): First, the banality of superficial opinions on Saudi women that is so pervasive. In the public sphere, especially in the West, Saudi women are either superstars or victims of their own society and religion. I felt it was time to contribute to this debate from an academic perspective. I do not want to write a book that celebrates the achievement of Saudi women, seeks pity, or even condemns them to the duality of victim/survivor. As a woman with a Saudi background, I feel that we share with other women a certain degree of discrimination and have our own grievances as Saudis. I also feel uncomfortable with the category of “women” as a homogeneous undifferentiated mass. Class, ethnicity, and religious affiliations cut across this category that is varied, stratified, and experiences discrimination in different ways. So the book reflects my own personal journey first, and second, my academic interests. My previous work always had an awareness of the construction of gender, and the role of women in politics, society, and religion. Since my PhD research in the 1980s, I allowed women their place in my political and historical narratives about the Saudi past and present. More recently, in A History of Saudi Arabia (2002 and 2010), I demonstrated how women feature in the legitimacy narratives of the state and its quest to merge with society as a result of marriage. In A Most Masculine State, I gave this awareness the attention it deserves by situating gender at the center of debates about politics and religion. I have thought about this book for years. It became an urgent project as the Saudi “woman question” has ceased to be merely a local issue and has become a truly global concern. This was an outcome of Saudi internal challenges and external pressure, especially after 9/11, when Saudi Arabia came to the forefront, not simply as an oil producing territory, but as a contested country. News And Views 2013-02-10T08:48:00+00:00 /index.php/site/english_341/ /index.php/site/english_341/#When:08:34:00Z ♦  Maghrebi women proved they are not a homogeneous mass but are differentiated by class, education, and economic situation. ♦  Saudi women have opted to bargain with the state because they were not able to unionize. ♦  Arab uprisings led to breaking the taboo of women in the public sphere, demonstrating and asking for rights. ♦  The Saudi regime wants us to believe that we only have a problem of women. ♦  I cannot accept that because I am a woman I am only allowed to talk about women's issues. ♦  Saudi youth need to learn lessons from Tunisian youth about how to seek rights by action. Source: http://bil3afya.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/madawi-al-rasheed-gulf-states-co-opt.html Bil3afya: After the Arab Spring, how do you place women struggles in the Gulf and Maghreb regions? Madawi Al-Rasheed: The Arab uprisings brought about the well-known struggles of women in both the Gulf and the Maghreb that was fermenting in the twentieth century. In the Maghreb, women were part of national struggles for liberation throughout the anti-colonial struggles but failed to gain rights after decolonization with the exception of some measures under the discourse of modernization and nationalism. They were disappointed with the patronage of male national elites and felt betrayed by the state feminism that dominated the policies of many Maghreb governments. They participated in the recent uprisings throughout North Africa from Cairo to Rabat, moving beyond slogans that touch them as women to national politics, and demonstrating the limits of state feminism under dictatorships. They proved that they are not a homogenous mass but differentiated by class, education and economic situation. They showed diversity in solutions they sought to improve the conditions of the entire nation rather than simply one section of society. They were Islamists, liberals and ideologically non-committed individuals who simply wanted freedom, dignity and justice. After the success of the revolts, they reverted back to their niches as activists grounded in one position, which threatens to divide not only the cause of emancipation but also the nation itself. I hope the opening of the political systems allows women of all political persuasions to voice their dissent without the threat of arrest or even death. News And Views 2013-02-10T08:34:00+00:00 /index.php/site/english_340/ /index.php/site/english_340/#When:08:28:00Z Women in Saudi Arabia are often described as either victims of patriarchal religion and society or successful survivors of discrimination imposed on them by others. Madawi Al-Rasheed's new book goes beyond these conventional tropes to probe the historical, political and religious forces that have, across the years, delayed and thwarted their emancipation. The book demonstrates how, under the patronage of the state and its religious nationalism, women have become hostage to contradictory political projects that on the one hand demand female piety, and on the other hand encourage modernity. Drawing on state documents, media sources and interviews with women from across Saudi society, the book examines the intersection between gender, religion and politics to explain these contradictions and to show that, despite these restraints, vibrant debates on the question of women are opening up as the struggle for recognition and equality finally gets under way. Surce: http://www.cambridge.org/gb/knowledge/isbn/item6970134/?site_locale=en_GB News And Views 2013-02-10T08:28:00+00:00 /index.php/site/english_337/ /index.php/site/english_337/#When:05:41:00Z ANNOUNCING DEMYSTIFYING THE CALIPHATE Edited by Madawi Al-Rasheed, Carool Kersten & Marat Shterin In Western popular imagination, the Caliphate often conjures up an array of negative images, while rallies organised in support of resurrecting the Caliphate are treated with a mixture of apprehension and disdain, as if they were the first steps towards usurping democracy. Yet these images and perceptions have little to do with reality. Demystifying the Caliphate sheds light on both the historical debates following the demise of the last Ottoman Caliphate and controversies surrounding recent calls to resurrect it, transcending alarmist agendas to answer fundamental questions about why the memory of the Caliphate lingers on among diverse Muslims. From London to the Caucasus, to Jakarta, Istanbul, and Baghdad, the contributors explore the concept of the Caliphate and the re-imagining of the Muslim ummah as a diverse multi-ethnic community. ‘This is a book of exceptional scope and erudition that is nevertheless accessible and very timely. By bringing together such a wealth of regional expertise it succeeds admirably in living up to the promise of its title. More than that, these essays throw new light on the many ways in which even a mythical caliphate can exercise a powerful hold on contemporary political imaginations.’ — Charles Tripp, Professor of Middle East Politics, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London Order from Amazon → News And Views 2013-01-14T05:41:00+00:00 /index.php/site/english_317/ /index.php/site/english_317/#When:02:21:00Z Source: http://www.al-monitor.com YouTube has become a vibrant alternative to traditional visual media like TV and has broken the monopoly the monotonous and boring Saudi official sources had over media in the country. Young Saudis have become freelance journalists producing their own video clips. A couple of years ago, it became common for Saudis to post video clips of young men and women being dragged away and detained by members of the state-appointed religious police, the Committee for the Prevention of Vice and Promotion of Virtue, known as the Haya, which means "committee." Most often, the victim was shown in the video as submissive and silent. This is no longer the case in present-day Saudi Arabia. On May 23, a Saudi woman posted a video of her heated and animated encounter with a member of the religious police who had asked her to leave a shopping center. When she demanded an explanation for her expulsion, the Haya agent pointed out that she was wearing excessive makeup and nail polish. Ironically, Saudi women are notorious for excessive spending on cosmetics. She defiantly refused to leave, promising to teach the agent a lesson.  She told him: "I am free, why are you looking at my face and nails? You have no right to expel me."  She warned him that he was being filmed, and even asked him to smile in front of the camera. News And Views 2012-06-07T02:21:00+00:00 /index.php/site/english_316/ /index.php/site/english_316/#When:20:55:00Z Source: http://www.al-monitor.com A young Saudi man's March 2012 public suicide was caught on video. Madawi Al Rasheed writes that in line with its policy of denial, the regime’s response has been to blame the victim, invoking psychological disorders and Western influence in an attempt to depoliticize the wave of public suicides and ignore the demands of Saudi Arabia's youth. In March 2012, a young Saudi man jumped off a bridge in central Riyadh. Video footage of the scene not only confirmed that his suicide was a public act, but also triggered a wide debate in the media and the recent release of alarming statistics by the Ministry of the Interior. Suicide, particularly among young men and women, is indeed on the rise in this conservative and pious kingdom where the only justified reason for deliberately killing oneself is martyrdom in the name of God, though ulamas (scholars of Islamic law) strongly disagree among themselves about jihadi suicide bombers. News And Views 2012-05-29T20:55:00+00:00 /index.php/site/english_315/ /index.php/site/english_315/#When:19:42:00Z 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. News And Views 2012-04-04T19:42:00+00:00