Faiza's Barometer for Change in Saudi Arabia

When I picked up the Sunday paper in my favorite coffee shop this past weekend, I had just had a discussion with an Iranian friend of mine about the state of civil liberties and human freedom in the Middle East. More specifically, we compared Saudi Arabia to Iran in terms of human rights, governance, and women's rights. I told him that I found it disturbing that Saudi Arabia where women are fully segregated; can not drive; can not share public spaces with men; and can not vote, receives docile criticism from the US when Iran where there is an electoral process (though circumvented by the ruling Mullahs) and where women are much less segregated; can drive; can share public spaces with men; and can vote is demonized and vilified continuously. We agreed that U.S. interests and American values are, after all, not as aligned as the president had claimed in his inaugural speech.

Not that we were exonerating the repressive regime in Iran by comparison to a more repressive regime. In fact, we both agreed that Iranians live under a theological tyranny that must be denounced for the decent and bright people of Persia to regain their freedom and dignity. But I was reminded by my reading of Alexis de Tocqueville that comparison is fundamental to all human thought; that comparison is, indeed, the methodological core of the scientific study of politics. So we compared Iran and Saudi Arabia and the more we did, the more agitated I became about the deafening silence on this side of the hemisphere about the cruelty of Saudi society.

My friend left and so I tried to relax myself by reading the paper. I came across an article on Saudi Arabia by Faiza Saleh Ambah and thought ‘how timely’. I must admit that it put my optimism about further Middle Eastern reform into perspective and as such I recommend that you too read this courageous and thoughtful article.

The Case The Saudis Can't Make (Click HERE for the full article)
By Faiza Saleh Ambah

"It's hard not to be intoxicated by the breeze of democracy wafting across the Middle East. An Arabian Spring, analysts call it, heralded by round-the-clock demonstrations in Lebanon, suffragists out on the streets in Kuwait, rare protests in Egypt, voting in Iraq and reform even here in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia, where limited municipal elections are being held this year. But just as I'm about to get carried away by the spirit of hope, my mind stops, does a U-turn and returns to three men -- two academics and a poet -- who've been behind bars in Saudi Arabia for a year. Their case, and not the ballot box, has become my barometer for real change in the kingdom."