Future updates

Apologies for the lack of updates. I created this blog with the intent of providing quality articles rather than short blog posts, however with my final months at college I've been struggling to find the time to do this. I would love to post some of the work I've been doing in economics over the past two years, but with concerns over plagiarism this will have to wait at least until the summer when this is less of a worry and I have the time to edit my portfolio so it is suitable for online.

Economics has been a fantastic subject and I cannot wait to do it at university. I must admit, I took a bit of a gamble taking economics having no experience beforehand, but I've never regretted the decision. Completing my portfolio was sometimes painful (the word count is horrifically short at 650-750 words per piece of work), but it has been really fascinating following news stories I wouldn't otherwise consider, and with an international focus and approach. Before I would never even glance at news like the Chevron-Ecuador dispute (see Time's article for a recent update), but I'm glad I do now since the dispute has been such an interesting story in the fact that neither party will give in. The story just keeps going! And the responsibility of who should correct the market failure is a difficult one to evaluate: do you go from an economic perspective, an environmental perspective or a purely legal one?

As for my classes, I couldn't have studied International Economics at a more interesting time. The euro crisis has provided a perfect backdrop to our work on balance of payments and exchange rates, and it also has me pumped for PPE. One of the problems I often come across in my essays is that they occasionally turn political in the evaluation, and having to restrain myself to just economics is extremely difficult for me when writing about euro crisis. I want to find the underlying political and philosophical issues in the problems of sovereignty, debt and complete integration; it would be heaven if I could just add it to what I already know in economics!

So, what can be expected for the future of this blog? Not much, at least until my exams are over in May. However, I should be spending a month in Saudi afterwards, so expect lots of coverage of my desert adventures then! I will also take a long-needed update on my evaluation of the environmental crime and conflict in the DR Congo, something that I had worked on for a model United Nations last year and had wanted to turn into a research article for this site (to add to what I've learnt from various books since last year). And maybe, just maybe, I'll get round to my impressions of my holiday in Jordan last November.

Just maybe. If I'm nice.

Saudi Arabia gives women the right to vote

I have to say, I was taken aback when I read the front cover of the Arab News today - but in a good way.

Only a short update here; I felt it was necessary to write a post on the major breakthrough in Saudi society that has happened recently. Yesterday, King Abdullah announced that women will be given the right to vote and run in municipal elections come 2015, and this is most definitely a step in the right direction.

Many criticise Saudi Arabia for its treatment of women and their role in society, but forget that the country was only formed 79 years ago (an anniversary recently celebrated on Saudi National Day on Friday). Since then, it has undergone rapid development and modernisation to form one of the most stable economies in the world today. For countries such as the USA and UK, industrialisation has taken 200-300 years, and, for the UK, it wasn't until 1928 that all women above the age of 21 were allowed to vote.

So when you put it into this context, Saudi's progress to reach this stage in just 79 years from the country's formation seems quite remarkable. Hopefully the right to drive and a reduced need for male guardianship will follow.

Read more about this story: Independent, Arab News (Saudi newspaper)

Just to note, there won't be any posts up for a week or so. I'll be writing new content soon!

Saudi National Day

Today marks the 81st anniversary (according to the Islamic Hijri calendar, 79th anniversary according to the Julian calendar) of Saudi Arabia's formation and unification in 1932 by King Abdul Aziz. Driving around Jeddah today and you will see the country's national flag up everywhere as Saudi prepares for its only non-religious official holiday of the year.

Saudi Arabia's national flag

A Very Brief History

Before 1932, Saudi Arabia was split into two main kingdoms: Nejd and Hejaz. Abdul-Aziz bin Saud of the Al Saud family (House of Saud) seized Riyadh, the capital of Saudi, in 1902. That was the start of a series of conquests which eventually led to the union of Nejd and Hejaz in 1932, and the established state was named the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The name Saudi Arabia comes from the region - Arabia, or the Arabian Peninsula - and the family that ruled it (Al Saud).

Map of Saudi Arabia before formation - shows split between Hejaz and Nejd

Saudi Arabia in its current form

Saudi National Day as a public holiday

While people in Saudi may have celebrated the anniversary of the country's formation before, it wasn't until King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz came to power in 2005 that it was celebrated as a public holiday.

However, while many private institutions close on both of the Eid holidays after Ramadam and Hajj (which are the other public holidays that exist in Saudi), fewer observe Saudi National Day considering it is only celebrated by Saudi nationals. Although you could argue that the expats and students appreciate the day off as well!

As a note, September 23rd is a Friday this year, which is a part of the Saudi weekend (Thursdays and Fridays). When this is the case, the ensuing Saturday is treated similar to a bank holiday. (Think how Christmas and Boxing Day fell on a weekend in the UK last year causing the Monday and Tuesday afterwards to be bank holidays.) 

Celebrating Saudi National Day

Due to the conservatism that exists in the country, you are more likely to see celebrations in the more cosmopolitan places in Saudi, such as Jeddah, which is perhaps the most tolerant and diverse of all of Saudi Arabia's cities.

Here in Jeddah Saudis celebrate by going out; many will visit the Jeddah Corniche, a seaside promenade, where there will be fireworks and a parade. Some families might go out for dinner at one of many restaurants in Jeddah, since eating out is a popular pastime with the lack of entertainment but considerable wealth that exists here in the country. Younger Saudi guys will party out on the streets, painting their faces and cars and in general will enjoy one of the few times that they can let their hair down out in public.

The Jeddah Corniche

Some Saudi youths celebrating in traditional and not-so-traditional garbs

I've been advised by many Saudis not to go out this evening, and I suspect it's because the celebrations can end up quite rowdy and wild during the night. Moreover, Jeddah's already busy traffic at night can become horrendous throughout the celebrations in the evening due to the huge amount of people wanting to go out, particularly those heading towards the Jeddah Corniche. An otherwise 15-minute journey can take up to 3-4 hours!

Google.com.sa celebrates Saudi National Day...

...but personally I prefer their 2009 design

Many thanks to my friend for providing me information on this public holiday and sharing some of her experiences with me. I wish you and every Saudi a happy Saudi National Day!

Some more information:

Saudi National Day 2010

Saudi National Day 2011

Article in Arab News about the progress of Saudi

Beginning New Ends

I have one more year left of living in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

All going well, in a year's time I'll be at university, studying for a degree that will hopefully lead on to a career in journalism. My ideal degree (though not necessarily the one I will end up in) is Philosophy, Politics and Economics. I feel its principles are in almost all areas of the media today, and as I look further it seems that the decisions we and those around us make are governed by the social, political and economic aspects of society.

Whether we like this or not is immaterial. But having an awareness of how these principles affect our lives means we have the ability to change them. We are not made to be cogs in a machine. We have our rights and our responsibilities, and as members of our local communities and citizens of our countries we should adhere to both. For a long time, my parents have been emphasising the need for the recognition of both rights and responsibilities; freedom does not lie in the Land of Do-As-You-Please. People (and when I say people, of course I am making a generalisation) are quick to spout the phrase "It's my right!" but very rarely do I hear the words "It's my responsibility!".

So yes, I've started to take an active interest in freedom. Political freedom, economic freedom, freedom of speech, freedom of press, freedom of thought. This issue of freedom first struck me whilst reading George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four, and has stayed at the back of my mind ever since. I consider myself to be 'free' and not in spite of the laws, rules and codes of practice that I have to abide to, but in part because of them. If freedom is made up of rights and responsibilities, then following these regulations whilst retaining my rights grants me freedom.

Of course, it is never as simple as that. Read anything about the DR Congo in the past twenty years and you'll see personal liberties stripped away like confetti. Do they have freedom?

Then there's the issue of religion and spiritual freedom, a matter which is so large in itself that I have no plan in the immediate future to venture into!

Finally we have Saudi, a country which I have so much to learn from, and so much to learn about. There are many misconceptions about Saudi, but as the spotlight draws ever closer to the country in this age of oil, what is fact and what is fiction needs be cleared up. Western misconceptions here are popular thought in the States, or in the UK.

So I hope you find this blog interesting. Intriguing. Entertaining. Or, at the very least, not a waste of your time.