The international trend of body piercing has hit Saudi Arabia, Al-Arabiya TV reports. Most see it as ‘blind emulation’ of foreign culture, but some see it as signs of discontent on the part of the women being pierced. Whether it is rebelling against parents and social expectations, or simply asserting individuality, the practice has raise concerns. This is very much a female issue, though: Saudi males are not getting pierced.

Pierced ears are the norm for Saudi women: one would be hard-put to find little girls without it. But other piercings, particularly on the face, are another matter. Tattoos, though forbidden in Islam, have a long history and tradition within Bedouin culture; piercings, particularly nose piercings, do as well. But this isn’t that. It’s clearly a cultural import, but one whose meaning is modified by those having it done.

Body piercing trend rises among Saudi women
Al Arabiya

Several trends seen as imported from Western cultures have invaded Saudi Arabia and encouraged women to seek change through them. While clothes and accessories seem like the most traditional influences, piercing is the latest and most outrageous fashion among Saudi women.

Piercing the lips, tongue and navel are the most popular with Saudi women, reported the Saudi edition of al-Hayat newspaper.

According to the paper, Saudi girls differ on the piercing trend. Some do not think this trend makes the girl more beautiful and in fact argue that it makes her look ugly. Some go as far as considering a girl who pierces any part of her face unfeminine. Several men agree with this point of view and say that they never get attracted to girls with piercings.

Others argue that piercing adds to their beauty and makes them look different.
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Saudi Arabia’s journalists seem to believe that they’re right on top of things, doing a good job of reporting. The Saudi Journalists Association says so:

Saudi press enjoys considerable freedom, says journalists’ group
JEDDAH: ARAB NEWS

Saudi Journalists Association (SJA) has underscored the remarkable progress achieved by the Saudi press during the past 50 years.

“The Saudi electronic media space is open without restrictions and journalists deal with many sensitive issues with courage,” it said.

In a statement issued on the occasion of the World Press Freedom Day, which falls on May 3 every year, the association said the Saudi press has made rapid strides during the past years, in terms of content, technical structure and professionalism.

“We don’t claim the Saudi press enjoyed total freedom in the initial stage or during its development stage. However, we can say that Saudi journalists enjoy considerable freedom in dealing with all issues,” the association said.

“Saudi Arabia participates in this important international event that aims at deepening the basic principles of press freedom, defending journalists and media persons and removing the obstacles that stand in the way of their mission,” he said
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The international Committee to Protect Journalists, however, sees things a bit differently. It reports [13-pg PDF] that Saudi Arabia has the 8th most-censored media in the world. If there’s any solace to be taken from the report, Iran and Syria are worse than the Kingdom.

Saudi-owned satellite TV channel Al-Arabiya runs a Reuters story reporting on religion in America. Based on a report released Monday from the Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies, the number of American Muslims is rising rapidly, and now number 2.6 million.

The report gives a good overview of the reach of all major religions, including many of the smaller Protestant denominations. The maps and charts are informative. Data was collected in 2010.

Number of Muslims in the U.S. rises sharply, claims census
Reuters — Chicago

American Muslims grew in number over the past decade, outnumbering Jews for the first time in most of the Midwest and part of the South, while most mainline churches lost adherents, according to a census of American religions released on Tuesday.

The number of Muslim adherents rose to 2.6 million in 2010 from 1 million in 2000, fueled by immigration and conversions, said Dale Jones, a researcher who worked on the study by the Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies.

“Christians are the largest group in every state, but some of the things we found interesting was the growth of the Mormons, who reported the largest numerical gain in 26 states,” said Jones, who presented the report to a conference in Chicago.

The number of Mormons, whose Utah-based church’s formal name is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, grew by 45 percent to 6.1 million in 2010, according to the census, which asked 236 religions to count their own adherents. Family members of adherents were generally included in the numbers.

Roughly 55 percent of Americans attend services with enough regularity to be counted, according to the data. By comparison, most surveys estimate roughly 85 percent of Americans profess religious faith, though they may not attend services.

Some 158 million Americans were classified as “unclaimed” by any religion in the survey.
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Saudi Gazette runs a story, apparently from Agence France Presse, reporting that Qatar will allow the formation of trade unions. In addition, it will end the current system of sponsorship for foreign workers.

Saudi Arabia has already mooted about ideas of ending its own sponsorship program, taking the authority and responsibility of hiring and managing foreign workers out of the hands of individuals and companies and instead putting them under the control of a few, specialized companies. Workers’ unions, though, are another matter.

Saudi history in regard to the union movement has been harsh. Unionism first raised its head in the 1950s, at the oil facilities in the Eastern Province. Unionism smacked a bit too much of communism, the ultimate enemy of God on Earth according to Saudi clerics and rulers. It did not help matters that would-be union leaders appeared to have had connections with the USSR as well as the suspect Arab Nationalists running Egypt at the time. Discredited on both political and religious grounds, unionism became a major taboo as well as a readily prosecuted crime.

This attitude has not noticeably softened over time, though there have been calls to reexamine the issue. In 2001, the government authorized the formation of ‘labor committees’ in companies employing more than 100 Saudi nationals, but did not extend membership to foreign workers. International organizations have condemned the ban considering the ability of workers to organize a basic right.

Now, Qatar, a sister member of the Gulf Cooperation Council, is authorize unions. This will put additional pressure on the Saudi government – and it will be harder to ignore because it’s a bordering country.

Qatar to allow trade union, scrap sponsorship

DOHA — Qatar is to allow the establishment of a trade union to protect labor rights and scrap the “sponsor” system for foreign workers, a top official said in local dailies Tuesday.

The union, independent from the labor ministry, “will have the right to receive the complaints of workers and protect their rights,” the ministry’s undersecretary Hussein Al-Mulla told Alarab daily.

The union “will be run by Qataris but as a foreigner you will have the right to vote but not run in the board of directors elections,” he said, adding that the project awaited the emir’s approval.

The Gulf state will also scrap the much-criticized sponsor system for foreign labor, as it aims to gradually recruit one million workers for the 2022 World Cup tournament it is to host, said Mulla. “There is an intention to cancel the sponsor system and replace it with a contract between the worker and the employer,” he told the daily.
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Saudi Arabia’s Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice got a new President back in January. He promised then to insure that the members of the organization would ‘prevent vice without committing vice’ and that mistakes would not go unpunished. He’s living up to his word.

Asharq Alawsat reports that Sheikh Abdullatif Al Al-Sheikh has suspended two members, at half-pay, for being overly assertive in their quest to quell wrong-doing.

Saudi religious police clamp down on rogue members
Faisal al-Dakheel

Riyadh, Asharq Al-Awsat – Well-informed sources have revealed to Asharq Al-Awsat that the President of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice [CPVPV], Sheikh Abdullatif Al Al-Sheikh, has taken the decision to suspend two CPVPV agents and deduct half their salary, while they will also no longer be permitted to participate in any field operations, after they were accused of physically assaulting a member of the public.

Al-Sheikh took this decision after a Saudi citizen issued complaints against the two unnamed CPVPV agents. The Saudi citizen, who was held by the two CPVPV agents in Riyadh more than one month ago, accused them of physically assaulting him and being responsible for his wife collapsing in public. This complaint was brought before a Riyadh police station, which transferred the case to the relevant authorities.

The CPVPV president’s decision to suspend the two agents comes after he issued a memo in early April to all CPVPV branches across Saudi Arabia stressing the importance that no CPVPV agents take any action to pursue suspects or offenders, due to the inherent negative consequences that such action would have on the general public and public property. He affirmed that such pursuits could lead to those being chased – not to mention innocent civilians – being injured.
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An amusing post from Sadie Abroad, a blog by a US Foreign Service Officer stationed in Jeddah. She tells how she accomplished a long-held wish to attend the Parrotfish Festival held on the island of Farsan, in the far southwest of Saudi Arabia. I never had a chance to attend this festival, but definitely wish I had.

Credit: Ewa Barska

Parrotfish Festival!

I know I’ve kept you all in suspense for entirely too long about my recent adventures – apologies! I had no idea how exhausting the last weeks would be. But now I’m reflecting on a busy two weeks and a wonderful escape to London. But first – adventures!

Before I came to Saudi Arabia, I studied Arabic for ten months. One of the skills we practiced was listening, first to audio files, and, eventually, with videos as well. One video in particular caught my eye – it was of hundreds of people wading in shallow water catching fish – with nets, with their bare hands, with their clothes, really with anything handy. It looked like so much fun! And when I found out it was in Saudi, that was it. I had to go. I mean, I HAD to go.

So I did some research, found out some more details, and started talking nonstop about this event – which I discovered was the Parrotfish Festival on Farasan Island. I had enough other people intrigued to try and organize a trip, but the first year it didn’t work out. So as this April approached, I once again tried to interest people. And I was lucky to have the opportunity to go this year, and as part of a regional outreach trip for work, too!

We were privileged to be part of the festival’s VIP delegation, which afforded me great opportunities to meet and talk with people as well as see things up close.

So, without getting into too many work-ish details, here’s how it all went down.
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Saudi weekly magazine Majalla runs a story on the Salafist war against arts and culture in Egypt. Not only are actors and directors being arrested for supposed ‘crimes against Islam’, but the hard-line conservatives are also calling for bans on the books of Nobel Laureate Naguib Mahfouz and the covering of statues of the pharaohs in wax. At least they’re not calling for them to be destroyed or the Pyramids torn down.

Egyptian artists note that these are actions and ideas proposed by Salafists, but also note that the ‘more modern, more moderate’ Muslim Brotherhood says nothing about them, only claiming to ‘support culture’. Today’s Egypt is a far cry from the expansive cultural environments of its past, even as recently as the 1960s.

Islamists on Art
Ati Metwaly

When Asran Mansour, a Salafi lawyer, filed a case against Adel Imam, renowned Egyptian actor, for “defaming Islam” in his films, no one expected that the verdict issued on 24 April 2012, by Judge Mohamed Abdel Aty would sentence Imam to three-months hard labor and a fine. Though the case was dropped on 26 April afternoon, the news outraged Egypt’s artists and equally angered international supporters of freedom of expression and creativity.

Adel Imam’s case is one of the many indications that Islamists are implementing limits on culture and freedom of expression. Also on trial with Imam were directors Nader Galal, Sherif Arafa, and Mohamed Fadel, and writers Wahid Hamed and Lenin El-Ramly, who faced the same charges of “defaming Islam.” Their cases were also dropped on 26 April.

The arts and culture scene will not be silent regarding Imam’s sentence—just as it will not remain passive when challenged by many other limitations posed on culture. The fight against such religious-based censorship is expected to be a long and painful one for all of Egypt’s creative minds.
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Is there really any question about why people believe that women in Saudi Arabia have little in the way of protection? Even in a society that claims to see the protection of its women as one of its foremost obligations? From Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya:

Saudi man divorces wife during live radio talk with religious scholar
Al Arabiya — DUBAI

A Saudi man accepted the advice of a prominent religious scholar on Saturday and divorced his wife during a live radio program tackling marital issues.

The man phoned the program to complain to Sheikh Ghazi al-Shammari that his wife disobeyed him by travelling without his approval from the Saudi port city of Jeddah to the capital Riyadh for a business conference.

The unnamed man said his wife “offended his manhood.”

He told Shammari that before his marriage he had accepted his wife’s demands to work on condition that work would not interfere with their marital life.

Shammari advised the man to divorce his wife as a punitive measure for “committing such a mistake against her home and husband.”

The husband immediately heeded the advice and divorced her during the live program although Shammari advised him to remarry her if she repents.
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Women and sports is a volatile combination in Saudi Arabia. Many see sports or athletics of any kind as incompatible with society’s ideal of womanhood. As a result, government tends to pussyfoot around the issue. It says it’s not against women’s taking part in athletics, but doesn’t do much of anything to encourage it, even while noting that active lifestyles are important to the nation’s health. Now, Saudi Gazette reports, the earth groans and starts to deliver. A state school in the Eastern Province city of Al-Khobar has installed basketball hoops and is encouraging girls to get active. Too, the government is ‘forming a committee’ (yes, yet another ‘committee’) to study the issue of formal sports clubs for women.

The Saudi Olympic Committee make itself a laughing stock when it said it would permit Saudi women to take part in this year’s Summer Olympics in London, but then said that it wouldn’t support them at all. Whatever women wanted to participate would have to pay their own way and would get no support once in London.

Arguments against women’s participation in sports are vague and chaotic. Even in the face of issues of fairness or health or national economy, society just doesn’t see that women are equal to men. They instead seek ways to define women as categorically different and insist on putting them on a pedestal of social construction. Perhaps something will come of the new committee, perhaps not. That a public school is finally getting around to encouraging activity is likely the better indication that change is coming to Saudi Arabia, even if it moves at a snail’s pace.

Committee studying sports clubs for women

RIYADH — The government has set up a ministerial committee to consider allowing and regulating women’s sports clubs, a senior official has said.

Abdullah Al-Zamil from the General Presidency of Youth Welfare, the top Saudi sporting body, was quoted by local media as saying that the committee was formed to end the “chaos” surrounding women’s sports clubs which are unregulated.

“The mission of the committee is focused on building a system for these clubs,” Al-Zamil was reported as saying.

Last week, a public girls’ school in the Eastern Province introduced physical education to its students by installing basketball hoops for them to use at break time.
The school in Al-Khobar thus became the first public school to openly encourage sports for girls.
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The media report on the recall of Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to Egypt and the closing of the Saudi Embassy and consulates in Alexandria and Suez. This follows demonstrations in front of the Embassy in response to the Kingdom’s arresting a noted Egyptian civil rights lawyer on drug charges. The lawyer, who goes by the name Al-Gizawi, had made comments critical of Saudi Arabia’s human rights practices, particularly in regard to Egyptians.

Is it possible that Al-Gizawi was arrested for insulting King Abdullah? It’s possible. Is it possible that Al-Gizawi was attempting to smuggle drugs (21 Xanax tablets) into the country? That’s possible, too. His claim that he was just delivering some luggage for an unnamed friend, though, is not compelling.

In any event, Saudi-Egyptian relations are at a low point. The Kingdom has been providing emergency funding, to the tune of better than US $4 billion so far. With its economy in shambles, Egypt really cannot afford to alienate its benefactors. But it also cannot be seen as ignoring human rights. Egypt is in a tough position here, with not a lot of good options.

KSA recalls envoy to Egypt, closes diplomatic missions
Muhammad Al-Ahmadi | Okaz/Saudi Gazette

JEDDAH/CAIRO — Saudi Arabia Saturday recalled its ambassador to Cairo and closed its diplomatic missions in Egypt.

An official spokesman, quoted by Saudi Press Agency (SPA), said the measures were taken in response to demonstrations outside the Kingdom’s missions in Egypt and threats following the announcement of arrest of Egyptian lawyer Ahmad Muhammad Al-Sayed, known as Al-Jizawee, in Jeddah.

The spokesman described the protests as unjustified.

“There were unjustified attempts to storm Saudi diplomatic missions threatening the security and safety of its personnel of both Saudi and Egyptian nationalities,” the spokesman said.

The Saudi Embassy in Cairo and consulates in Alexandria and Suez were closed for an unspecified period.

Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi made a telephone call to King Abdullah, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, and expressed hope that the Kingdom will reconsider its decision of recalling its ambassador and closing its missions, reported SPA late Saturday.
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Arab News runs an interview with Abdullah Naseef, former deputy chairman of Saudi Arabia’s Shoura Council. In the interview, Naseef makes some startling comments about the Council and, inadvertently, about Saudi society.

His first assertion is that only the King is capable of selecting the ‘brightest and the best’ to positions on the Council. With no disrespect to the King’s judgment, I’m sure there are more than 150 Saudis competent to hold Council positions. Unlike Obi Wan Kenobi, the King is not in an ‘Only you can save us’ situation. He will have successors. Those successor may or may not make wise decisions.

Might elections result in less than the best? Yes, they might. But it is not only brains and competence that are necessary to provide leadership. Contact with and understand of the various communities is also important. I’m not suggesting that the stupid should be elected – though the US Congress shows that even they can win elections – but that a more diverse Council would be more representative.

That brings up his second misstatement. The Shoura Council is not ‘exactly like a parliament’. It is similar, but differs in one major regard: The members are not elected as representatives. Nor does the Council’s action have force of law. In no way does it serve as a check on executive power. It can suggest laws; it cannot make them.

The Shoura Council is somewhat representative, but again with a major defect: There are no women on the Council. That’s better than half the population left unrepresented or, at best, represented by those who think they know what women want.

Inevitably, the Shoura Council will transform into a true parliament. While it has managed so far to escape that conclusion, Saudi Arabia cannot continue forever as a paternalistic state where the ruler knows best. Individuals and their political wishes will have to be incorporated into governance at some time if the Saudi state is to survive. It won’t not be tomorrow, certainly, but the time will come when Saudi citizens have a real voice in their government. It’s better to start practicing and getting the systems of civil society working now, when there’s the opportunity to fail without catastrophe, than to run into the chaos we see now in Egypt, Libya, or Iraq.

Elections may not send qualified members to Shoura, says Naseef
P.K. ABDUL GHAFOUR, ARAB NEWS STAFF

Dr. Abdullah Omar Naseef, former deputy chairman of the Shoura Council, has supported the present system of appointing qualified members to the Saudi consultative body.

“Shoura is an important system and it needs people of experience and wisdom to run the show. I think people who call for elections have not taken this important point into consideration,” he said.

In an exclusive interview with Arab News at his office in Jeddah, Naseef said the Shoura Council is equal to any parliament in the world. “Our Shoura members are highly qualified academics and technocrats and the Shoura decisions are based on the Qur’an and Sunnah. This makes our Shoura Council different from other parliaments,” he pointed out.

Dr. Naseef described Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah as a charismatic leader who is loved not only by Saudis but also by foreigners.

Following is the full text of the interview:
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Arab News reports that Riyadh is to become a city of urban transportation. A massive scheme is to launched that will combine electric rail and a widespread network of buses to clear the dangerous clutter that now fills the roadways.

Riyadh may not be the worst place to drive in the world – I’d put Indian highways after dark in first place – but it is a major hassle. There are too many cars for the roads and driver discipline, well, leaves something to be desired. By making public transport available, the roads could be better utilized. The plan foresees a daily reduction of 2.2 million car trips and a saving of 800K driving hours. Annual savings to the economy could reach SR8 billion (US $2.37 billion).

Just having a new system, though, doesn’t mean that people will use it. Currently, public transportation is underused because of perceptions. Saudis tend to see it as something for foreign workers, not themselves. The government will have to sell the idea, but the idea will have to have real savings visible to those they hope to tempt to use it daily.

I think, too, that there’s going to be massive disruption as 42 kilometers of rail lines are set down, a short-term addition to driver misery until construction is done. Particularly in the downtown areas, there’s going to have to be a lot of destruction before the construction begins.

New transport system aims to generate major savings
RIYADH: ARAB NEWS

The approval of the Council of Ministers on Monday of the implementation of the Public Transport Project (PTP) in Riyadh came after the High Authority for the Development of Riyadh (HADR) had formulated a comprehensive plan.

This plan stipulated the establishment of road networks for public transport using buses and electric trains. The authority also completed the engineering designs, technical specifications and blueprints for the two projects.

In the first phase of the plan a rail network would be constructed on the axis of King Abdullah Road with a length of 17 kilometer. It would start from King Khaled Road on the west to Khaled bin Al-Waleed street to the east, and include 11 stations. The network would also run on the axis of Al-Olaya-Al-Batha Street with a length of 25 kilometer, extending from the northern to the southern ring road. When the train would reach its final destination at the headquarters of the department of public transport it would have passed 25 stations.

This phase would also include the establishment of a road network for buses covering the entire city to ensure people with safe transport.
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