April-May Edition of The Middle East in London hits Newsstands
27 March 2013
Through all the recent disturbances in our region, following the Arab uprisings of 2011, Saudi Arabia has appeared to remain (with one or two little publicised exceptions) a still point of calm. How people there are reacting to events around them, and what developments in thought and in society are taking place, is not particularly well known outside the Kingdom. In this issue we throw light on some of the important developments that are being implemented within the country.
George Joffé and Madawi al-Rasheed introduce us to the ferment of new ideas being broadcast on the social media, especially those of cleric Salman al-Awda. Al-Rasheed tells us of the way elements in Saudi society reacted to the events of the Arab Spring and its aftermath. Joffé discusses King Abdullah’s moves to modernise and change society, slow by the standards of other countries but significant in Saudi terms, and some of the problems that result. One of the King’s reforms has been the introduction of women to the consultative council, the Majlis ash-Shura and we have an interview with one of the first women to be chosen, Hoda al-Helaissi.
Janet Rady describes a flowering of Saudi art which has appeared on the contemporary art scene both in Saudi Arabia and here in London, while Aisa Martinez outlines the research she is doing at SOAS on a heritage collection of Saudi costumes. In the field of literature, Peter Clark talks about the so-called ‘Arab Booker’ prize competition which this year has a Saudi author on its short-list. An important archive of papers relating to the early history of the Kingdom and now housed in Oxford, the Philby collection, is described by Debbie Usher. In terms of infrastructure huge developments are taking place in Saudi Arabia, one of which, the new metro in Riyadh, is discussed here.
