Behind the veil

It’s easy to assume the Arab world is made up of wealthy sheiks, fanatical clerics, helpless women trapped behind the veils, and angry teenage boys cursing Israel and America. After all, that’s what you’ve seen on TV. But those images are not the whole story. Most Arabs, like most people, are just regular folks doing their best to make it through their lives. Of course, life in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia is very different to life in Des Moines, Iowa… or so we’re told.

A recent news report by the BBC highlight the rapid growth in blogging in Saudi Arabia. While Saudi society itself changes at a glacial pace, young Saudis have been quick to exploit the Internet as a means to express themselves in a country where mainstream media are strictly regulated.

What’s perhaps most enlightening is that much of what young Saudis are saying are the sorts of things that young people everywhere else are talking about. In other words, sex, relationships, and friendships. Blogger Mystique records the ups and downs of a distinctly Bridget Jones-like fictional character, and in doing so reveals that while we might assume that the sex lives of young Saudis are a million miles away from ours, in fact the pains and joys are exactly the same.

It would be disingenuous to imply that Saudi society didn’t have its quirks, but reading these blogs is a great way to see them in their day-to-day expression, for example boxes from Amazon.com taken apart by the state censors to check for anything dubious. Or how about the town council of Jiddah decision to ban cats and dogs as being Western intrusions onto Saudi society. And, of course, the life of Saudi women is very different to that of her counterparts in Europe or America.

But a lot is reassuringly familiar, from debates about recent television programs through to complaints about cellphone companies. In short, there’s common ground. In an age where we hear endless talk about the Clash of Civilisations and the War on Terror, when I am constantly being told that the Middle East is a Sun-baked desert of fanatics and war-mongerers, I find it amazing that I hadn’t heard these voices before.