A few months ago there were troubling rumors making the rounds about turning the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice (AKA Saudi Vice) into a full fledged ministry. As if these hard line extremists should have even more power than they already have. The prospect looked bleak to me. I saw what little hope I had of seeing this institution abolished withering in front of my eyes.
Then one day a brave brave lady dared challenge the mighty Saudi Vice. And suddenly the dam broke. That's the thing about Saudi society. Change takes a long time to come, but when it does come (usually triggered by a tragedy) it cascades through society at an amazing pace. It happened years ago when tragedy broke out in a Makkah school for girls and a lack of safety precautions meant that a simple fire cost the lives of many innocent girls. The tragedy and the rage brought down the Presidency for Girls Education, and prompted the long sought after merging with the (then boys only) Ministry of Education into one monolithic entity. For months after, the newspapers and the media hounded dilapidated schools all over the kingdom.
Now its happening to Saudi Vice.
When a conformist sad excuse for a newspaper like Okaz prints something like this article (translated and published in English by Arab News) you just know that change is in the air. Even the Shoura Council has taken up kicking the down on their luck Saudi Vice.
You could almost feel sorry for them.
Not.
The Saudi people have finally spoken up. We no longer want a Big Brother-like institution to tell us what is moral and what is not. Change now, or be brought down smashing into the ground.
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3 comments:
Be brought down smashing down? Dude this is saudi, it's a lost cause. You got no room for change, the rich will get richer, the poor unfortunately will just eat more shit. Religon is shoved down our throats, this country is the epitome of hell.
Lost cause?
I don't think so. Look at Saudi 20 years ago, and look at it now. Can you honestly say it hasn't changed? Sure, change is slow a coming, but I've always been a proponent of baby steps. Changing something as ingrained as Saudi mentality takes time, and doing it too fast would destroy our culture. I may have Jawa genes but I'm Saudi foremost. And while I want change I don't want us to become a clone culture like so many others have become. One step at a time, slowly but surely :)
Yeah look at Saudi before the Juhaiman incident, way more open than it is now. Brother I'm loving the optimism, it's cute. It's a lost cause, and get out of this country if you ever get the change. Your kind arn't wanted here, and by your kind I mean liberals, brother.
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