Abdullah’s sense of urgency

ARTICLE: “Drip, drip, dripping: Life in Saudi Arabia may look the same as it always was, but it’s not,” The Economist, 6 May 2006, p. 48.

WIRE REPORT: “Saudi king calls for halt to women’s photos,” by Paul Leavitt, USA Today, 17 May 2006, p. 4A.

Great story from Economist on the below-the-surface changes being brought about by new King Abdullah (brother to previous king who ruled from his coma bed for years, so go figure--it was a time of non-action!).

The story starts with a vignette from a supermarket that is exactly like any other in the West/Core, except for one aisle full of DVDs, CDs and cassettes that features a barrier complete with bearded guard, the sign reading, “Dear customer, females are not allowed to enter this area.”

Think all this hubbub about globalization isn’t really all about sex and gender, in the end? (I was just going to write “about sex” but then felt I needed to add “gender” to avoid the double entendre, not that it wouldn’t apply--or that there’s anything wrong with that!).

So if that’s the lead image, what has changed?

First, Abdullah’s on the record for saying, “We cannot stand still while the world around us changes.” So clearly no call for enduring and endemic disconnectedness.

Second, Abdullah’s made some good moves: releasing this or that dissident and promising a pathway--albeit generational, meaning he won’t be around to see it or suffer it--toward constitutional monarchy, and including some women in his official delegation on a recent Asian trip.

Still, the man moves slowly and carefully. It’s good to be the king, but that only goes so far in Saudi Arabia, where staunch conservatives rule across the dial.

And yet, “conservatives also feel themselves to be under pressure.” And why not? Only the most self-deluded think that time or the forces of globalization are on the side of the social conservatives. Sure, their growing resistance signals to some that globalization fractures more than integrates, but ask yourself, doesn’t all that friction signal a philosophy under assault? Globalization mobilizes these responses, but it simultaneously assaults them from every angle--through connectivity. For once connected, the average person no longer needs the authoritative intermediary to tell them what’s right and wrong. It’s a social reformation of the most destabilizing form--rapid liberalization from the bottom up.

And yes, America is identified with all of it, because we epitomize it, because we’ve pioneered it, and because we just plain love it so--and make no effort to hide it.

So here’s the description from the Saudi front lines:

From the airwaves to the internet to fiction-writing, to public places such as markets and restaurants, ordinary Saudis are pushing the bounds of what is permissible. Female presenters, once rare, are now ubiquitous, on Saudi television. The cover-all abaya that women must wear in public, once strictly black and baggy, is increasingly shapely, and often sports brightly coloured sleeves.

Advertisers no longer fear to picture the human form, though in a gesture to religious scruples, the faces smiling out of billboards are still deliberately blurred, or partially obscured by sunglasses.

I know, it sounds awfully creepy by comparison. But remember that serious social change often starts with really small, symbolic things.

The best signs have to do with education, where some serious revamping in the direction of Western-style education is being pushed--from above.

But as with all such things: expect two steps forward and then--at least--one step back. So Abdullah will push and retreat, push and retreat, and this will be the best we can hope for, given the steep trajectory of the needed change. Like climbing a mountain, the more vertical you go, the slower you go.