Kingdom and Gulf Countries Make Changes in School Curriculums
M. Ghazanfar Ali Khan, Arab NewsRIYADH, 24 May 2005 — Saudi Arabia and other members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) have made substantial changes in their school curriculums as part of an ongoing process of educational reform. “The move to redesign the curriculums is intended to meet the challenges of the new world order and is unrelated to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks,†said Dr. Abdulilah Al-Mosarraf, director of planning and evaluation at the Arab Bureau of Education for the Gulf States (ABEGS).
Dr. Al-Mosarraf said that almost all Gulf countries have made major changes in their school curriculums. Saudi Arabia, for example, has removed 31 controversial items from its curriculum. There are standing instructions from the Ministry of Education to withdraw controversial items and make use of the changes as and when available. Referring to the educational reforms carried out in Saudi Arabia, a senior officials said, “Riyadh has removed the offensive books and passages from the curriculum.†The Ministry of Education is reviewing existing materials and developing new ones for use in Saudi schools. “In fact, as part of its plan to go ahead with the reform, some experts from the Kingdom and from other countries have been employed to develop the curriculum and to suggest changes,†said a report released by the ministry.
Asked about the need to change the curriculum or withdraw certain text books, both ABEGS and Saudi officials said, “There are many factors including rapid social development and the changing world order which necessitate the development of a new school curriculum.â€
Here’s some further information on Saudi efforts to reform the school curriculum, this time in conjunction with the other Gulf States. The proof, of course, will be in how students learning under the new curricula turn out.
A Day in the Life of … Aisha Naseed
I usually rise at around the time of the call to the Fajr prayer, when most of the city is still fast asleep. During those first few moments, I like to put my day into focus, making a sort of mental road map that I follow for the rest of my waking hours. I almost always imagine myself in my new house far away from here, looking cheerful and proud. This has been one of my ambitions for a long time, something that I may never achieve, but something that keeps me going even during the hardest moments. I would decorate it like they do on television in the soap operas I watch and I would have a big kitchen with lots of modern appliances. My walls would be painted brightly and there would be three rooms downstairs.
I get out of bed with difficulty these days, because I am getting old. I delay having my morning shower to the evening and instead quickly wash and pray. I go to the kitchen just after five and wake my husband and son up on my way down. While they get themselves ready, I make a simple breakfast consisting of eggs, cheese, milk and milk bread. We all eat together and discuss our plans for the day.
This is a really wonderful article which I hope is the start of a series.
In it, Saudi journalist Lubna Hussain gets a pretty typical Saudi woman to talk about her typical day. I think it’s an eye-opener for many Americans to realize how “ordinary” the life of a Saudi woman can be. It’s also a reminder that when we discuss “Saudis” as a category, we often lose sight of the fact that Saudis are, actually, over 16 million individuals, each as different as Aisha Naseed.
I strongly recommend you read the while article.
Shoura Rules Out Debate on Women Driving
Raid Qusti, Arab NewsRIYADH, 23 May 2005 — An official speaking for the Shoura Council said the issue of women driving in the Kingdom would not be discussed in the council. The official told Al-Riyadh newspaper that what had been said in the media and on the Internet about the Shoura discussing the topic was “untrue.†He went on to say, “The council has no intentions of raising this topic for discussion despite what has been said in the press.â€
At the same time, Dr. Muhammad Al-Zulfa, the Shoura Council member who had hoped that yesterday’s session would at least discuss the matter of women driving as part of the redesigned traffic laws, expressed his disappointment that the recommendation had not been passed on to the council.
This is a very good article by Raid Qusti outlining how the efforts of some members of the Shoura Council are being thwarted. The issue is women and there the Saudis simply have not reached a concensus on what they want.
The following article shows that the opposition to expanded women’s rights–driving, for instance–is not just the reaction of hide-bound traditionalists. The opposition knows how to use modern technology to make their points, as well as modern political tactics.
Internet War on Women Driving
Saad Al-Matrafi, Arab NewsJEDDAH, 23 May 2005 — A number of Saudi extremists are conducting Internet campaigns against a recent recommendation by a Shoura Council member that women should be allowed to drive.
Though the issue was not tabled and was part of a discussion of the new traffic rules that the Shoura was to discuss, the forums were full of voices lashing and blasting the chairman of the Council. Maps pinpointing the location of the chairman’s house in Riyadh along with his mobile phone number and home fax number have been placed on the Internet. People are being asked to call him or pay him a visit in order to condemn any discussion of women driving.
A writer on “Al-Sahat,†one of the most influential Internet forums, distributed the names and mobile numbers of several Shoura Council members along with the names and numbers of religious scholars and also the Grand Mufti.
The issues aren’t going to go away. But they’re going to have to be sorted out by Saudis–men and women–who will decide for themselves what the role of women in Saudi society is to be.
Washington Post Editorial: Saudis to Support
PRESIDENT BUSH has publicly cited Saudi Arabia’s local and limited council elections as evidence that the kingdom is joining a regional shift toward greater political freedom. Better that he talk about Ali Dumaini, Matrouk Faleh and Abdullah Hamed, three intellectuals who were sentenced to lengthy prison terms last Sunday for advocating liberal democracy. Sadly, their trial was a clearer signal about where Saudi Arabia is headed than was the local balloting trumpeted by the president.
The Washington Post has a good editorial today. It notes the disconnect between a move toward liberalization of the political process that’s happening at the same time an opaque judiciary is handing down lengthy sentences for what appear to be insignificant breaches in public law.
As I noted in my report on the sentences of the three reformers, I suspect they will be given clemency or pardons at the next available opportunity. But that does nothing to instill a sense that people’s opinions count in Saudi Arabia. This case is a mess and needs to be sorted out quickly.
Saddam’s Media Photos Prompt Angry Reactions
Javid Hassan & K.S. Ramkumar, Arab NewsRIYADH/JEDDAH, 21 May 2005 — Citizens and other Arab expatriates across Saudi Arabia expressed their shock over the naked photos of Saddam Hussein splashed both in The Sun, London, and the New York Post and said they were in bad taste and violated the provisions of the Geneva Convention.
Not surprisingly, the photos of Saddam Hussein in his underpants have created more turbulence in the Middle East. It’s hard to have pity for a mass murderer simply because he’s being shown in his briefs, but it isn’t difficult to acknowledge that this is a violation of US government policy and possibly the Geneva Convention on the treatment of prisoners.
The US government is not happy that these photos were released and has started an investigation into just how they made their way into the hands of Murdoch-owned newspapers.
This Arab News article gives a quick survey of popular opinion in Saudi Arabia. It’s mostly–but not exclusively–negative. Who ever had the “bright idea” that releasing these photos could possibly serve a positive purpose needs to be sent back to school, perhaps by way of prison.
[UPDATE 05/19/05: I'm pleased to see that the Arab News has picked up my piece from yesterday, Rumor & Consequence.]
Today’s Arab News has a couple of interesting articles that further the discussion I started with my Rumor & Consequence post of yesterday.
First, I’ll point to a piece by Dr. Mohammed Al-Rasheed, a columnist I cite frequently here:
Keep Our Holy Books Out of the Frenzy
Dr. Mohammed T. Al-Rasheed, comments@d-corner.comChewing the cud is not for certain animals only: Humans do it with words. Just like animals, we sit back and regurgitate the fodder in order to process it better. What we don’t understand we repeat, what we cannot understand we chant, what we do not want to understand we twist. All the while, the words are being perverted and mashed into a palpable form for digestion.
The benefit and/or harm from an animal chewing the cud is limited to the animal alone. When we do it with words, we harm and/or benefit ourselves, our neighbors, and other people as well. You’d think we’d be more careful with our sublime words. Sixteen people died and tens injured because Newsweek chose to chew its cud without verifying its source. Is an apology enough?
Well, it has to be…
Al-Rasheed helpfully points out the during the Lebanese Civil War, both Muslims and Christians did abhorent things to each other’s holy texts. The smart people left the idiots to their idiocy and let time solve the problem. He concludes,
While the word is no longer mightier than the modern sword, it still has the power to unsheathe those swords in a murderous frenzy. There are enough swords unsheathed these days as it is. Can we please keep The Books out of it?
The second piece is more academic in tone, but makes some strong points. Among them is that, at least for this writer, the Quran is above desecration. That is clearly not the belief of those who rioted and killed. Read both articles; they’re worth the time.
The Alleged Desecration of the Holy Qur’an
Fargad Al-Madhi, Arab NewsRIYADH, 19 May 2005 — The international media say that the Islamic world is very emotional. Some say that these emotions are a result of our commitment to our religion; others say it is because the Islamic world has suffered many losses and has had many challenges in the last fifty years or so. And the recent incident of the alleged desecration of the Holy Qur’an confirms the effects of these incidents on the Islamic world.
State Dept Drops Warning to Americans to Leave Kingdom
M. Ghazanfar Ali Khan, Arab NewsRIYADH, 19 May 2005 — The United States has dropped yesterday a year-old warning it issued to its citizens to leave Saudi Arabia but said that they should still “defer non-essential†travel to the Kingdom because of security concerns and possible terrorist attacks.
The language used in the current advisory notice differs significantly from that of the April 2004 advisory, which said: “The Department of State warns US citizens to defer travel to Saudi Arabia. Private American citizens currently in Saudi Arabia are strongly urged to depart.â€
As anticipated following FBI Director Mueller’s comments on the improved Saudi containment of the country’s terrorist threat, the US State Department has reduced its level of warnings toward Americans living in or traveling to the KSA.
I think the writer of the article goes beyond the facts in trying to link this change to current travel by business delegations from both countries.
More likely is a combination of two factors: First, the danger truly has receded sufficiently that the country is safer now. The second is bureaucratic. When a country is deemed extremely dangerous–as Saudi Arabia has been for the past year–State Dept. cannot permit the dependent families of Foreign Service Officers to stay in the country. Involuntary, year-long family separations get old, quickly. As a consequence, State had to reduce the general tour-of-duty to one year.
One-year assignments are bad for many reasons. They’re expensive, they destroy morale, and most importantly, they are insufficiently long to permit officers to do their jobs at the peak of their abilities. Moving between countries is not easy, even if you speak the language. In the words of The Music Man, “You gotta know the territory.” Getting to know it takes at least six months. The final six months of a tour are generally not at maximal efficiency, either, as the officer works to identify his next assignment, prepares to move, finds schools for the kids, and all the other miseries of shifting locations.
Now that the country is safer, families will be permitted back in. The tours of duty will extend to the “normal” two years, itself really too short.
The tragic events that came out of Newsweek’s publishing an inaccurate story shine a light on some unfortunate facts. Recognizing these facts is both uncomfortable and painful.
Americans need to realize that the presumption of innocence is no longer granted to them, their policies, or their military. The war against terror and the war to help Iraqis free themselves from a tyrannical dictatorship have led to some disasters and some atrocities.
The accidental bombing of civilians or the death of civilians simply because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time is tragic. It can be a pure mistake, but it has consequences that reach beyond an apology and a reparations check. It is the rare person who will either turn the other cheek or say that the death of an infant, wife, grandparent is just the price that needs to be paid. The results are real and the costs are real. We should not be surprised that the victims of mistakes are not cheerleading American policies.
The atrocities of Abu Ghraib—and those alleged to have taken place at Guantanamo—are just that: atrocities. They are horrors both because of what they were in themselves as well as what they said about our self-image as a country.
» Continue Reading
Another milestone in the development of democracy in the Middle East has been passed with Kuwait’s decision to give women the vote and allow them to run for office. Kuwait is now the fourth member of the GCC in which women as well as men can vote. The appointment of Kuwait’s first woman Cabinet minister is now just a matter of time; Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah said at the beginning of the month that he would appoint one as soon as women were enfranchised.
The change is genuinely popular; it has been welcomed as much by Kuwaiti men as by Kuwaiti women although it has taken some time to come about. The emir of Kuwait, Sheikh Jabir Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, issued a decree giving women full political rights six years ago but at the time the Kuwaiti Parliament did not agree with him. It has taken until now to get Kuwaiti legislators to change their minds. Even so earlier this month, because of abstentions and technical matters relating to them, a bill giving women the vote did not make it through Parliament. In the vote, there were still some conservatives who argued that the change was not in keeping with Islamic teaching although this is an opinion that goes against the facts. Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) consulted women in affairs of the state. Opposition to the change was rooted in local social tradition. Kuwait’s parliamentarians have recognized the difference and have voted for an incinclusive representative democracy in which women have the same responsibilities and rights as men in building a dynamic state.
As I noted yesterday, it was not an accident that the Arab News headlined that Kuwait women were given the right to vote.
Today’s Arab News editorial takes the paper’s support further….
There are of course implications beyond Kuwait. Not only is it another blow to the lie that democracy is incompatible with the Arab world, it is bound to sharpen the debate on the role of women in the remaining countries of the region where they do not have the vote — not least here in the Kingdom — and also it will shift opinions. That is all to the good.
Arabs Yet to Realize the Value of Creative Dissent
Mohamad Alrumaihi, rumaihi@hewar.infoSome people prefer dying, drowned in their own dreams to some one saving them by reminding them that their visions and beliefs have nothing to do with reality. This was the impression that I got at the end of a recent cultural seminar, “Globalization and Identity,†organized by the Al-Khaleej Newspaper in Sharjah.
It is more or less an accepted fact that Arab dignitaries and intellectuals hate to listen to views different from their own. Several of our writers are well aware that there are people harboring harsh thoughts against them simply because of opinions expressed in their writings. I would have adopted a conciliatory position when faced with opposing views but I would also try to back up my arguments with solid facts and logic. I admit that my writings may contain ideas that are unacceptable to some people but to describe them as poisonous is too much.
The seminar gave the younger generation, mainly from the Gulf, opportunities to express their views. The freshness of their ideas and their originality made one of the participants from the older generation refer to himself as a dinosaur — while admitting openly that many of his ideas were outdated.
Here’s an interesting opinion piece from a writer I’ve not come across before. Following a conference on “Globalization and Identity” held in the Emirates, he comes back with new ideas and new hope, but with the cold realization that change is not going to be easy. Read the whole thing.
There are two stories of interest in today’s Arab News for those watching petroleum. The first, by the head of Saudi Aramco, states quite clearly that the Saudis believe they have to reserves to double their output, contrary to the opinion of the “peak oil” school of thought. This article is also a very useful encapsulation on the US-Saudi oil relationship. I suggest you read the whole thing.
Saudi Arabia Could Double Oil Output Capacity: Aramco Chief
Khalil Hanware, Arab NewsJEDDAH, 18 May 2005 — Saudi Arabia could double its crude production capacity to meet growing world demand, Aramco’s President and Chief Executive Officer Abdallah S. Jum’ah said on Monday. “The Kingdom is uniquely positioned, because of its reserves and resources, to consider raising its production by such a margin,†he said.
The second piece, citing Saudi Minister of Petroleum Ali Naimi, is a good–if brief–look at the economic reality of the oil producing countries economics. OPEC no longer owns the world of oil. Oil producing states, particularly those in the Gulf region, are far too deeply involved in the global marketplace to allow major economies to collapse, or even to go through sustained “oil shocks”. Again, the article’s worth reading.
High Oil Prices Not in Interest of Producers: Naimi
Jitendra Joshi, Agence France PresseWASHINGTON, 18 May 2005 — Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest oil producer, said yesterday it was ready to boost output but called on consumers like the United States to do more at their end to bring down high prices.
Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Ali Al-Naimi, attending an industry conference here with US Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman, also said that high or unstable oil prices “are not in the interest of producersâ€.
Human Rights Society Wins First Case
Maha Akeel, Arab NewsJEDDAH, 18 May 2005 — The Jeddah General Court has ruled on the first family case brought by the National Society for Human Rights (NSHR). The judge ruled in favor of two orphaned girls and their mother who had approached the NSHR seeking justice from the girls’ half-brother who is their guardian.
This is one of those stories that you have to acknowledge as a half-step forward in one dimension, but a leap forward in another.
On the surface, this story looks pretty ordinary. A Saudi court enforced a law, a law that many in the West consider unfair in the first place.
Sharia law is very clear when it comes to how estates are apportioned among the survivors, and women received less than equal shares.
But this story becomes big because the Saudi National Society for Human Rights (NSHR) took this as its first case and won it. And he won it on human rights grounds, not just religious grounds. That bodes well for the future of the organization, and for human rights in Saudi Arabia.