With the loud and unseemly noises of cymbals and drums many writers and publications in this country have ‘heralded’ a new age. A new age might be upon us, but the shrill noise of self-satisfaction is not always accurate. There is something strange going on in this land and is upon us for the first time. Many young men between the ages of 18 and 25 are talking seriously about emigrating.
Saudi Arabia is not known for providing the world with immigrants. We are known to send visitors on short stays, spend a bundle, act out our rowdiness on foreign soil, visit cabarets and seedy streets, buy all the stuff not needed, and then peacefully go home. In other words, the perfect tourists.
Sure enough, some young men graduated from the cabaret to the frontline. The frontline being the murky demarcation that it usually is, they flew into buildings and turned themselves into living bombs triggered off on demand. Since it is hardly possible for a whole nation to be like that, the silent and suffering majority is wading through tougher times and trying to make a life out of it.
Those without criminal intention look for other ways out of the malaise and the lack of economic and social justice. They emigrate. Contrary to what many might think, this is not an act alien to our culture. After all, the Prophet himself emigrated to a new land and we date our calendar from that journey.
Young, educated, and serious Saudi men are talking about packing it all and leaving for good. You hear it in the cafes, at schools, from parents distraught about their children’s plans, and I personally know three who have already packed and left. The irony is that many are coming from other lands to work in Saudi Arabia.
The obvious destination for these young men is the Gulf. With the GCC regulations in place, they do not need work permits or visas to setup shop there or find a job with the increasingly open markets of the UAE and other countries.
This is a social phenomenon that is alarming and should be addressed and discussed. All the while, however, our writers and papers have nothing to worry about but visit visas to the USA, which are neither here nor there.
Why should the US, or indeed any other country on this planet, make it easy for us to visit? That is a legitimate question and needs a serious answer from the Saudis.
Our vanity knows no bounds. We simply cannot tolerate being told off. Now we are being told off by our youth. Those we do not want have already left to wreak havoc in other places such as Afghanistan. Those who remain are doing that at home. Now we are losing those who would build a country and not destroy it. Shouldn’t we tackle their predicament with the same zeal we show in fighting the blow-by-wire type?
