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Arabia
Saudi Arabia To Establish A National Dialogue Center
2003-08-05
King Fahd Bin Abdel-Aziz of Saudi Arabia has agreed to establish “King Abdel-Aziz National Dialogue Center” with an aim to boosting and widening the process of national dialogue and consultations. Saudi Al-Watan newspaper has published a speech by Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah Bin Abdel-Aziz to the Saudi people Sunday, August 3, in which he said that King Fahd agreed to set up a national dialogue center to be a practical means for developing a constructive dialogue in the kingdom. The Crown prince added that such a center would be “a historical achievement that contributes to finding an effective channel for expression in the fight against extremism and fanaticism”.
It'll be interesting to watch people holding a national dialog while rolling their eyes and making faces. Didn't the U.S. have a "national conversation" on something or other a few years back? That worked well...
The Crown Prince emphasized in this regard the necessity of applying the ethics of dialogue “that should be based on the worthy Muslim ancestors’ traditions adopted by the kingdom.” He pointed out that those worthy Muslim ancestors had only been arguing through wisdom and good deeds.
"I mean, they hardly shot each other up at all..."
They followed the traditions of prophet Mohammed, may God’s peace and blessings be upon him. “Saudi leadership and people won’t allow the freedom of dialogue to turn into nonsense and attacks against our enlightened symbols and scholars,” he reiterated.
That's Arabian for "say something out of line and we'll whack you."
“This nation can’t generate ideas that deviate from the constants of the Islamic doctrine. It won’t also accept ideas contrary to the instructions of Islam and adopt false notions to justify the evil objectives of horrifying Muslims,” he added.
"So nothin's gonna change, so just forget about it."
“Our Saudi people do not accept any alternative for moderateness that denies fanaticism as well as deviation from the righteous path.”
"If they do, we'll just cut their heads off."
Prince Abdullah pointed out that the Saudi king’s approval of setting up the center came in the wake of holding “the national gathering for intellectual dialogue” that concluded its activities on Wednesday June 18, in which an elite of citizens of different tendencies participated. More than 50 intellectuals and religious leaders representing the Sunni majority and minority Shiite as well as the technocrat and liberals participated in the gathering that made its recommendations Friday June 20 to the Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah. The recommendations denied religious extremism and emphasized the necessity of dialogue for a better coexistence.
I guess one man's extremism is another man's moderation...
Posted by:Fred Pruitt

#10  "Good morning, and welcome to Whitewash Institute..."
Posted by: tu3031   2003-8-5 8:18:55 PM  

#9  I'm not sure how to interpret this. When despots completely run out of ideas, they sometimes do stuff like this, i.e. Gorbachev's glasnost. Measures like this are like a pinhole, inviting challengers to rush in and fill the vacuum of power and ideas. Unlike East Europe, there's no Vlaclav Havel or Lech Walesa to take control. Unlike Russia, there's not even a mafia -- as predatory and criminal as they are, at least they are apolitical and are capitalists at heart. The only folks capable of organizing and running a government in SA after the fall of the princes are the Islamists. Ultimately, I think that they'll dominate any "center for dialogue." They'll set up clacques and drown out everyone else's voice. Then the Saudis will either have to shut the center down or let the movement grow. The first path leads to cries of oppression and more legitimacy for the Islamists. The second path leads to surrender.

In some ways, the Saudis are in the same situation with regards to the Islamists as the Weimar government of the early 30's was in relation to the Nazis. Weimar wanted the many of the same things as the Nazis (end of Versailles, restitution of lost territories), they just weren't as willing to use violent means to get them. Both Weimar and the Saudis thought they could put the genie back in the bottle any time. The Weimar politicians failed. The Saudis will fail.
Posted by: 11A5S   2003-8-5 6:39:22 PM  

#8  Should be"

National Monologue Center and Echo Chamber™
Posted by: Alaska Paul   2003-8-5 3:18:19 PM  

#7  Sample "conversation":
"Y'know, maybe you shouldn't insist that everybody believe the same things you do."

"AIEEEE! DIE INFIDEL DOG!"
Posted by: mojo   2003-8-5 2:49:51 PM  

#6  Oh great, a companion to the Zayed Center for Coordination and Followup. Now there are TWO Saudi "institutes" publishing antisemitic tracts.

I guess the demand over there is so high they need two, though.
Posted by: Robert Crawford   2003-8-5 9:28:15 AM  

#5   "National Dialogue Center for Maintenance of the Status Quo”
Somebody on the editorial staff screwed-up.

“Our Saudi people do not accept any alternative for moderateness that denies fanaticism as well as deviation from the righteous path.”

I see no ambiquitiy here.
Posted by: raptor   2003-8-5 7:31:59 AM  

#4  Brian - Funny word pic: NE Townhall Meeting - by Dinks in Dresses, heh. The Royals have their own "police" force - and it wouldn't be the Islamic kind, bro! The National Emergency Forces belong to the Royals as their plaything. Local cops fall all over themselves, of course, to participate, but they're for show.

In the Dhahran area, when even the most minor princeling came around, there would be cops in their cars & jeeps, blue lights a' flashing, at every intersection of every major road - for hours on end - and even more screwing up traffic by driving 20-30 kmh slower than the "norm" - just in case His Inbredness wished to go somewhere.

The relgious guys are "mutawas" and their job is to fuck with the populace, especially infidels, to keep everyone in an imaginary Islamic line - kinda like religious Stasi cuz they encourage everyone to report others. I watched one of these goofs use his little "swagger stick" to hit a big blonde woman on the backs of her legs, once in Al Shula Mall (Al Khobar) back in '92, cuz the abaya she was wearing was too short to cover them. She must've been 6'2" - so I doubt there was one long enough to fit her in the whole Kingdom. Anyway, he whacked her 3-4 times and she spun around and headed for him like a freight train. A bunch of Saudis squeezed between them to protect him from her. I think she would've strangled the little dink, otherwise. The Expats there, myself included, almost had heart attacks laughing ourselves sick. One of the funniest things I have ever seen. Mutawas, ya gotta luv 'em - no one else does.
Posted by: ·com   2003-8-5 3:59:31 AM  

#3  CNBC did a puff piece on Prince Alaweed (sp.) and they showed him at one of these meeting houses. They pretend it's like a New England townhall meeting and everything, but we can only presume what would in actuality be said to the illegitimate royals before the Islamic Police (TM) get involved...
Posted by: Brian   2003-8-5 2:38:06 AM  

#2  Nice speech, ahem.

One rather large tidbit that makes little or no sense:
“Our Saudi people do not accept any alternative for moderateness that denies fanaticism as well as deviation from the righteous path.”
Denies? Huh? Anyone else find this back-asswards, assuming he's being positive? Allows or Permits or Encourages or Engenders or Promotes or... would make sense, if he's agin' it. This implies the opposite, that he be for it. Poor translation?

WTF?
Posted by: ·com   2003-8-5 2:22:24 AM  

#1  National Dialogue Center? That'll be down the street from the Society of Friends meeting house, right?
Posted by: Steve White   2003-8-5 1:52:43 AM  

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