Saudi Jeans

Moved

2007-06-20T19:09:00.000-07:00

This blog has a new home now.

Please click here to visit the new Saudi Jeans.

Twenty-Three

2007-05-30T08:39:00.000-07:00

I know, I know: I'm not supposed to get back now, but today is my birthday and I wanted to share it here with you. The picture below was taken by my friend Mahmood at the wedding of Haifaa al-Mansour in Dhahran last week. It was a great wedding party, btw, and I'd like to congratulate my friends Haifaa and Brad and wish them a lifetime of never-ending joy and happiness.

As for my birthday, there will be no party: Just me and my ~~beer~~ coke, working on some unfinished projects and getting ready for the tough finals. I won't lie to you: I have actually written a few posts during the past two weeks, but they are pending and will be published later in June. Till then, have fun and wish me luck :-)

Saudi Jeans is 3 Years Old Today

2007-05-12T13:00:00.000-07:00

Today marks the third anniversary of Saudi Jeans. Three years is probably not such a very long time of blogging. Dave Winer has been doing it for the past 10 years; Jason Kottke for 9. But for someone who has started blogging as a “fun experiment” I honestly did not expect myself to keep on doing that for this long. Surprisingly, I still enjoy writing on this blog and I truly believe this is the main reason why I keep on maintaining it. Of course, it is not always fun and games in Saudi blogland, and the blogosphere can be a tough, horrible place sometimes, but overall I can say that I'm somewhat satisfied with the experience so far.

Similar to last year, as my finals approach, I will be taking a break from the blog to focus more on my studies. I should be back in 3-4 weeks. I believe some more bloggers might also take similar breaks, though unannounced, so you can expect the local blogosphere to be queit for a while. Until then, you can dig in the archives at the end of this page to follow the evolution of Saudi Jeans over the years. I want to thank you all my dear readers, and I want also to thank anyone who helped me with my endeavors on the web.

The Weak End

2007-05-07T00:05:00.000-07:00

It wasn't unexpected at all, at least not to me: several members of the Shoura Council decided to use the religion card against a proposal to change the Kingdom’s official Thursday-Friday weekend to Friday and Saturday. It is truly a pity how some people in this country would shove religion in everything even when it has nothing to do with it. The weak arguments raised by these right honorable members of our esteemed council are “baseless,” just like one of them described the economic reasons cited for the change.

Frustrated, although absolutely not surprised, I find myself repeating what Tariq al-Maeena has said earlier this week: “Are they trying to frustrate efforts toward a more progressive and productive society? It seems to have worked in the past on other issues such as the liberalization of laws relating to women.” It seems to me that this is exactly the case: when you can't find a reason to halt the change, hey, you can use religion. But you know what I'm eagerly waiting for now? A fatwa by the religious establishment here declaring that changing the weekend is going to make this nation go to hell in a handbasket.

On Zee TeeVee

2007-05-05T09:27:00.000-07:00

If everything goes as planned, I should be on TV tonight sometime around 9:30 (6:30 PM GMT). Naif Abu-Saida has invited me to talk about blogging in the IT segment of the daily magazine show Min Al-Riyadh (From Riyadh) on Al-Yaum channel, a part of Orbit network. Since many people, myself included, don't have a subscription to Orbit in their houses, it would be nice if someone (wink wink!) who has could recored the interview and upload it to YouTube.

I'm definitely not the first blogger to appear on the show: Herbaz and Milyani have done it before, and Naif himself is a fellow blogger, though his blog is strictly poetic. I'm nervous about this, but I guess it is understandable that live TV can be intimidating. Wish me luck.

UPDATE: Just left Orbit studios. I don't know about the interview, I think I have had a hard time trying to put my ideas in sequence, but hey, it's my first time. If you have watched it, please let me know what you think.

Who Else Wants a Good Textbook?

2007-05-02T15:57:00.000-07:00

Secularism on the ethical side means chaos and mocking religion and virtue (...) Democracy is the political expression of secularism i.e. secularism is the origin and democracy is its branch in the political domain (...) The democratic system contradicts in its origin and essence the Islamic system

One of the courses I'm taking this semester is 104 SLM aka Political System in Islam. The textbook of this course has been revised several times over the years, and the latest edition in our hands today was authored by no less than six faculty members of the Islamic Studies department at KSU. Unfortunately, however, when start reading it, it falls miserably short as you would think this is some political party manifesto, not a textbook that is supposed to be fair and unbiased. The mentioned above quotes are just few examples of the gems that fill the textbook of choice for a mandatory course that all students in KSU, males and females, must pass in order to graduate. So much for raising political awareness in the youth.

Boom

2007-05-02T15:31:00.000-07:00

While preparing to write one of the previous posts I had come across many images of the new projects under development in Saudi Arabia. I collected these images in this Ikbis album for your viewing pleasure. If one picture worth a thousand words, and if these pictures are any indication, then we are actually experiencing a new boom. Let's just hope to come out of it with minimum damage.

Milyani Blocked

2007-05-02T15:23:00.000-07:00

The local blogosphere is abuzz with the news of blocking Mohammed Milyani's blog by the much dreaded ISU. Herbaz says this looks like a mistake so maybe we should wait a little bit while this thing unfolds. Don't worry Mohammed. We are with you, and we will work it out.

Whatever Happened to Balanced Development

2007-04-26T04:56:00.000-07:00

I watched Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum on television announcing the new national strategy for the United Arab Emirates last week. He was confident and direct, and not afraid to say the truth no matter how painful or embarrassing it could be. The way he talked about the ministry of justice for example was just unbelievable.

Few months ago, Mohammed bin Rashid, a true visionary, has locked the members of his new cabinet in a fancy resort in Dubai and told them they won't leave the place until they come up with a clear strategy of the country for the coming years. Obviously, after making Dubai the miracle that it is today, he now wants to take the rest of the emirate with him to the future. Is there any doubt he would do it? I, for one, have no doubt. All the best to our brothers in the UAE.

Now moving to our magic kingdom, I guess I wasn't the only one to be disappointed that the king's speech to the Shoura Council carried no major announcements. The major news came later last week was launching a number of new projects worth US$31.5 bn in Riyadh. Amazing. That was my immediate reaction while watching the presentations on television. However, this also made me wonder about the "balanced development" agenda that many people were hailing the government for promoting last year.

Just last year, the media was abuzz with the news about the King's visits to different corners of the country to launch new megaprojects in regions that were admittedly neglected and underdeveloped, including six economic cities that are expected to change the face of Saudi Arabia.

But probably our Najdi brothers got jealous seeing other parts of the country getting a little share of the development cake and decided to do something about it. I bet the rest do not envy the central region; I bet they are genuinely happy for their counterparts there; and I bet this leaves them wondering: was balanced development a true promise or merely a temporary slogan?

Al-Yamamh Girls are Blogging

2007-04-26T04:54:00.000-07:00

Mrs. Lobat Asadi who teaches English at Al-Yamamah College in Riyadh has sent me a link to her project website that is used as a part of the course she is giving there. I know this practice might be common elsewhere, but I think this is interesting because I've never come across anything like this happening here in Saudi Arabia. Mrs. Asadi also provides links (check out the left sidebar) to blogs by her students. She thinks many people will enjoy reading the thoughts of these young Saudi women, and that "they are much more intelligent than people give them credit for." I agree with her that many people underestimate the capabilities of our women, and I'm glad that blogs are offering opportunities to change the conventional thoughts.

Ray of Hope

2007-04-18T02:22:00.000-07:00

Following my latest post, Khaled has written that although we have plenty of good blogs, we are still far behind our counterparts in countries like Egypt and Kuwait when it comes to using blogs as tools for stimulating political and social change. I agree with him, but I think this is not surprising, and I have written about it on previous occasions.

There are, imho, two main reasons behind this. First, the process of making decision in our country has always been restricted to an exclusive circle. Normal people hardly have any history of political participation, and our first, and only so far, democratic experience took place two years ago when we voted to elect half the members of municipal councils that we yet to see their effect on improving the quality of our everyday life. Second, I think that we as a society, as I perviously wrote here, lack the concept of collective action, even in fields that might be considered much less sensitive and dangerous than politics.

However, this is changing. The past few years have witnessed a notable increase in political awareness, and thanks to the revolution of communication and new media, people now have greater access to information and more outlets for free expression, and they are more willing to voice their opinions and discuss issues that used to be taboos. Just look at our blogosphere today and you would see a new rising generation of young tech- and political-savvy Saudis who consider reforming their country a noble cause that is worth fighting for and should not be let go, and are more than determined to make the change they dream of a reality everyone can touch. They are the hope of this nation, and we cannot afford to lose this hope.

10 Must Read Saudi Blogs

2007-04-12T15:37:00.000-07:00

Here is a list of ten blogs that I think one should read in order to get a sense of the Saudi blogosphere and feel the real pulse of streets in the country. This is strictly my opinion; if you think there are other blogs that should have been included in the list please do leave a comment or, even better, you can make up your own list and post it on your blog. Note: blogs from 1-5 are in Arabic, while those from 6-10 are in English, however, the list is absolutely in no particular order.

‬1.‭ ‬Heaven's Steps‬:‭ ‬Hadeel al-Hodhaif is one of the few‭ (‬the only‭?) ‬Saudi female bloggers to use her real name online.‭ ‬Her blog was mentioned on several big websites such as‭ ‬BBC Arabic, and she was interviewed on Al Jazeera‬.‭ ‬Earlier this year,‭ ‬Hadeel was invited to speak at a media conference in Oman,‭ ‬where she talked about her experience in the Saudi blogosphere.

‬2.‭ Mashi97‭:‬ ‬Khaled al-Nassir's frankness and courage have gained him popularity in a short time,‭ ‬but also cost him a temporary brief absence after writing some fierce posts a few weeks ago.‭ ‬Fortunately,‭ ‬he is back now,‭ ‬with a much cooler head‭ ‬:-‭)

‭3‬.‭ A Tribe Called Sarah: ‬This blog,‭ ‬written by a student studying in Bahrain,‭ ‬is a homogeneous mixture of love,‭ ‬poetry,‭ ‬and humor.‭ ‬Many readers feels that Sarah's memoir-style blog is some kind of a novel in the making.

‭4‬.‭ MagicKingdom‬:‭ Mohammed's blog does not only ask good questions and start interesting conversations, but also offers a much needed view on the scene of culture and arts in the country.

‭5‬.‭ Entropy.MAX: ‬Entropy has been blogging for only few months,‭ ‬but over that short time she has proved what an outspoken,‭ ‬articulate blogger she is.‭ ‬It is not only about the issues she touches on,‭ ‬but also in the way she explores the different sides of these issues.

6‬.‭ SaudiSphere: ‬Aya is a young Saudi woman blogging from New York City,‭ ‬and her critical,‭ ‬angry blog is one of most interesting blogs written by Saudis who live abroad.‭ ‬One thing you would find on this blog that you can't find anywhere else in the local blogosphere is Aya's occasional selections of cartoons from newspapers all around the world.

7‬.‭ ‬Annals of a Space Cowboy‬: ‬The name says it all‭? ‬Nah‭! ‬In this blog,‭ ‬Fahad al-Butairi,‭ ‬aka Fedo,‭ ‬a student at the University of Texas,‭ ‬comments on news and posts some interesting YouTube videos.‭ ‬He is also a‭ ‬contributer to Global Voices‬,‭ ‬covering the Saudi blogosphere on semi-weekly basis.

‭8‬.‭ An Englishman in Saudi Arabia‬: I wrote about this blog for the first time in last December, and now he is back after some hiatus. This British blogger moved to Riyadh a while ago, and started this blog to record his adventures with tailgaters on our streets and ninjas in our shopping malls. Quite amusing.

‭9‬.‭ ‬Crossroads Arabia‭‬: ‬It is not the only Saudi blog written by non-Saudi,‭ ‬but definitely the best one in this category.‭ ‬Blogger John Burgess is a former US foreign service officer who has had two tours in Saudi Arabia.‭ ‬He describes his work as an effort to put the country into context,‭ ‬and his experience makes this blog one of the invaluable sources about Saudi Arabia on the web.

‬10.‭ ‬Rasheed's World‭: ‬Rasheed Abul-Samh is a Saudi-American journalist.‭ ‬He is a senior editor at Arab News,‭ ‬and also reports for Christian Science Monitor and the New York Times.‭ ‬His ability to bring us the-story-behind-the-story is what makes his blog stands out.

Honorable mentions: There is also ~~a few~~ many Saudi blogs that I consider worth reading. Here's some of them. In English: American_Bedu, S as in Saudi, and Kingdom of Lunacy. In Arabic: Bandar, OS X Arabia, Arab Tech Channel vlog!, and Prometheus.

My Bad

2007-04-08T23:29:00.000-07:00

I did not see that coming. I mean: I really, really did not see that coming. On the opening day of the fourth Saudi Media Forum organized by SAMC here in Riyadh, the minister of interior has made some bold statements:

Interior Minister Prince Naif yesterday urged the Saudi community not to endorse the culture of segregation between men and women. The remarks were met with applause from members of the audience where the prince was speaking.

“Segregation of men and women is not correct,” Naif told an audience consisting of officials, academics and media persons, who were attending an annual communication forum organized by the Saudi Association for Media and Communication here.

Don't get too excited, though. Arab News have emphasized on these statements and decided to use them as one of the main stories on their front page today, but unfortunately they failed to mention this: these statements were made as a response to a question on the need for a Saudi women's media forum. Of course we will read all kinds of (mis)interpretations of these few words by our pundits over the coming few days, but, and before what is going to be a media hoopla, I believe there is only thing I should say here: I'm not holding my breath.

Announcement

2007-04-06T11:54:00.000-07:00

This post was supposed to appear almost two weeks ago before some changes take place here, but somehow I totally forgot about it, and for that I apologize. The thing is: although I have owned the domain saudijeans.org for some time now, my blog has been hosted on Google's blogspot.com domain. The blog is still hosted by Google, but I decided to use the new feature from Blogger to offer the blog under my own domain. You can still access/link to the blog using both domains: saudijeans.blogspot.com and www.saudijeans.org, but I prefer that you would use the latter one. The old feeds are still working, but you are advised to use the new ones. Thanks, and sorry for the inconvenience.

Who Can Outshine Dubai?

2007-04-03T04:12:00.000-07:00

Upon a recent visit to Dubai, Tareq Al-Maeena confirmed what many people have been saying recently: the thriving city has become very expensive, crowded, with too much 'bling', and not much substance. I wonder what he would say when he learns that Hooters are coming soon :-) In his conclusion, Al-Maeena suggests those can't stand living in Dubai anymore should consider taking the nearest exit, hinting that Saudi Arabia can be heaven for those repelled by Dubai's luxurious hell. Actually, this kind of argument is not exclusive to us; it is very visible in Bahrain, Kuwait, and Qatar as well.

However, Al-Maeena does not forget to point out, though shyly, that in order for this to happen Saudis should relax their regulations and implements some changes and reforms before they can offer their country as alternative to our Emarati neighbors. Saudi Arabia is the largest market in the region after all, right? I wonder what suggestions Al-Maeena, and the rest of our distinguished intelligentsia, have on how we can make our cities more attractive than Dubai. I mean: with the fierce opposition against everything “different” and/or “liberal” we see in our country on daily basis, is this idea of competing Dubai even realistic?

Arab Summit = Long Weekend

2007-03-22T16:08:00.000-07:00

The best part about the coming Arab leaders summit in Riyadh is that the government have decided to give students and employees two days off in order to ensure the smoothness of traffic in the city as some major roads are to be blocked.

Now coming to my expectations of the summit, I would say “not much.” I mean it would be great if our leaders could do something about the political deadlock in Lebanon and the civil war in Iraq, but this seems very unlikely to happen, despite the speculations about a Saudi package engineered by Arabia's Kissinger. The situation is all too similar to the latest GCC leaders summit: big speeches and big ambitions, but nothing that actually touches the lives of citizens or something they would look forward to.

Most probably I would be leaving Riyadh to enjoy the long weekend in Bahrain or to spend some time with family and friends in my hometown.

New Coach, Same Old Story

2007-03-20T02:55:00.000-07:00

Saudi Arabian Football Federation (SAFF) have announced earlier this week that they sacked Brazilian coach Marcos Paqueta from his position as manager of the national team, and subsequently signed a contract with his compatriot Helio Dos Angos to prepare our national team for the Asian Cup in July. Paqueta, who still had nine months left in his contract when it was terminated, learned the news from newspapers. This is, imho, unprofessional on the behalf of SAFF, who should have at least told Paqueta earlier of their intentions to replace him.

However, it is not very unusual for SAFF to act this way. They have become very well-known for sacking managers irrationally since the 1970's. An official at SAFF who spoke to the press described sacking Paqueta as a “tough decision,” which doesn't seem to be the case, but whatever. He said they were not satisfied with the performance of the team during the World Cup, but decided to give him a second chance. When the team lost the Gulf Cup semifinal in December they could not take it anymore, and they “had to sack him,” he added.

I can't for the life of me understand what SAFF were expecting; he is a coach, not a magician. I mean: were they seriously thinking that our team could go to the next round in the World Cup? This is just unrealistic; this is wishful thinking. Six months later, the team goes to Abu Dhabi as a favourite to win the Gulf Cup, but they find themselves out in the semifinal after losing to the hosts by a late goal of UAE's wonder boy Ismail Matar, who went to win the cup in the first time in his country's history. I think this should not be considered a major failure, especially when all critics in the region agreed that Saudi Arabia (and Oman) offered the best performance in the tournament.

Local sports press, in what has become some kind of a norm for them, began to circulate rumors and speculations about the fate of Paqueta and who is the next manager of the Green Falcons, in a fashion very similar to what we have seen with his predecessor Gabriel Calderon of Argentina. Obviously, it was only a matter of time, and SAFF, as usual, did not disappoint their ever decreasing base of fans. They remained faithful to their tradition of changing coaches before we even get familiar with the name of the last one.

Ironically, SAFF always talk about how they are committed to “scientific methods” when they make decisions on the future of our first national sport. However, I think the only progress they have made in the past ten years is this: we used to sack managers “on the spot” when our team don't win, now we give them a few months to enjoy our sunny weather before sacking them.

Thanks to their “scientific methods,” Saudi Arabia have acquired such a bad reputation in the football market that most world class managers would decline to work here despite the large sums of money offered to them. Just take a quick look at the long list of managers who took the helm of the Saudi team since 1998 and you would not see any name that can be considered an internationally top manager. Why would any self-respecting manager compromise his history only to be sacked a few months later in a manner that will only damage his reputation?

Who Are the Agitators?

2007-03-11T23:46:00.000-07:00

The attack on French tourists on the hands of some unidentified armed men near Madaen Saleh northwest of the country was disturbing and brought back some bad memories that we hoped would fade away forever. Hadeel asked if we were back to square one, while Rasheed has posted the-story-behind-the-story.

Interestingly, Faris Bin Hizam, usually referred to as al-Qaeda expert, said it is not necessary for this crime to be attributed to al-Qaeda, but it definitely meets their agenda and ideology. So why after more than four years of our continuous war on terror we find ourselves in this position? Bin Hizam says, this is because “the agitators are still among us.” Methinks that all the efforts to halt terrorism are pointless if we still allow the agitators to keep on promoting their destructive ideas. Unfortunately, Bin Hizam does not go as far as telling the rest of us the names of these agitators, although he says clearly in the title that “we know them.”

RIBF 2007: Final Rant

2007-03-11T23:34:00.000-07:00

I thought I would be updating this blog with news from RIBF over the past week but unfortunately there wasn't much to report. The overall organization has improved, but the accompanying cultural events were not as good as last year's. There were lame, but I read that Latifah al-Sha'alan has kicked some ass during a panel discussing reading in the Arab World, so I'm kicking myself for missing it. (Pictured above: some of the books I've purchased at this year's RIBF)

The War of Hearts and Minds

2007-03-04T22:44:00.000-08:00

Except for the Bush administration, almost everybody believes that the United States are losing the war in Iraq, if they have not lost it already. But there is another war the Americans are losing, one that some people, inside the administration and outside it, consider more important than the military battle: it is the war to win the hearts and minds of Arabs.

Have you ever heard of Hi Magazine? The answer is probably not. The magazine, launched in 2003, was targeted at Arab youth in order to give them a glimpse into living the American dream. The magazine proved to be a failure, and had to shut down after less than three years of the first issue.

However, Hi was not the only example of American failure to communicate with the Arab public. Al Hurra is still unable to attract even a small fraction of the audiences of Al Jazeera and Al Arabiya, and I wonder if anyone in the region listens to Radio Sawa. After the failure with the old media trio, only one medium is left in Uncle Sam’s bag of tricks: the internet.

According to an official at the U.S. Department of State, they are looking now for methods to use the internet to communicate with Arab youth, and they are tackling questions such as: what kind of websites appeal to this large demographic group that represent over 60% of the population in the region? Are they interested in news, sports, entertainment, blogs, social networks, or photo and video sharing? I would say any of these topics can be of interest to them, but only in one condition: it needs to be done right. And based on previous experiences in this field, the Americans just don’t know how to do that.
I believe that they are genuinely interested in reaching out to people here. They even send some of their top officials and advisers to talk with influential as well as regular people in the region. But when it comes to taking actions they utterly fail.

The failure in choosing the proper method of communication is not the only problem though. Another major problem facing the Americans here is that most people simply don’t trust them anymore. Several years of foolish and biased foreign policy in the Middle East have made people turn down anything coming with a “Made in USA” label. They just can’t expect anything good to come out of the U.S. administration.

So, what the Americans to do in their endeavors to boost more understanding between their nation and the Arab World? First, they should stop wasting resources on hopelessly failing projects. Instead, they should focus more on cultural exchange programs on different levels. Also, instead of launching their own projects online, they might consider using and supporting some of established websites to deliver their messages.

You don't always need a standalone website to market an idea and spread the word about it online. Many good ideas on the web gained popularity depending exclusively on word of mouth. Governments, organizations and companies can make a big buzz by small gestures on the internet. Here is a few examples:

- Sponsor a competition on a community website.
- Ask a blogger for a slot as a guest blogger on his website (if you have something interesting to say, most bloggers would agree to do this).
- Support a non-profit organization.

Issues of ethics, credibility, and conflicts of interests should be clearly addressed and handled very carefully here. It could be very difficult for all parties included to deal with these issues in such situations, and therefore they should do their best to ensure transparency while maintaining a certain level of quality and respect.

Let’s Meet and Talk

2007-02-25T09:29:00.000-08:00

I think some readers of this blog still remember the sorry incidents that happened during last year’s Riyadh International Book Fair. You can find some of the posts I have written on the occasion on the sidebar. The 2nd edition of RIBF will open on Tuesday at the same location: Riyadh Exhibitions Center in the northern area of the capital, and it will remain open until March 9.

During a press conference last week, Abdul-Aziz al-Sabeel, deputy minister of information for cultural affairs, announced there will be some changes from regarding the entrance arrangements. There will not be any days for families only. The book fair will be open to everybody, men and women, except for the evening period of three days which will be only open to men. I have to admit that such change is unusual and was not expected, not from my part anyway. The new arrangement was the fruit of a deal between the ministry and the Committee for Promoting of Virtue and Prevention of Vince, al-Sabeel said. “There is going to be a large number of CPVPV members present in the fair carrying their ID cards,” he added.

Similar to last year, there will be a number of cultural events on the sidelines of RIBF. However, as I can see from the program, the organizers have decided to avoid the controversies that occurred last year by choosing a certain kind of topics and speakers. Even though the program is not as interesting as last year’s, I will be attending some events. Here is a list of the evens I intend to attend:

- The Arabic Culture and the Ottoman State. 28/2/07 @ 18:15
- Electronic Publishing: a Battle with Paper. 28/2/07 @ 20:00
- Between Culture and Politics. 2/3/07 @ 18:15
- Intellectual Property. 2/3/07 @ 20:00
- Human Rights: a Dialogue from a Distance. 4/3/07 @ 18:15
- Western Books on Islam after September 11. 5/3/07 @ 20:00
- The Road to the Kingdom: Readings in Travel Books. 6/3/07 @ 20:00
- The Arab World and Reading. 7/3/07 @ 20:00
- Book Covers. 8/3/07 @ 18:15

I hope it would be a good assortment of brain food, and hey, if you are going to be there, let’s meet and talk! You know how do I look like, so if you see me you can just stop by and say hi. Actually, I would love to see some bloggers there, namely MagicKingdom, Riyadhawi, Al Failsoof, and a bunch of others. I think it would be really nice :-)

2007-02-25T09:25:00.000-08:00

Calling all Mac software junkies out there: I’m looking for a free/open source download manager to handle downloads on my brand new MacBook. During my Windows days I used FDM, and it was one of the apps that I couldn’t live without, but unfortunately they don’t offer a Mac version. All suggestions are welcome and highly appreciated.

Switched!

2007-02-21T22:22:00.000-08:00

Although I have been a fanboy of Apple for a very long time, I never purchased any of their products yesterday. The product is a white MacBook that I purchased from iMachines in Rashid Mall, Khobar (special thanks to my friend Mahmood who helped me with the whole thing). This is the first post I’m writing using the new machine. It is a very good-looking laptop with a bright screen and a keyboard that is not ordinary at all. The Mac OS X needs some time to get used to it, but so far almost everything has been straightforward. More on that later.

Eating Bitter Lemons

2007-02-15T10:08:00.000-08:00

Well, not really, but I just felt like saying it :-) Now let's get serious: Bitter Lemons International, a Middle East roundtable, have invited me to contribute to their weekly issue, which features four different writers providing their own perspectives on a particular topic. This week's issue focuses on blogging in the Arab World, featuring Esra'a al-Shafei, Mona Eltahawy, Ammar Abdulhamid, and myself. Read, and please let me know what you think.

Blogging...

2007-02-14T10:53:00.000-08:00

Blogging makes us more oriented toward an intellectual bottom line, more interested in the directly empirical, more tolerant of human differences, more analytical in the course of daily life, more interested in people who are interesting, and less patient with Continental philosophy.

I believe blogging can do all of that and more. What do you think? (via k)

Responsibility and Consequences

2007-02-09T09:18:00.000-08:00

I have been following with much concern what is going on with my Bahraini friend Mahmood Al-Yousef over the past few days. Mahmood was facing a libel case in connection with a blog post where he criticized a minister in the government. Mahmood said this morning that the case is “coming to an amicable conclusion due to sincere efforts of intermediaries,” which is a good thing, but what happened here should be a lesson for bloggers in the region on how they can practice their right to express their opinions without going to jail.

Like Mahmood, I believe in working within the system, but I'm afraid that things can be quite different on the other side of the causeway. Just last week, ten reform activists and academics were arrested for allegations that no one, except for some hypocrites in our mainstream media, believes. Of course it is always much easier and safer to go underground, but I for one can't see myself doing that. I believe that being known and out the in the public is more effective when it comes to the cause I'm working in.

This case reminds me with a similar case that happened to a fellow blogger here in Saudi Arabia. The difference is, when our fellow blogger criticized some minister he did not face a lawsuit, but he was taken for a scary ride with some officials who told him to shut down his blog without giving much explanation, or else face the consequences. Since this blogger owned a business that dealt directly with the government and keeping the blog would directly affect his business negatively he stopped all activities related to blogging. It is a shame, because he was one of my favorite bloggers, and his blog was absolutely one of the best in the Saudi blogosphere.

I wonder what bloggers can do to avoid situations like these. Mahmood's suggestion to arrange a workshop run by professional journalists to teach us how to criticize, but not get legally caught for their efforts is a good start, but I think there is more to do here, although I don't know exactly what to do. More suggestions?

Human Rights Course

2007-02-09T03:09:00.000-08:00

Shabab Forum in Qatif are organizing a 2-day course titled “Principles of Human Rights”. The intensive course will take place in Qatif on March 15-16, 2007. The registration fee is SR 700 (SR 500 for early registration). The course is the first of its kind here, and the seats are limited. For more information, please contact: info@shababforum.com

2007-02-08T11:26:00.000-08:00

Amnesty International are calling for action in Fatima's case, which is now waiting for the decision of the royal court. Meanwhile, some Saudis are petitioning to King Abdullah regarding the case. What bugs me the most is that some people here are trying to rationalize what is going on here.

2007-02-07T05:53:00.000-08:00

Nzingha: ""Riyadh to become first city with wifi" well who in the hell cares when so many other problems exist here. I'd give up wifi if women weren't forced in marriage, abused, denied basic rights, and had the ability to make simple life choices for themselves."

2007-02-07T00:45:00.000-08:00

Arab News says that if all goes as planned, which is unlikely imho, much of Riyadh will become the Kingdom’s first free-for-all WiFi Internet access point. The first phase of the project has brought Prince Muhammad ibn Abdul Aziz Street (aka Attahlia St.) online. What lacks this story is that the city officials don't bother to tell us what is exactly next and when the rest of the city would be covered by this WiFi network.

2007-02-07T00:31:00.000-08:00

Reason 943 to love Sweden: In 2006, the U.S. allowed 220 Iraqis to emigrate to the United States. During the same year, Sweden accepted 9,700.

Press Freedom in KSA

2007-02-06T07:55:00.000-08:00

RSF has released their 2007 Press Freedom Survey, and it is very clear that we are not doing well at all. Of course this is not surprising in any way, but one was hoping that things could get better. Here is what they have to say about Saudi Arabia:

The country remains one of world’s biggest enemies of press freedom. Two journalists were dismissed in 2006 for going beyond the limits set by the dominant ultra-conservative religious authorities.

The Saudi regime maintains very tight control of all news and self-censorship is pervasive. Enterprising journalists pay dearly for the slightest criticism of the authorities or the policies of “brother Arab” countries. The tame local media content means most Saudis get their news and information from foreign TV stations and the Internet. But the Qatar-based satellite station Al-Jazeera, which is banned in Saudi Arabia, was not allowed to cover the annual pilgrimage to Mecca for the fourth year running in 2006.

Journalist Fawaz Turki, of the government daily Arab News, was dismissed in April for writing about the atrocities perpetrated by Indonesia, a Muslim country, during its 1975-99 occupation of East Timor. He had previously been warned for criticising Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in print.

The regime directly censored some journalists. The culture and information ministry told journalist Kinan ben Abdallah al-Ghamidi without explanation on 30 November that he could no longer write in the government daily Al Watan. He had already been forced to resign as the paper’s editor in 2002 after reporting that US troops were using the country’s military bases.

The privately-owned daily Shams was closed for a month on 16 February and its editor, Battal Alkus, dismissed for reprinting some of the cartoons of the Prophet Mohamed first carried by a Danish paper in September 2005.

Unlike in China, where a blocked website is passed off as a technical problem, Saudi filters say openly that certain pages on a site have been censored by the authorities. Targets are mostly pornography, but also political opposition, Israeli publications and homosexuality.

Blogs are a problem for the censors, who tried in 2005 to completely bar access to the country’s main blog-tool, blogger.com. They gave up after a few days and now just censure blogs they object to, such as “Saudi Eve,” the diary of a young woman who discusses her love life and criticises government censorship, which was added to the blacklist in June 2006.

I'm glad that “blogs are a problem for the censors,” though, and I'm sure they will still be for a long time. (via MD)

2007-02-06T07:22:00.000-08:00

Badriyyah Al-Bisher: "I once wrote that car showrooms in our country enjoy better legal regulations than marriage and divorce."

2007-02-06T07:02:00.000-08:00

The news of arresting ten men earlier this week, in what was described as a part of the efforts to crackdown on terrorism, was really disturbing. It is hard to see the link between these men, most of them are well-known academics and reform activists, and the allegations against them: funding “suspicious bodies” and “luring Saudi citizens.” As usual, the government is not releasing much information, but many speculate that the terrorism charges are a pretext and that they were arrested for their political beliefs.

2007-02-05T17:43:00.000-08:00

Khaled al-Dakhil, assistant professor of sociology at KSU, was a guest on the Washington Post Live Discussions on Monday to answer questions about his new research into the ascent of Wahhabism and the Saudi state in the early 20th Century. I asked him a question and he answered:

Hofuf, Saudi Arabia: Last year you were speaking during a cultural event in Riyadh and you were fiercely attacked by a religious man when you described the Shiite minority as a part of Saudi Arabia and that the rest of Saudis should understand and accept that. Do you think this attitude toward Shiites in the Kingdom will ever change? How do you see the future of Saudi Shiites?

Khalid al-Dakhil: There are indications that change is taking place here. I think it will change, although this will take time. The govt. should play the leading role to promote such a change. The Shiites in SA are citizens just like everyone there, and should be taken as such. But, at the same time, the Shiites themseleves should not behave as Shiites. They should behave and act as citizens, and insist on their rights first and foremost as Saudi citizens, and not as Shiites. This does not mean that they should abandon their beliefs. NO. But these beliefs should be enriching part of the the cultur and politics of the whole society. In other words, the Shiites should promoters of religious diversity in the country.

The C Word

2007-02-05T04:50:00.000-08:00

In a recent post I noted that despite the large spending, healthcare remains one of the weakness points when it comes to governmental performance. I believe that the majority of citizens are not satisfied with the services they receive at Ministry of Health's hospitals, and I think many of them are more than willing to tell you all kinds of stories from their experiences at such hospitals, from misdiagnoses to surgical errors and everything in between, the list can go endlessly.

Why do citizen have to put up with poor services in the same time when a very large part of the national budget is supposedly directed at healthcare? Whenever I compare the billions of riyals spent and the kind of services in the governmental hospitals I can only think of one word to describe what is going on here: “corruption.” Oops! Have I said that out loud? It is puzzling to me how “the C word” has become such a taboo that you can rarely find it in the local press. When the press try to point out to such thing in the government they would usually use the term “administrative reform,” a vague hollow expression that you probably never heard of before. Talk about “alkhossusiya al saudia”!

But when I talk about corruption at the government's healthcare sector I'm not simply talking about comparing the poor services at hospitals to the large spending, but also about how things are run at MOH as I have come to learn some stories from few insiders, and they are not pleasant at all.

I have recently met with a gentleman who once worked at MOH, and he is one of the country's top professionals in his field. The man was called to join a committee that was responsible to review offers by companies to provide tools, equipment, and services for all hospitals owned by the government. The estimated value for the contract in hand was about one billion riyals (~ US$ 266mn). The man told me he was shocked at how the competing companies were competing to give bribes, not to win the contract, I meant in order to win the contract. Actually, a representative of one of these companies had the nerve to visit the man's office with an envelop chocked with hard cash! Needless to say the representative was kicked out right away, and after a brief time our gentleman was told that this was simply “business as usual” at MOH, and he had to live with that if he wanted to keep his new job. He could not, so he was shortly replaced. “At least I didn't get my hands dirty,” he said.

2007-02-05T04:47:00.000-08:00

NY Times: Saudi Shiites fear gains could be lost.

2007-02-04T03:02:00.000-08:00

Some friends have visited Qatif last week to experience Ashura Commemorations. I wanted to be there as well, but unfortunately my final exams this semester coincided with the occasion so I had to stay in Riyadh until the 15th of Muharram. Shiites in Qatif, unlike their counterparts in Ahssa (aka Hofuf), enjoy more freedom when it comes to celebrating religious occasions like Ashura. This is probably because Ahssa is a mixed area while Qatif is amlost purely Shiite. Although some say Qatifis are enjoying this freedom because they are more rebellious, but that's another story.

2007-02-04T02:16:00.000-08:00

Herbaz is organizing a meetup for bloggers and IT people tomorrow in Riyadh. I won't be able to attend because I just left town yesterday, but if you were interested I strongly encourage you to go. P.S. Shmagh is not allowed ;-)

2007-01-19T12:15:00.000-08:00

Apologies for not updating in ages. I was going through some rough times and it's been quite hectic around here lately. All of a sudden, my laptop has decided to go blind (read: screen is dead) and since it would cost me about 40% of its original purchase price, I have decided to retire it and buy a new machine. However, I'm practically broke and I will need a loan to do that, so I guess this will take some time. I don't have an alternative machine, so for the time being updates would be few and far between. More apologies, and Peace.

On Unemployment in Saudi Arabia

2007-01-19T12:12:00.000-08:00

One of the most pressing questions of last year was about the state of unemployment and if the worries on that regard were realistic and justified. The issue was more and more in the limelight especially after the efforts of the Ministry of Labor (MOL) to employ more women in the workforce was faced by fierce opposition from many conservatives who argued, in one of their many invalid arguments, that MOL should first work to provide jobs for unemployed men before even thinking about women.

Of course some conservatives were simply trying to take cheap shots at the liberal minister of labor Dr. Ghazi Al Gosaibi. You can say whatever you want about him, but I think Al Gosaibi should not be blamed for the mistakes of the Ministry of Planning and our dysfunctional educational system, because thanks to them and only them we have an army of unskilled college graduates and high school dropouts who their sole dream is to become pencil-pushers as a part of the government bureaucratic machine in order to receive big money for doing nothing.

The ~~Ministry~~ lack of planning which caused unemployment in some sectors has also led to a very high demand of local human resources in some other sectors. Take healthcare for example: less than 20% of workers in healthcare are Saudis. Compare this to the very small number of graduates from medical colleges here and you have a real dilemma. It is said that with the current numbers of graduates we will need about 500 years to come anything near Saudization of the healthcare system. Ironically, the biggest spending in the national budget goes to education and healthcare .

It is not hopeless, though, or at least that's the hope. We are enjoying a second boom, and the mega projects launched recently are impressive and promising but we should not repeat the mistakes of the first boom because we might never have another chance; we simply can't afford it. I pray that the lessons were learned, and please let us not fool ourselves again. Let's work, and let's work hard. It's about time.

Keif Al Hal: How Are We?

2007-01-19T12:09:00.000-08:00

Although I had it on my hard disk for since the middle of December, I have decided to wait and watch Keif Al Hal on the TV screen instead of my laptop 14" screen when LBC aired it on New Year's Eve. Before going into my opinion about the movie, let me say that I totally agree with Abdullah Al Ayaf, a Saudi director, that the whole fuss over who made the first Saudi movie is irrelevant. It doesn't really matter which movie was the first as much as which one is the best.

Prior to watching the movie, I had read almost every review written about it. The only friend who watched it told me it was very, very bad. He described it as a piece of crap, the worst movie he watched ever. When it was time to watch it, I put all that aside and sat on the couch with my roommate trying to enjoy it without any of the reviews in mind.

I think the main problem with the movie is that it doesn't tell the story very well. I never heard of Bilal Fadhl before, I respect Mohammed Ridha as a reporter and critic, but I think Keif Al Hal would have been better off if the story was written by Saudis.

All the issues that the movie touches on are real and persistent in our society, but the correlation between these issues and the story is sometimes vague. I think the movie makers have made a mistake when they tried to make it "all things Saudi." However, credits should be given to them for not trying to presume/suggest/impose solutions for our social plagues.

Casting was also one of the weaknesses of the movie. I wonder if the producers considered at any point the likes of Abdul-Rahman Al Nemr, Nasser Al Qasabi and Abdullah Al Sadhan or other good local actors to play some roles. Choosing Emarati actors for some roles was wrong. None of the actors performed exceptionally; the performance was mostly average or below. I was expecting more from Hisham Al Huwaish (Sultan); Ali Al Sebaa (the father) was slow like a robot; and Khaled Sami (the grandfather) has taken it so far.

I think Rotana intention was to make a romance-comedy movie, but did not quite achieved that. The "thing" between Sultan and Sahar (played by Jordanian actress Mais Hamdan) can hardly be considered a love story, and the lame jokes of the grandfather doesn't make it a comedy.

My verdict: good; not great, not even very good, but good nevertheless. It is definitely better than I expected, especially after all the negative reviews, and it left me optimistic about what Saudis can make in the movie business even in the absence of film theaters in the country. Considering the large number of good Saudi novels published recently, I think the next Saudi movie should be based on one of these novels instead of writing one from scratch. Novels such as Al-Irahbi 20 by Abdullah Thabit and Al-Bahriat by Omaima Al Khamis are two good examples to start with. My rating of Keif Al Hal: 2.5/5.

2007-01-01T02:07:00.000-08:00

Last night I stumbled upon this Interactive Map of the Blogosphere. My blog is there on the map, but I can't find it. Can you tell which one of these colored nodes links to Saudi Jeans?

UPDATE: Found it! Big thanks to Matthew Hurst who created the map and left a comment on this post. Check it out.

2006-12-31T15:45:00.000-08:00

The Initiative For an Open Arab Internet: "Technical problems and social blockade suffered by internet users in Saudi Arabia has not prevent users from blogging and forming groups to write about daily life in Saudi Arabia. Some of these blogs engage in debate about the future of Saudi society."

2006-12-30T15:00:00.000-08:00

Share the joy. (via ABA)

Which Superhero Are You?

2006-12-30T02:51:00.000-08:00

Your results:
You are Spider-Man

You are intelligent, witty, a bit geeky and have great power and responsibility.

Spider-Man (70%), Superman (65%), Hulk (45%), Supergirl (43%), Robin (37%), Catwoman (35%), Batman (35%), The Flash (30%), Green Lantern (25%), Wonder Woman (18%), Iron Man (15%).

Click here to take the "Which Superhero am I?" quiz...

Al Jazeera English in Saudi Arabia

2006-12-30T02:49:00.000-08:00

Few days ago I was watching Inside Story on Al Jazeera English, and one of the guests on the show was Baria Alamuddin, foreign editor of Al Hayat. This sounds normal, or at least it should, except that Alamuddin was speaking from Riyadh. It is no secret that Al Jazeera and the Saudi government are not friends. They have been banned from working inside the country for a long time, and some of their Arab employees say they are not allowed to enter the Kingdom even when they come on their own. I'm a little bit puzzled over this: are Al Jazeera no longer banned from working here, or is it just for the English channel while its Arabic sister is still banned?

2006-12-28T01:26:00.000-08:00

Our current legal system needs serious revision, and stories like this are more than enough indication. As usual, it seems as if we take one step forward, and then undo it by taking ten steps backward.

2006-12-28T01:23:00.000-08:00

Keef Al Hal, the first Saudi full-feature movie is now available on Google Video. On a related note, LBC have announced that they will run the movie on New Year's Eve at 1800 GMT.

2006-12-28T01:21:00.000-08:00

Faiza Ambah profiles Saudi human rights lawyer Abdul-Rahman al-Lahem who contends that the religious police oppress people in the name of religion and act as if the law doesn't apply to them. He wants to prove them wrong.

2006-12-28T01:18:00.000-08:00

After less than four months of searching, MTV has found what they consider the right partner to launch their Arabic channel. The new channel will start broadcasting during the first half of next year, Asharq Al Awsat reports.

In the Spirit of...

2006-12-26T06:37:00.000-08:00

Some bloggers here have expressed their anger and disgust after finding Christmas decorations stuff in some supermarkets in Riyadh. Their reasoning: "we are not responsible for bringing joy to Christians who live among us because Christians in other countries are killing our Muslim brothers." I have to say that I was totally disturbed by this senseless statement.

This way of thinking seems very similar to some reactions in the U.S. after 9/11: "hey, let's kick Muslims out of this country altogether." This is no good, and this is what gives extremists on both sides the chance to shamelessly voice their narrow-minded opinions. This is what makes people like Debbie Schlussel objects to Barack Obama's nomination for presidency because his father was a Muslim "when we are fighting the war of our lives against Islam" she says in a recent, as well as senseless, post. I think people everywhere should realize that we, the whole world, are fighting a war against extremism of every kind, and not this faith or the other.

I can understand how some people feel threatened and want to protect their faith and beliefs, but I think it can be way too extreme sometimes. It is not as if these guys were putting a big Christmas tree in the middle of King Abdullah Rd., or as if they were forcing everyone to join the party. These Christmas decorations were even purposely distributed in the supermarket in such a way that it doesn't feel they were there to celebrate the season.

Just because you don't believe in something doesn't give you the right to deny others from believing in it, especially when it has nothing to do with you whatsoever. We need to learn how to be more tolerant and accept differences, and that "different" does not necessarily and always equals "bad".

Homegrown vs Imported

2006-12-26T06:32:00.000-08:00

I wonder if anyone in the local blogosphere has written about the recent Asian Games that took place in Doha earlier this month. The Qataris have managed to organize a really great sports event, and they are already talking about bidding to host FIFA World Cup in 2018. I don't have much to say about the Asian Games: the Sydney-esque opening ceremony was spectacular, and I enjoyed watching some of the competitions.

I just wanted to point to this report by Chris Turner for the IAAF about Saudi athletes. He compares our homegrown talents who won 9 gold medals in the Asiads to the imported athletes of Bahrain and Qatar, and he thinks they may have the potential to compete in World Championships and the Olympics Games.

Saudis Guys Don't Enjoy Art?

2006-12-22T08:09:00.000-08:00

I can explain: too many exams, too little time. But I'm not dead, I just don't have time for blogging, or anything else for that matter. You have no idea what kind of an overwhelming stress and pressure pharmacy students have to go through.

I wanted to go to Hewar Gallery after reading about it on MagicKingdom's blog, and thank God I had the chance to do it last night on its last day. But I have to say I was quite uncomfortable with the way we were received over there. Apparently one of the organizers could not believe that two young men were actually interested in art, and not in chasing girls who might be there at the same time. He had to escort us to the 52nd floor and keep an eye on us while we were watching the paintings at the gallery. When we were leaving, he apologetically said he had to do it due to the strict instructions of security at the Kingdom Tower. Whatever. I also wanted to go to The Legacy of King Saud exhibit at the National Museum but could not do it. Maybe when I get back from Eid break.

Anyways, more blogging later this week. I will be leaving Riyadh on Monday, heading to Dhahran where I'm invited to a Christmas party, and then going home to Al-Ahssa to see my family and friends and spend Eid with them. Happy holidays everyone.

Lebanon is Sinking

2006-12-15T08:50:00.000-08:00

As much as I admire Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah as a person and respect the achievements that he has led the Lebanese resistance to achieve over the years, I find myself quite displeased with the situation that he and his allies have created in Lebanon during the past few weeks.

Hizbollah have accepted to become a part of the government. No one prevented them from that, and no one forced them into it. They have a demand (a national unity government), and they have the right to put it on the table to be discussed. If consensus is reached via dialogue that's good, if not there should be a vote to resolve the issue. Whatever result the vote yields, everyone should adhere to it.

When the majority refused to answer Hizbollah's calls, the latter have decided to withdraw from the government. After withdrawing they said the government is not constitutional because it doesn't represent all the Lebanese people. This is ridiculous because they have withdrawn at their own will; it is not as if someone has kicked them out of the government.

They have the right to demonstrate, and it is the government's duty to protect their right to demonstrate. However, accusing everyone else of disloyalty and treason is unacceptable, and it won't get them anywhere.

I could talk endlessly about the situation in Lebanon and how wrong and absurd it is. And the words above are no political analysis as I'm not an expert on this topic, and I could be mistaken but at least this is how I see it. Now let me come how I feel about it: I feel bad, really bad. Because I have always looked up to Lebanon as a role model for other Arab countries when it comes to freedom, democracy and diversity. Today all I can see is a country sinking in a deep dark sea of wars, conflicts and selfish interests.

I know for sure that Lebanese people would rise this country from the ashes, as they always do, but let us not forget how many souls were lost and how much time has gone and will never comeback.

2006-12-15T08:49:00.001-08:00

Dr. Abbass Mustafa, head of research section at Abu Dhabi TV, has posted his study on Arab blogs. Worth reading.

2006-12-15T08:49:00.000-08:00

Jeddah Food is hoping to become a major point of call for all those wishing to find out about the latest restaurants and hot spots in Jeddah.

Prioritization (or the lack thereof)

2006-12-07T11:31:00.000-08:00

When asked about issues such as women's driving and providing more entertainment outlets for youth, some decision makers here say: this is not a priority for us in the present time. Very diplomatic, but also very concerning because these officials don't bother to tell people their other priorities, if there was any of course.

I find the idea of prioritization somehow troubling, especially when discussing national issues and in the absence of an elected parliament that reflects the opinion of the nation. I think that some officials use prioritization as an excuse to ignore, avoid, or delay taking decisions even though he knows deep down these are the right decisions to take, only because such decisions don't go well with his personal agenda. What we have now is different trends in the society having different priorities, and different leaders having different priorities, all while our most pressing issues remain unsolved and get even more complicated.

Now my question for you dear readers: if you have the ability to solve one of our national issues, what is the single most issue you would like to solve?

2006-12-07T11:22:00.000-08:00

This is one of the blogs that I recently added to the SaudiBlogs.org list. It is written by a British man who moved to Saudi Arabia few months ago, and it is quite amusing to see what a foreigner has to say about his experience here. BTW, he has an advice for blondies: "If you are a blonde haired woman and you are planning on coming to Saudi you had better be prepared to be stared at. A lot."

Push the Button

2006-11-30T08:47:00.000-08:00

Earlier this year, I asked who will make the Arabic Technorati. The Arabic Technorati is not here, yet, but several notable web apps have appeared in the Arab World. There was Wapher, Printaholics, Sortak, and most recently Ikbis, which I linked to last week.

Ikbis is basically a service for sharing photos and videos, a combination of Flickr and YouTube if you like. Now some would say: why would I use a clone when I can go for the original thing? But I think this is not the right question. I would rather ask: why not take the best of both and turn it into something better? This is not the only reason to try Ikbis. Flickr and YouTube, as good as they are, are not perfect and I believe there is always a space for competition and improvement. Moreover, for a start, Ikbis offer one major advantage over the big guys: a beautiful, user-friendly Arabic interface.

All the above probably sounds like over-hyping, but I really think this might actually work, and there are several factors contributing to that. Ikbis is brought to you by the Toot Team, the same guys who produced iToot.net, the best Arab blogging portal out there. They offer a bilingual interface, which is essential to make it big in the Arab World, especially with the widespread use of mobile cameraphones. One more thing: Ikbis could grow around the already established and very flourishing Arab blogging community.

Although I think creativity and innovation were the main motives for the team to launch Ikbis, I'm really hoping they can make money out of it. We have seen some major Arab players in the field such as Arabia.com and Sakhr die in the dot-com bubble, and we don't want to see that happening again. Let's pray the lessons were learned and the old mistakes are not to be made again (fingers-crossed).

Women. Out. Now.

2006-11-30T08:42:00.000-08:00

Lubna Hussain and Abeer Mishkhas, as well as John Burgess, were all really angry at what happened in Riyadh last week during an international medical seminar: a presenter called Dr. Yousef Al-Ahmed from King Saudi University insisted that all women — including medical and media professionals — leave the room before he would enter the room to give his presentation. I can't blame them. It was outrageous.

However, I don't agree with Hussain and Mishkhas that the female attendees are to blame for leaving to the request of the organizers, who are the only to be blamed for this ridiculous incident.

Dr. Al-Ahmed knew well there will be women at the event. He for sure knows that KFSH has a mixed work environment, unlike KSU and King Khaled University Hospital. If he was offended by the presence of women then he should have rejected the invitation. The organizers should not have agreed on his request to kick women out, and if he had a problem with that then, well, this is his problem not theirs, as one of the attendees, a Saudi female neurologist, told Arab News.

Considering that he comes from KSU, I should say I was not totally shocked by his actions. Those of us familiar with the environment of Saudi Arabia's oldest university, and its medical colleges in particular, would come to expect the most bizarre things. Do believe me when I say that despite the strict segregation at KKUH, there are some teachers in the College of Medicine who are not satisfied with the situation and demand the current dean to be sacked in order to implement their views.

I know that some people would jump down my throat for simply writing this post, and to that all I can say is: I don't care. They would bash me as Westernized, un-Islamic, etc, and whatever they can come up with of their sorry accusations, and you know what, I don't care. Silencing critics and sugarcoating mistakes would only set back our country, and if we want to move forward we should never give in to the nay-sayers. Now if you excuse me, I would like to make sure that no woman will comment on this post.

2006-11-30T08:38:00.000-08:00

Muhammad Sadiq Diyab: "What cinemas face is no different to the type of objections that other modern inventions such as cell phones, televisions, and the Internet once faced. Ironically, many of those past rejectors are the ones who now use and benefit from these modern developments."

Destroyed. Forever.

2006-11-30T08:34:00.000-08:00

I feel bad every time I see Dr. Sami Angawi on TV speaking about our bulldozed history, raising awareness so we do not neglect what is left of historical locations in Hejaz, especially in the holy cities of Mecca and Medina. I feel bad not for the man, as he is a man to be respected and admired and not to feel sorry for, but for ourselves and this miserable situation that we have reached, and for a past that some people have destroyed. Forever.

In addition to the random, and not-so-random, destruction of the houses of the Prophet and Companions, and other important historical locations, it seems that we are moving toward a day when the visitors of Mecca won't be able to see the Ka'aba unless they are staying at one of the fancy towers which started to surround the holy mosque from every corner. Some would blame the ideology that dominated our country for so long, an extreme ideology even when it comes to dealing with mud and stones; some would blame businessmen and their greediness without any regard to the holiness of the place; and some would blame officials and their corruption which allowed this to happen. I blame all of them, excluding nobody.

2006-11-24T04:50:00.000-08:00

From the Washington Post: "A record number of nearly 11,000 Saudis are pursuing higher education in the United States, reversing a years-long decline in students coming from the oil-rich kingdom, particularly after the 2001 terrorist attacks."

2006-11-24T04:49:00.000-08:00

Ikbis: Share your life.

Zait o' Za'tar

2006-11-19T09:47:00.000-08:00

Growing up in Al-Ahssa (aka Hassa, Hofuf), one of my favourite meals was pastries served in these little diners run by Turkish workers that spread at different corners of the city. These pastries are similar in many ways to the famous Lebanese mana'eesh. When I moved to Riyadh few years ago I started to miss the pastries because I could not find any place in Riyadh that serves good pastries in reasonable prices. I mean: why oh why would a little man'oshat za'tar cost 5 or 7 riyals? No, thanks. I can get the best za'tar in Al-Ahssa for just 1 riyal.

But last week, thanks to a good friend of mine, I stumbled upon a new restaurant in the trendy Tahlia St., or what many people here like to call "The Champs Elysées." The restaurant is called Zait o' Za'tar, and I should say I was very surprised and pleased with the quality of their food. They simply serve the best pastries I had since I came to the city in 2002. You can always go for traditional choices such as labneh or cheese, but you probably should try some of their special offerings such as Mexican chicken or Za'tar with tomatoes and onions. And for those of you on a low-carb diet, they also offer 'Lite' variations of some items on their menu.

This time of the year is absolutely the best to visit Riyadh because the weather is really, really nice. It is still warm, and there is this refreshing cool breeze in the air. Considering the mild weather and that many restaurants in Tahlia St., including Zait o' Za'tar, have tables on the sidewalk, it would be a good idea to enjoy a meal out there if you have some time. Know of another place in Riyadh which offer good pastries? Please let me know in the comments.

2006-11-19T09:45:00.000-08:00

The Washington Post had run a story on Saudi bloggers last week, and they finish it with a quote yours truly: "I want our society to move forward, and I want to be part of that change. I don't want to be 40 and still struggling with the issues we're dealing with now." Read what other fellow bloggers have to say about it, and if you can read Arabic you may want to see how AlArabiya.net manipulated the story and how their readers reacted to it.

2006-11-19T09:44:00.000-08:00

DemonEyes: Should we fight tribalism, all forms and shades of tribalism, and cancel it completely, and call anyone who speaks of tribalism generally without referring to the (good) or (bad) type a backward ignorant Bedouin?

2006-11-19T09:41:00.000-08:00

Abid Khazindar estimates KACST's spending to block website: over SR7.1 billion. "I bet KACST is not spending one tenth of this money on research," he says, "and I also believe that the entire process of blocking websites is simply not working." How much money do we spend to fight terrorism, btw?

On Online Activism

2006-11-12T12:03:00.000-08:00

There is something that frustrates me about the Saudi blogosphere. I don't like the ignorance, hatred and racism that continuously appear in some of the blogs. Not that there is much I can do about that: in the end of the day, everyone has the freedom to fill her blog with whatever she likes, and if she was into that kind of things then who am I to try to stop her? I never did, and never will. Hence, this post is not about the things that I don't like, but rather about those that I do like.

One of the things I like about Saudi blogs is that they are encouraging people to work together in order to reach goals. Unfortunately, we lack the concept of "collective action" in our country, but I hope that blogging will help to change that. The social networking aspect of blogging can play a big role in building recognition of such concept, through groups of bloggers who work together in what can be called "online activism."

I'm actually amazed by how Hadeel's post "The 15%.. They have eaten it!" (Arabic) on the greediness of some business owners, who have raised the prices of some products in the market based on the fact that the government have increased the salaries of civil servants by 15%, has evolved into an online campaign to demand acknowledgment of consumers' rights.

The campaign is now called "Ween Al-Bagi?!" loosely translated as "Where is the Change?!" The title is supposed to encourage consumers to insist on getting the change after they pay for their purchased goods, because many stores here ignore giving the consumer his few halala's or make him buy something stupid like a chewing gum using the lame pathetic excuse: we don't have coins. They run a multibillion business but they can't provide these little coins? Hmm, why would they when they can make millions of riyals by keeping the change? Well, no more. We, the consumers want the change. It is one of our lawful rights, and we won't let you take advantage of us and then get away with it.

I have to say that I'm impressed by Hadeel's enthusiasm for online activism. You can only imagine what kind of effect and difference she can make if she had the chance to extend such activity on the ground. However, I think people interested in launching campaigns online should study what can (and can't) be achieved through such campaigns before they start. Online campaigning is appealing to many people because most of the time it doesn't take much resources. But such thing should not make the campaigners overlook setting objectives prior to the beginning, as well as how far they can go and what do they want to reach.

Many of the problems with our society is related to the fact that people don't care. As long as they can get what they want, many of them don't care about anybody and anything else. If everyone only looked after his own interest, ignoring the greater good, what kind of society are we going to live in? I would die a happy man if blogs could increase awareness on the importance of values such as collective action, freedoms, plurality, etc. We have the potential and we have the tools. We just need to get started, and hopefully someday in the near future we will get there.

The View: What Do We Look Like?

2006-11-09T09:11:00.000-08:00

Intro

Saudi Arabia is terribly misunderstood, by Muslims and non-Muslims alike. Many Muslims look up to Saudi Arabia and consider it the model Islamic state which represents religion in its purest form. Many non-Muslims, especially in the West, view Saudi Arabia as this mysterious land of desert and camels, oil and Usama Bin Laden. However, both parties are mistaken. There is much, much more about this country, and unfortunately it is the one most stereotyped places on this planet.

The world lacks perfection, except in our dreams and fantasies. The imperfect world confuses people and makes them feel unsafe. People use stereotypes in order to simplify it and feel more safe. But stereotypes are very bad, because they are blinding; they prevent us from seeing the reality of things. Sadly, we, Saudis, have contributed to and promoted the stereotypes.

In the hope of a better understanding, I will try to take a closer look into some of the stereotypes surrounding Saudi Arabia. There is two parts of this post: the first is going to deal with the view from the West, and the second will talk about the view of some Muslims regarding this country:

From the West

For many Westerners, Saudi Arabia is such a big mystery. They don't understand it. They don't know much about it. They know we have oil, much of it, and they think we charge them a lot of money for that, which is not true because we don't really control prices. They associate it with Usama Bin Laden, who left the country about 20 years ago and was later divested of his Saudi citizenship.

This mysterious picture of Saudi Arabia, along with many stereotypes and misconceptions, in the eyes of Westerners have much to do with the fact that we are a very closed society. It is astonishing how multiple tides of foreigners who flooded our country after and during the oil boom have failed to understand and/or open up our society.

I don't know whose idea was to build residential compounds for foreigners where they can live behind high walls and closed gates. It was a cleaver idea in the past probably, but it had some very negative implications. These compounds that we made have isolated them in their own little world, minimizing contact with locals as much as possible. We have chosen to put them in a shell so we can enjoy the warmness of our shell too, and this is, imho, unhealthy. I have never been to such compounds, but the idea that some of them go as far as to ban wearing thobes and abayas inside them is disturbing.

It is said this can't go forever, and I believe it is already changing. A landmark in this course was the terrorist attacks of 9/11, and what followed, including attacks in our homeland. 9/11 has made more people in the West look suspiciously to Saudi Arabia, a behavior that we have used with outsiders for a very long time, but this suspicion soon resulted into more interest and effort to understand this country.

It is not just politicians and journalists who seek a better understanding. You won't expect what kind of email I receive from people coming from different parts of the world and from all walks of life who express their genuine interest in Saudi Arabia and ask all kinds of questions. Here is some examples: a tourist looking forward to experience the unexplored natural scenes in this land; an investor who want to put large sums of money in this country but not sure if he is making the right decision; a film director who wonders about the possibility to shoot parts of her new work here.

What can we do when we have people curious about our country? In the end of this post I will offer some suggestions that might help to decrease the misunderstanding and change the view, but now let's move to the second part.

From the East

Muslims see Saudi Arabia in the light that it is the birthplace of Islam and its Prophet (pbuh), from where he started his eternal message that shone over the whole world. When they think of this country they think about Mecca, the land of the Ka'aba which they face its direction whenever and wherever they pray five times a day. They think of Medina, the city of the Prophet (pbuh) where he founded for a civilization that spread out its light for centuries and contributed significantly to knowledge and humanity. They have this picture in their hearts, and they are afraid if this country ever changed the picture will diminish and be lost forever.

Reforms, no matter how trivial they seem, are hard to implement, because as the old Arabic saying goes: humans are slaves of their habits. And reforms become even harder when others expect you to resist these reforms and remain standstill.

The way many Muslims view this country as the model Islamic state has given the wrong impression to some Saudis that, considering the place of their country, they are better Muslims than the rest of Muslims in the world. It is hard, of course, for these Saudis to make such claim publicly, but I think it can be clearly seen in the way they try to impose their beliefs on others. This a case where a stereotype has led to more stereotyping: the way many Muslims stereotype this country has made some Saudis start to stereotype themselves and the others as well.

With all this stereotyping, many of us find it very difficult to accept criticism, not even from ourselves, let alone from others. If many Muslims in the world think that our country is the "almost" perfect Islamic state, how can anyone, including us, say there is something wrong about it? Heck, we are even better than what they think, we are actually much better than them!

To make matters even worse, some currents in Saudi Arabia use this stereotyping as a weapon against those who disagree with them. "See, all Muslims think we are such a great country," they say, "and now you want to come and ruin this beautiful picture." Something else these people tend to use is calling those who call for reforms as "unoriginal Saudis," forgetting that those they call unoriginals have inhibited and been living in this land for so long probably even before this country has come into existence less than 100 years ago. It is pathetic how some of those who claim to be the guardians of religion would use such tactics to strengthen their position.

What should be realized is that perfection, or anything near it for that matter, does not exist in this world. Saudi Arabia is neither total good nor total evil, and Saudis are neither angels nor demons. It is a country that has some uniqueness, but such thing should never make us overlook the fact that no matter how "unique" or "different" we think we are, in the end of the day we are a part of something much, much bigger. Saudi Arabia is a part of this larger world, whether we like it or not, and it cannot be simply isolated and it cannot be easily melted.

Exit

As much as it is easy and tempting to do that, we cannot and should not blame others for this situation. Probably they need to go out and look for the truth, but there is a good chance that they might never find it if we kept on closing doors and windows. Then, it is our duty to make the most out of everything in order to get rid of the stereotypes and get over the misunderstanding. I would like to finish with two examples of what can be done:

- Two years ago, Saudi Arabia started an ambitious project to send thousands of its students to receive their higher education in different parts of the world: Europe and America, East and Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand. The project is expected to last for more 8-10 years. These students are supposed to contribute to the development of our nation when they comeback, but while there they should think seriously about what service they can offer to their country. Get involved, don't isolate yourself, and don't miss a chance to teach others about the culture you belong to.

- Blogging for the past two-and-a-half years, I have come to learn that "bridge-blogging" is such a powerful tool to communicate, reach out, and deconstruct the stereotypes. I think Saudi blogs can play a role in that because they show the real face of Saudi Arabia: males and females, liberals and conservatives. We have a good opportunity to show the world our true colors, and we should not miss out on it.

Unblock Mahmood's Den

2006-11-03T08:55:00.000-08:00

As most of you probably already know by now, the blog of Mahmood Al-Yousef, Bahrain's most famous blogger, was blocked by order of the Bahraini Ministry of Information. Mahmood's Den was one of the first blogs that I read, and one of those that inspired me to start blogging. A petition has been launched against the blockage of Mahmood's Den. Please support free speech in Bahrain by signing it and sending the link to as many people as possible. UPDATE: I'm too late. Mohmood's blog was unblocked yesterday. Sorry about that, and thanks Raed.

Now with Thicker Skin

2006-10-31T08:50:00.000-08:00

After the silly hugger-mugger following my post on the banned episode of Tash Ma Tash, the last thing I needed was another trigger to make more people open their fire at me. This trigger was a recent interview with Reuters. The interview was published on the front pages of Al Hayat in Saudi Arabia, Gulf News in Dubai, and Arab Times in Kuwait, as well as some newspapers and websites in Europe and the United States.

However, the biggest reaction received by far was when the website of Al Arabiya news channel ran the story. AlArabiya.net, known for their tabloid style of reporting, decided to spice it up by using a different title: "He wears jeans instead of the white thobe and attacks those who decline change: The Most Famous Saudi Blogger Considers Life in the Kingdom "Chronically Boring"". The second part of the title was later changed to a more provocative line: ""Saudi Jeans" Would Like to Change the Life of Youth in Saudi Arabia", as if this blog was some kind of political organization or something :-)

I have no problem with the title, because it is the content of the article that counts, not the title, even if it was purposefully provocative. In the same manner, I expect others to focus on the content of my blog and ideas and opinions I offer here, not the name Saudi Jeans, and certainly not myself. Therefor, I did not like the way AlArabiya.net presented the interview, and how they misquoted me. I would assume the misquotation was a mistake because it is such a common mistake in the media, but that does not change the fact that it was a clear mistake.

The article has attracted more than 200 comments, most of them are... well, I don't want to go into describing these comments, so maybe it is better for you to go there and read them yourself. There was a few nice comments, and one of them was by a fellow blogger, Abdullah Al Shahrani who wrote a good post on Tash too. Since AlArabiya.net readers are infamously known for their nasty comments, this should not come as a surprise, at least not to me. Moreover, this proves my statement in the interview that our society remains deeply conservative. I think the fact that many people are willing to attack you personally simply because you called for some not very radical changes, and even if they never heard of you before is quite manifesting of such statement.

If I read such comments about me two years ago, I would have probably quit blogging altogether. Comments such as "Shut up! You are raised on the hands of Philippine nannies and maids" (I wasn't), "leave this country, you little Westernized spoiled brat" (I won't, and I'm not), or "anyone who wants to look at failure should look at his person" (ok!), would have left me devastated. But I have grown a thicker skin. Being under attack, no matter how the attack is personal and uncivilized, does not affect me that much anymore. And even if it got me, I would simply take a short break from blogging, spend a few days away, forget about the whole thing, and then get back to business.

Just to Let You Know

2006-10-31T08:39:00.000-08:00

Many intellectuals here have celebrated the announcement of the new succession law issued by King Abdullah last week as an extraordinary achievement, and hailed the king for a wise decision that came in a time of economic welfare and under no pressure. "If there was any pressure, it was by Saudi people who whispered the matter in their private gatherings though nobody ever discussed it in public," Jamal Khashoggi, consultant of the Saudi ambassador to the U.S. said during a recent TV interview.

However, it is worth noting that none of these so-called intellectuals has given even the slightest hint to the country's need to such law since King Fahad passed away and until the new law was issued. Our very own intellectuals have failed for one good year to recognize the importance of what they describe now as a "necessity for any modern country," and "a turning point in political reform."

Rereading Khashoggi's statement, we should probably ask: if none of these intellectuals and the elite of our society was brave enough to raise the issue, could we expect ordinary people to discuss it publicly? I am not arguing how such law is essential for the stability of the country. I simply want to point out to the hypocrisy of the Saudi intelligentsia.

2006-10-25T10:09:00.000-07:00

This week, the first Saudi full-length movie premiered in the major cities in the region such as Dubai, Manama, and Cairo, but not in Riyadh nor any other Saudi city because movie theaters are not allowed here. Ironic, to say the least, and quite depressing, but let's not get into that: no need to be blue during Eid.

Lesson, Question

2006-10-21T00:38:00.000-07:00

Prior to Ramadhan, a scene from the popular show Tash Ma Tash was leaked. The leaked scene was circulated on the web and via Bluetooth. However, this scene did not make it to the TV screen because the episode from which the scene was taken was banned. Since this episode was portraying the men of the Committee for Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (aka the Religious Police), it was expected that it would be banned, but the leaked scene has given people a preview of what they are going to watch during the month.

The Islamists were very happy about the ban that they went talking about it as a victory during the first few days of Ramadhan, while those of us waiting for the episode were very disappointed that MBC has bent down to the enemies of freedom and enlightenment. It was only a matter of time before the whole banned episode, titled "Salon Al Hay'a", was available for download on some websites and forums. I have downloaded the episode and watched it, and let me say that if some people have complained that the makers of the show were exaggerating some of the negative phenomena in our society, there was not any kind of exaggeration in this episode. Every scene in this episode is derived from true stories that occurred repeatedly in different forms over the past few years, and the makers have even emphasized on portraying what is considered 'the bright side' of the Religious Police by showing some good examples.

The enemies of freedom of expression should learn a lesson from what happened: censorship is no good; not anymore. Thanks to the internet, it simply does not work, at least not the way it used to do. Moreover, there is an important question to be answered here, not about Tash Ma Tash, but rather about the power of this institution. As we have seen, many parts of the government were harshly criticized in the show, including parts far more important than the Religious Police, but this episode was the only one to be banned. The government should be serious about limiting the power of this institution and those who stand behind it, otherwise we will end up with a state within the state some day, and by then we will have a more dangerous problem to deal with than some satire TV show.

2006-10-20T23:16:00.000-07:00

Arab News: King Abdullah issued a new succession law that would facilitate smooth transfer of power and remove the uncertainty caused by the inability of a king or crown prince to run the affairs of the state as a result of poor health.

2006-10-20T23:10:00.000-07:00

Yes, this fat baby is me! My mother says I was probably around 8 months old when this photo was taken, so please don't laugh! Why I'm posting this? Because my sweet friend Shaden has tagged me, and I tag Fouad, Hadeel, Ritzy, Marwan, Mashi97, and Yousef.

Pushing the Envelope, or the Agenda?

2006-10-18T14:26:00.000-07:00

After watching the new season of the massively popular show Tash Ma Tash, I think it is safe to say that, on its fourteenth consecutive season, the show is still going strong as ever: pushing limits and breaking taboos, dealing with sensitive issues in a way unheard of when it comes to local media and entertainment business. However, the long journey was not always rainbows and butterflies. For Abdullah Al Sadhan and Nasser Al Qasabi, lead actors and producers of the show, have faced many challenges, obstacles and hurdles over the years, but they have managed to overcome all of that, to gain the place where they are standing today: the most important duo in showbiz in Saudi Arabia.

But early on they had to stand in the court against the director of seasons 1 and 2 A'mer Al Humoud, who claimed he owned an equal share in creating the show as the duo, saying they had no right to replace him as director, and that they have to give him credit as one of the creators of the successful show. Clearly Al Humoud wanted a slice of the pie, and probably he deserved one, but due to the absence of functional intellectual property regulations in the country the case did not seem to come to an end, while the two parties kept on attacking each other in the media all the time. Nevertheless, the quality of the show was not affected by the legal war.

This year, Al Humoud convinced executives at LBC to produce what he called The Original Tash Ma Tash, to rival his old partners. I think LBC made a big mistake, not just by producing the show that comes with a heavy baggage using newbie actors, but also by choosing to air it in the same time the real Tash Ma Tash is aired on MBC. I don't have any official ratings information, but I can predict correctly that not even a tiny fraction of the viewers have decided to turn to LBC instead of MBC.

Another issue Al Sadhan and Al Qasabi has to deal with was a fatwa issued a few years ago condemning Tahs Ma Tash and its creators, and warning people from watching the show. Those who issued the fatwa and those who supported it have justified their stance by saying the show is making a mockery of religion and religious people. I beg to differ. If there was any mockery of religion in this case it is the fatwa itself and not the show.

People should understand that if a religious man was portrayed in a comical way during the show it is the negative behavior of the religious man that is criticized and meant to be laughed at, not religion or being religious. People should differentiate between religion as something sacred and those who speak in the name of religion and claim to represent it while their words and actions tell otherwise. The problem with some of the religious elite here is that they believe they are Islam, and I think time has come for someone to wake them up and tell them they are not. As far as Al Sadhan and Al Qasabi were concerned, they have dealt with this fatwa properly, imho: they have ignored it and kept on doing what they do best, which is entertaining people by tackling issues they care about the most.

Like any other successful business, Tash Ma Tash has grown over the years, and naturally its cost has become bigger and bigger. The budget has become very big that the former producer of the show, the Saudi Ministry of Information was no longer able to handle it, so the creators had to take their show somewhere else. Middle East Broadcasting Center, or simply MBC, a Saudi television network based in Dubai, opened their arms to welcome the show. They had to pay a large sum of money, but they were pretty sure about the quality and popularity of the show, and the faithfulness of its fans.

Moving Tash Ma Tash to MBC was a good deal for everyone, except for the Saudi TV of course: MBC can attract huge amounts of money from sponsorship and advertising to compensate their investment, the creators will have better ability to make what they have in their minds into reality, and the viewers can expect and enjoy a show of higher quality. Another advantage of moving the show out from MOI was getting rid of restraints associated with government funding, especially censorship. It is well known that MOI have banned some episodes in the several past years, although Al Sadhan and Al Qasabi never publicly complained about it, and when asked about it they always reply that the number of banned episodes was very small.

The effect of the move has become very clear during this season, with many episodes that caused mixed feelings among Saudis. The issues tackled, and the way they were demonstrated, have touched people from inside, sometimes shocking them, and sometimes just making them laugh, but above all highlighting these important issues and making them visible to everyone in the society. An episode such as "Irhab Academy" which makes fun of recruiting young men for terrorists is a good example for raising awareness to this worrying matter, while the episode titled "Sour Al Harem" was a clear warning sign against the strict segregation of sexes.

And to expose the Saudi hypocrisy, leave it to Humoud and Mohaimeed. The two guys go to Cairo on a secret sex weekend away from their wives, and while they are enjoying their time in a nightclub one of them says, "this is really great, but God forbid to have such thing in our country," and the other replies, "No, we have our 'khusousiya'." On another episode, the same guys decides to go to Beirut, but with their wives this time. While planning the trip, Mohaimeed tell Humoud to wear pants and shirts instead of thobes when they go to Lebanon. Humoud did not like the idea, and went asking his friend: "int 3almani?" (are you a secular?) I also liked this episode based on a true story, which is about a couple who lived happily for six years until a judge divorced them because the wife is tribal while her husband is not.

Some people have complained that Tash Ma Tash does not offer any solutions for these issues, and to those I say it is not the job of Al Sadhan and Al Qasabi to solve the issues, but rather those in charge, whether they were government officials, religious leaders, or anyone else. I believe that the first goal of such show is entertainment and not lecturing people on what they should, or should not, do. Some argue that it is better to solve our issues between us instead of exposing ourselves in a TV show like that, but I think this is mainly due to the same Saudi hypocrisy portrayed in the show: "even if we have issues, let's not discuss them publicly," they say, as if we shoved them under the carpet they will magically solve themselves somehow.

There is also the argument that Tash Ma Tash, especially this year, is being biased to the conservatives and pushing for a liberal agenda at the expense of a society that is not only conservative but one that "others are expecting it to be conservative," to quote Abdullah Al Ghadhami. Since the creators of the show have never declared their political and/or social ideology, all what we have here are mere assumptions. I think such argument is caused by the feeling of all Saudis, whether they were conservative, liberal or otherwise, that Tash Ma Tash belongs to them, all of them.

I don't think that anyone has imagined the show would ever become in the center of a debate between people here, but I think it is a good thing, the debate that is. We would disagree on many things regarding the show, but I think we all can't imagine Ramadhan without Tash Ma Tash. I mean, if you don't watch it, do you consider yourself a Saudi?

2006-10-18T14:24:00.000-07:00

Check out what some other bloggers and writers have to say about Tash Ma Tash: here, here, here, here, and here.

2006-10-18T14:16:00.000-07:00

A long, long time ago, insults had class, which, if you think about it, was a good thing ;-)

2006-10-18T14:15:00.000-07:00

What do the top American officials know about the different sects of Islam?

2006-10-18T14:13:00.000-07:00

Took some photos during my trip to Jeddah, and decided to share some of them with you. Enjoy.

I Left My Heart in Jeddah

2006-10-17T17:23:00.000-07:00

In my last post I said "hopefully more from Jeddah," but unfortunately there was not any. The place I was staying in did not has DSL and working on dial-up has become unbearable to me a long time ago. Most of the places I visited had WiFi but while there I preferred to talk with the great people I met instead of playing with my laptop. I'm writing this from the comfort of my house in Ahsa, and let me just say that I really enjoyed these six days I spent in Jeddah.

But first of all, I want to thank my uncle and his lovely wife for their generosity and hospitality. My uncle has welcomed me in his house, and his wife has overwhelmed me with her kindness that I truly felt I was home, and enjoyed all the delicious meals that I was craving over the past month or so. I know I was such a burden, but they were really good to me, and I really appreciate that. I also want to thank my Jeddawi buddy Mohammed Abu Al-Faraj, who was nice enough to show me around the city, and even invite me to have breakfast at his house.

Since it is Ramadhan, there was not much to do during the day, but I managed to enjoy a shopping spree on my third day, and a walk by Hamra Courniche with my little cousins a few days later. On the contrary, most of the nights were eventful: I had the pleasure to meet some Jeddawi bloggers; many of those I have been following for a long time, and meeting them in reality was such a joy.

Jeddah is probably not as polished and huge as Riyadh, but it is such a beautiful city, a description that does not exactly apply to our capital. It is much more relaxed and much more friendly, and it welcomes its visitors very warmly and passionately. There is so much to say about this trip, not just about what I have done or seen, but more about what I have discovered about myself, and about the people I met and the time we spent together. Again, hopefully more details would come later in future posts.

Jeddah

2006-10-09T14:30:00.000-07:00

I'm coming to Jeddah (woohoo!), staying for a few days to relax and meet some people. Getting a ticket in this time was really difficult, especially that I did not consider this trip until last week. Can you believe there was not a single empty seat on any of our national carrier's planes for the next two weeks? Anyhow, it was worth trying, and I was lucky to get a ticket. Any recommendations for places I should go, or stuff I should do while I'm there are highly appreciated, and hopefully more from Jeddah later.

2006-10-01T11:56:00.000-07:00

Deutsche Presse Agentur says Blogging in the Middle East is a tough choice. Correction: Saudi bloggers strike lasted 72 hours, not 27 days.

2006-10-01T11:53:00.000-07:00

Nongeek has a very good list on how average users can contribute to open source projects without coding. Many of the best programs out there now are open source, and your contribution might be important for their development.

2006-10-01T11:38:00.000-07:00

Asharq Al Awsat interviews Andrew Hammond, Reuters news agency's Saudi correspondent and author of Pop Culture Arab World!

2006-10-01T11:29:00.000-07:00

Where did the yellow legal pad come from?

2006-10-01T11:27:00.000-07:00

Nzingha: "I think Saudi National Day is a good idea, even better that people are allowed to celebrate it." Extra: adorable kids pictures!

23 September

2006-09-22T14:52:00.000-07:00

I want to thank King Abdullah, again, for his decision to make the national day a public holiday. Would this increase the national spirit of Saudis in a positive way? Since it is just the second time we live this occasion, it is still early to tell, but hopefully it will. Was this decision prompted by terrorist attacks, thinking that patriotism would discourage the so-called "misguided group"? Maybe, but this by all means is no excuse for not enjoying the day off.

During the long weekend, I had the chance to meet a fellow Kuwaiti blogger. It was around 11 pm, and we were stuck in the congested Olaya St. Next to us, there were a few young men waving Saudi flags cheerfully inside their car. Few minutes later, a police car appeared and blocked off the road of the flag wavers. They forced them to break out of the stream to a side street. I followed them, partly out of curiosity, but mainly to get rid of the tension of driving very slowly in a crowded street. There they were, the officer was questioning the boys, while I was trying to imagine what kind of conversation they were having. "These boys are struggling to express their patriotism," I told my friend, who was rather amused and entertained by the previous scene.

For years, Islamists have opposed celebrating the national day, because according to them "Muslims have only two occasions to celebrate: Eid Al Adha and Eid Al Fitr." They also use the same lame excuse to ban celebrating any occasion related to dates such as birthdays and anniversaries. However, two years ago they surrendered to a middle ground solution: it is permissible to celebrate the National Day provided you won't call it "National Eid," which was totally fine with the rest of us, because if a play on words is all what it takes to make these stubborns change their wicked minds, then be it.

The National Day is a time of pride and joy, but it is also a time to read our history and think about the future. Abdul Aziz was an extraordinary man, and unifying this huge country was a tremendous achievement; this is something we all agree on. That was 74 years ago, and we have gone a long way since then. However, we need to admit that some mistakes were made, and turning a blind eye to these mistakes did not, and will never, do us any good. The domination of a certain extreme mindset on many life aspects here has delivered many problems, including terrorism, which we saw first exported to different parts of the world, and later we found it hitting us in the heart of our homeland.

Many people would disagree, and that's alright. We would be much, much better off if we can disagree, but still respect each other regardless of our differences. And no matter how hard the disagreement can get, no one should be allowed to question the loyalty of the rest of his countrymen. As I said before, Saudi Arabia is huge country, where people come from different origins and backgrounds, therefor, diversity is inevitable. No one should be denied the right to maintain his heritage, and no one should be allowed to force others to his own agenda. In this case, our differences does not matter, because I believe we have one much more important thing in common after all: we love this country.

Looking forward to the future, I wonder: do we dare to dream? I, for one, do. I dare. And I don't have only one dream; I have many dreams actually: I want to live to see the day when this country becomes a real democracy with a fully elected parliament; when freedom of expression is guaranteed to all, and no one is afraid to speak his mind no more; when women have their full rights and stand on equal foot with men. This was to name a few. Call me a dreamer. Maybe I am. I know one thing for sure, however: change is coming. This country is changing, not as quickly as I wish maybe, but it is changing nevertheless. Probably I'm just a young lad who can't wait for this to happen, but who can blame me? If it wasn't for the young to push change then who would?

My friend and I went to Java Cafe on King Abdul Aziz Rd., and on the other side of the road, we could see the building of the Ministry of Islamic Affairs. He was amazed by how big and stylish this coffeehouse was. "Revolution is coming to Saudi Arabia," my friend said. I was startled by the word revolution. The increase and popularity of coffee shops means that people want to talk, he explained, and this is how the French Revolution was started, one cup of coffee at a time. It was getting late, so I dropped my friend at the hotel. Meanwhile, my head was turning between the ideas of revolution and my mentioned above dreams.

Slowing Down

2006-09-15T06:20:00.000-07:00

I will be leaving to Riyadh in the coming few hours. I have been there for a couple of days earlier this week to work on my timetable for the new semester, or to put it more accurately, to try reducing damages caused by KSU's dysfunctional automatic registration system to a level where I can keep some sanity when the semester ends few months from now. The actual classes start tomorrow, so from that day on there won't be much posting, not even close to half the frequency of posting during the summer. The posts would be few and far between, probably on weekends most of the time.

This will be due to the fact of absence of much free time in my hands (reminder: Saudi Jeans is my full-time job only when I'm on vacation from school), and the lack of internet connection in my building (does anyone know someone from STC who could solve the internet connection delimma? It's been almost one year now since they told me they would install it, but nothing has been done so far). Ironically, the greedy owner is demanding a 15% increase in rent, regardless of the sorry state of his crappy building. We are fighting to stop that, but in the absence of any indication of common sense, it seems that we are losing.

The beginnig of a new semester is not exactly the prefect time to start complaining, but apparently that is all what can be done when things cannot be fixed. I do realize this is not a very cheerful post, so I guess I'm already hit by the back-to-school blues, but that should not affect those of you excited about the end of summer and getting back to the work routine. Later, kids (and adults).

2006-09-13T02:26:00.000-07:00

This photo, which shows five people on the Brooklyn waterfront, engaged in conversation while the smoke from the fallen towers billows over Manhattan behind them, is making mixed feelings among people, especially Americans. Like David Plotz, I would really like to hear from these five people. In the mean time, while Bush spent the day exploiting the memory of those lost five years ago, the U.S. overlooked a grim milestone: More Americans have now died in Iraq than died on 9/11.

2006-09-13T02:09:00.000-07:00

No one really knows if there is a ban on sheesha in Jeddah or not. Arab News investigates and finds... almost nothing. There is so much confusion, and as usual, the government body in question, the Jeddah municipality this time, has shown a very poor form of communication with customers, owners, and the media.

2006-09-13T01:13:00.000-07:00

After Communicate's PR stunt, here comes the UAE Press Release Generator. Brilliant.

Living Colors

2006-09-12T08:32:00.000-07:00

Living Colors Originally uploaded by saudi jeans.

I had lunch on Saturday at Living Colors of Faisaliah Mall. Like Fahad, I had the Chicken Panini with Balsamic and it was good; not great, but good. Better than the food was the design and the colors of the place and packaging. Living Colors have another branch on Tahlia St. (aka Prince Mohammed bin Abdul-Aziz St.).

2006-09-12T04:49:00.000-07:00

NY Times says the familiar tokens from the Monopoly board game are getting a modern — and, some might say, mercenary — makeover. An updated edition of the game will include tokens that are styled after name-brand products: a Toyota Prius hybrid car, an order of McDonald’s French fries, a New Balance running shoe, a cup of Starbucks coffee or a Motorola Razr cellphone. However, the 11 tokens in the classic version — including the battleship, cannon, iron, shoe, thimble and top hat — will remain unchanged. I used to play Monopoly as a kid, but did not like it very much because I felt it was all about the money, which is not one of my favourite things in life.

2006-09-12T01:15:00.000-07:00

Arab News: "Saudis and expatriates have welcomed the decision taken by the Presidency of the Two Holy Mosques Affairs to reject a proposal to shift the women's prayer area in the mataaf (circumambulation area around the Holy Kaaba)."

Have You Ever Seen this Stamp Before?

2006-09-06T17:28:00.000-07:00

Have you ever read posts where internet shoppers write about their anticipation for the brown box from Amazon to reach their door step? A friend of mine has, and he wanted to experience that feeling, but was very disappointed when the package arrived. Usually, this is how a package from Amazon would look like:

Well, what my friend got was a little bit different. Instead of receiving that neatly packaged brown box, he got this:

The box was in miserable state. However, it is not the Saudi Post Service that is to blame here; actually, it is the so-called ministry of information. Apparently the censorship unit at the ministry had some curiosity regarding the content of the box, so they shamelessly and brutally opened it up, and after finding nothing dangerous inside they did not have time to return to its original state. Moreover, they have proudly stamped their logo on the box. I think my friend can now feel very comfortable when he reads the books knowing that they were approved by the ministry, or can't he?

2006-09-06T16:32:00.000-07:00

Talking about the ban on the sale of dogs and cats in Jeddah, Abeer Mishkhas says it has nothing to with our culture and traditions. To be honest with you, I never thought Jeddawis would let this so-called morality squad ruin things there.