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November 28, 2006

Saudi Arabia: Islamists Disrupt Play's Perrformance

News sites in Saudi Arabia reported today of violence which broke out at a performance of a play, states Reuters AlertNet. The drama presentation, entitled "Wasati Bila Wasatiya" (a moderate without moderation), was staged at the Yamama College in Riyadh on Monday. The drama was part of a cultural festival at the college.

The play's contents touched a nerve with Islamists in the audience, who converged on the stage to stop the performance from going ahead, leading to clashes. Islamists, students and actors hit at each other with sticks and threw chairs at each other. The confrontation only ended when Saudi police fired shots into the air. 17 men were arrested.

No cinemas or theater houses exist in Saudi Arabia, as a result of measures taken by hardline clerics during the 1970s and 1980s. Following the assassination of King Faisal, who was viewed as a "liberal" by some, for introducing television to the kingdom, clerics had campaigned against cinemas, often on grounds that they had to be gender segregated.

Last autumn, a hotel was allowed to show cartoons to children and their mothers for two weeks, following Ramadan. The move was seen as an experiment, a gesture of the reforms promised by King Abdullah when he came to power.

Videos are available in Saudi Arabia for watching at home, and this year Izidore K Musallam directed Saudi Arabia's first feature film, entitled Keif al-hal? (How Are You?).

Reuters suggests that the reaction against the play in Yamama college happened because hardline Islamists in Saudi Arabia are concerned that there is too much liberalism in the kingdom. In 2003, a campaign was started by Islamic militants to overthrow the monarchical regime, but following crackdowns, this has died down.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at November 28, 2006 10:52 AM

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