The Walls Have Ears

 “Saudi Arabia Uncovered,” documentary by James Jones, 2016

This is a British ITV/Frontline documentary using undercover footage and interviews with Saudi dissidents to expose the reactionary nature of this theocratic kingdom.  A hard ally of the U.S. and the U.K. since the 1940s, the secretive kingdom has been embraced by Democrats and Republicans, by oil executives and the arms industry and by Islamic fundamentalists around the world.

Public Beheading with Sword

Article 1 of the Saudi constitution reads:  “The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is a sovereign Arab Islamic state with Islam as its religion; God's Book and the Sunnah of His Prophet, God's prayers and peace be upon him, are its constitution …”  Article 5 says it is a monarchy.  Article 6 reads:  “Citizens are to pay allegiance to the King in accordance with the holy Koran and the tradition of the Prophet, in submission and obedience...”  Article 7 says it “derives its power from the Holy Koran and the Prophet’s tradition.”  Article 8 says it is based on “Islamic Shariah.”

Yeah, it’s the 14th Century!  The documentary shows instances of how a version of Islam (Sunni Wahhabist Salafism) is used to prop up the ruling elite, partly using religious police who “promote virtue, prevent vice.” They confront women who wear some make-up, destroy alcohol and attack those who play music publicly.  Jailing, public whippings and beheadings are common.  There is a public square in Ridyah called ‘Chop Chop Square’ with grates to allow blood to flow under the stones.  In 2016 a mass execution of 47 ‘terrorists’ was carried out.  The effect of all this is to terrorize the population.

Tourists are not allowed into Saudi; filming is not allowed; women are brutalized on a daily basis; protests are illegal; public music is illegal and there are slums in the kingdom.  One quarter of Saudi citizens live in poverty.  The Shiite minority mostly in the east are treated as third-class citizens, living in squalid conditions, but so are the millions of imported workers – which the documentary does not cover. Nor does it cover other labor issues, but unions of any kind are banned. Atheism is punished by death.  Many women are shown begging on street corners, as only 1 in 5 women have a job and if their husband dies or leaves, they are left destitute.  Laws requiring women to have a male escort or permission to do many things are still on the books in spite of noises about ‘liberalization.’

The documentary shows a rebellion during the Arab ‘Spring’ and a subsequent rebellion after the killing of a leading Shiite cleric.  Children are taught in the ‘schools’ that Jews, Christians and Shiites are infidels and should be put to death. The documentary focuses on 3 in-country dissidents – a blogger, a teen-aged Shiite and a women advocating women’s rights and driving.  The blogger has been jailed for 10 years for running a blog called “Liberal Saudi” and ‘insulting Islam’; the young Shiite was executed for ‘sedition and treason’ for complaining and taking pictures at a police station; the woman was detained, then prohibited from driving or running in elections.  In the process they treat any dissident as a ‘terrorist.’

Daesh Executions

REAL TERRORISM

The Saudis have spent at least $70 billion in spreading their version of Salafist thought, which is at the ideological root of groups like Al-Qaeda and Daesh (ISIS).  Everyone is already familiar with the Saudi role in 9/11 and the creation of Al-Qaeda.  Of most interest in this documentary was the exposure of a ‘charity,’ the “Saudi High Commission for Bosnia and Herzegovina.”  It was officially connected to the Saudi government, with Bin Salman, the present ruler of Saudi, as its head.  It had connections to political Islamists and spent money aiding Islamic terrorism, even in Bosnia.  The Saudi High Commission hoped Bosnia would be their ‘beachhead’ in Europe.

Yemen is barely mentioned, another atrocity carried out by the Saudis with U.S. help.  The EU finally condemned arms sales to Saudi Arabia, but the British still sell arms, as do the U.S. The Brits also ‘train’ the brutal Saudi police.  There are harrowing scenes of the jails in Saudi Arabia, which are crowded, full of drugs and run by the most thuggish inmates.  The Brits are supposed to also train the Saudis how to run a jail.  Good luck.

In a sense, Saudi is a high-tech medieval society, where the most backward principles of royalty, wealth and religion still dominate.  It is the Islamic version of oil-rich Texas.  And yet it is a close ally of imperialism, which only goes to show – capital will use any social practice to prop up its international system.

Prior blog reviews on this subject, use blog search box, upper left:  “Slave States – the Practice of Kafala in the Gulf Arab Region,”Female Genital Mutiliation” “Land Grabbing,” “What is the War on Terror and How to Fight It,” “The Management of Savagery” (Blumenthal); “God is Not Great” (Hitchens); “The Death of the Nation” (Prashad).

The Cultural Marxist

June 22, 2021