Confirmed reports say the American Embassy in Riyadh has added the inclusion of tribe’s name as a condition for visa applications submitted by Saudi citizens who want to visit the United States. It is clear the American authorities have added this condition in response to security concerns gripping the country since 9/11. That is why the authorities treat us as one big tribe. America has also proved its inability to understand our social fabric and our demographic structure despite its huge intelligence capabilities and cultural influence.
This latest measure reflects the American thinking that the Saudi Arabian tribe is no more than a clan made up of a limited number of individuals who gather in a tent in the evenings. America reads us based on 19th century writings by Orientalists who visited the region and recorded their impressions. Yet, still in America’s view we are no more than a tribe.
America thinks that all those involved in the September attacks and who carry tribal names have come out of the tribal chief’s tent; the Americans are unaware that none of them was born or even lived in his tribal homeland or is even aware of its history or geography. We, too, have contributed to these notions at a time when we have been required to hold fast to all that will consolidate our national unity as envisioned by the founder and unifier of this country who spent 35 years struggling toward that goal. We should be proud of living in a country stretching from the Arabian Gulf in the east to the Red Sea in the west. We live as one nation, united in one true and pure faith in a country much larger and more inclusive than any tribal framework. We should not confine ourselves to a narrow geographical space nor shun the larger tent that is this great country and restrict ourselves to an area of a few meters that is the tribe.
12 October 2002
