The past couple of weeks witnessed a flurry of activity with various delegations arriving from different parts of the world. At an official dinner, I found myself sitting next to a German journalist who showed a genuine enthusiasm in getting to know more about the Kingdom. As is always the case with first-timers, I asked him about what his initial impressions were.
“It’s surprisingly modern,” he commented.
“Why is that a surprise?” I asked.
“Well, I suppose I just didn’t expect it. It’s my first trip here and I wasn’t prepared to see a slice of America in the middle of the Arabian Peninsula,” he continued.
“It is a bit Los Angeles, I guess,” I concurred.
“Not really L.A., but something more of Texas. You know sand and skyscrapers,” he grinned.
“Yes, that’s probably more apt,” I volunteered. “But what about the Saudis themselves. What did you think of them?”
“Now that was shocking,” he confessed. “They are such nice people. Many of them are very smart and the welcome we got was exceptional.”
“So why the shock?” I probed.
“It’s just that I thought that most people in your country would be extremists. I never expected to find, what’s that word? Moderation. That was my overriding perception before I came that the majority of guys I would meet here would have fundamentalist views.”
For some reason, unbeknownst to me at the time, I felt quite humiliated by his statement and suddenly found myself becoming quite defensive.
“But I thought you said you were a journalist, right?” I questioned, building up for the attack.
“Yes, that’s right,” he confirmed.
“And you told me that you have traveled all over the Middle East, so it’s not like you are unfamiliar with the region,” I reiterated.
“Yes,” he said, slowly raising his eyebrows.
“Then how on earth can someone like you with all your education, training and experience come up with such a ridiculous stereotype! Isn’t that a tad similar to what your own countrymen faced after World War II? That all Germans were Nazis. And haven’t you spent much of recent history apologizing for the crimes of your forefathers?”
“Yes, you’re right,” he retorted. “Apologies are important especially for what was definitely the darkest episode in the last century. I think that we are now at the stage where we can move on from there. Perhaps you’re not quite there yet,” he concluded.
This discussion made me think long and hard. I tried to analyze why it was that I felt so hurt and spurned by the stereotyping of Saudi Arabia even though the cause of such rationale was patently obvious. I chastised myself for being belligerent and unreasonable when it came to facing up to facts and reality.
It made me think back to a time when I had walked into the grand hall for assembly at my school in London many years ago with a familiar refrain from Sting being played in the background. The song was entitled “The Russians” and in it the singer mused upon the question “Do the Russians love their children too?” I will never forget how deeply that presentation impacted upon my psyche. The Soviets were the proverbial bogeyman of the day and I clearly remember how without even knowing why, I despised them.
I suppose history has always had its witchhunts and as Muslims we have become the modern plat du jour. There were rumors spread during World War I that the Germans were Huns and parents would put their children to bed telling them that if they didn’t sleep then the Germans would come and eat them. The Jews were horrifically vilified in Europe and entire media campaigns were dedicated to portraying them as a bandy of lascivious parsimonious louts who were all directly descended from Shakespeare’s Shylock. The point is that we are not the first and we will certainly not be the last people in time to face this kind of propaganda.
To me, what is absolutely imperative is to stop whining and complaining about the hideous victimization that we face but to actually confront what it is that we are up against and do something about it. Furthermore we have to remain cognizant of the fact that the greatest fear is that of the unknown. We have traditionally been a closed society for a very long time. In order to confront the criticism and negativity that we are so randomly subjected to we need to open ourselves up. It is only through this that people will see Saudi Arabia for what it really is and the people for what they truly represent. There is no better way to dispel all the outrageous myths that continue to persist than by asking people to come and see for themselves.
I asked an American lady who recently visited what she would convey about her trip to the people she knew back home.
“You know what?” she began candidly. “Speaking about Saudi Arabia in a positive way where I come from is like drinking from a poisoned chalice. But having come here and seen what it’s like and truly how wonderful it is I don’t mind taking that sip at all.”
(Lubna Hussain is a Saudi writer. She is based in Riyadh.)