Strange

Life getting sexier in Saudi Arabia

by Actual News Geezer | April 9, 2007 at 03:21 pm

1493 views | 2 Recommendations | 2 comments

Here is a strange (but interesting) feature story in today's Christian Science Monitor * . A taste:

From dating to listening to music, they are testing the strict hold of religion on a kingdom ruled by the Koran and the same family for decades.

Interesting because it shines a light on this almost medieval kingdom, where almost 70% of the population is under 30, many with lots of money and a fascination with western culture.

Strange because the story is filled with grammatical mistakes - almost as if it were not written by Dan Murphy (who gets the byline) but by an Arabic-speaking writer struggling with English.

My instinct on this is to see if our good Saudi member Bilal to have a look-see and figure this out. I'd be deliriously happy for any other Saudi members of NowPublic to post their own comments and stories too.

A vast array of book are still banned here, but are available nonetheless. This year's Riyadh book fair had lots of banned titles, including "The Others" by Sada al-Haize (probably a pseudonym), which took a look at the daily life of lesbians here.

And while the Koran may still be Saudi Arabia's constitution, Rotana, the company that promotes most of the Arab world's pop stars and their sexy videos, is based in Riyadh. The company, owned by the Prince al-Waleed bin Talal, is also branching out into film.

Ayman Halawani, the head of the company's film-production unit, says they have permission to start making the first feature film in Saudi Arabia this fall, and that he's hopeful the kingdom's ban on public cinemas will be lifted next year.

* Christian Science Monitor is a fantastic news organization. If you do not know anything about it, start out with the Wikipedia article.