The youth of the Kingdom are due to inherit a society that is moving from the extraordinary transformation of the last 30 years to new, but perhaps no less radical, challenges. Crown Prince Abdullah was, therefore, quite right when he told his young audience after the National Dialogue Forum in the Eastern Province that they, representing as they did the future of the nation, were the most important of all its concerns.
Saudi Arabia’s first step toward democracy with municipal elections has been taken after careful consideration. At the heart of the initiative was the knowledge that other societies that have rushed to move to full representative government without preparing the population for the responsibilities of democracy have suffered confusion, bitter divisions and instability. The lesson is that the pace has to be slow. The National Dialogue, which Prince Abdullah initiated last year, is intended to bring about a more inclusive society in which young people will have a core role. As the first step, the process of education about democracy and participation in the decision-making process is extending to all sectors and generations of Saudi society. People need to understand the limitations as well as the strengths of the democratic process and in doing so, also appreciate why the whole initiative is being approached with care and caution.
It is of course the nature of all young people to be impatient. The desire to change the world at breakneck speed is common to every new generation. The Eastern Province meeting threw up some fairly trenchant criticisms of the limited role that young people feel that they are currently allowed to play in Saudi society. Attendees were, for instance, not optimistic that they would be able to influence elected representatives. Some were critical of civil servants who, they believed, were not implementing reform and delaying changes already agreed. They also expressed the strong view that the dialogue should cover education and unemployment as well as a lack of entertainment. Another complaint was that their peers knew little or nothing of the political issues in the country. If this is true, it is an issue that must be addressed. If young people really do not know about the changes that are taking place, it will be but a little step for them not to care either.
Such frank exchange of views, expressed with candor and confidence, was what the National Dialogue Forum had hoped to achieve. That is a first in a society whose norms are heavily influenced by the tribal tradition of elders taking all decisions and the young just hearing and obeying. The message of the dialogue was that the young people of the Kingdom have freed themselves from that tradition of silence and have moved to the freedom of articulation. The purpose of the dialogue was to train the young to exercise that freedom with restraint and respect for those who differ from them. The reason why many societies that began as democracies became anarchies is that those who got freedom did not know that they had to exercise it with restraint and tolerance. The dialogue will help the Kingdom to avoid such a fate.
