Meanwhile there are now frequent samood or ‘resistance salons’ being held in the villas and apartments of known activists, despite some having already been threatened with the death penalty. Writing in the Washington Post in April 2012 one of these embattled figures, Waleed Abu Alkhair, related that such events are giving him ‘the pleasing epiphany that religious hard-liners have begun to lose control of a young generation that is hungry for freedom’. He gave the recent example of a ‘brave young man who responded passionately to clerics [also] invited to participate in the salon and who had threatened him for supporting freedom of expression and belief’. According to Alkhair, the young man replied to the clerics by asking ‘Who are you? Who are you to inflict your religious guardianship upon us?’ and then stating ‘We are free, free to say what we like. You are just like us, not better. The era of religious guardianship is over’.[984] Similarly, other Saudi activists have been congregating in ‘safe houses’, claiming that their country is little more than a ‘prison’, and arguing that ‘we are not far away from the uprisings that are happening in other countries’.[985] Indeed, fresh protests outside ministries by unemployed graduates have been staged in Jeddah and Riyadh. At these events participants lamented that ‘…after seven years of unemployment we have no other choice’ and ‘[we] plan to stay here until we find a solution’, while — rather worryingly for the government — others stated that ‘we expect to hear promises to calm us down and disperse us but we will be back. We will be back until they find a solution’.[986] And more seriously, in January 2012 following the killing of a young Shia man[987] by police due to their ‘indiscriminate use of force’ a reported crowd of thousands or even tens of thousands took to the streets of Awwamiya to commemorate his death. Together with several other dead activists he is now being described as a martyr in the Eastern Province, and the opposition movement is increasingly being referred to as the ‘Intifada of Dignity’.[988] A total of ten protestors are believed to have been killed since the beginning of the uprising with regular firefights now taking place,[989] and in July 2012 one of the regime’s strongest critics was badly wounded by security forces.[990]
In Kuwait’s case, with the ruler choosing to dissolve parliament in June 2012 rather than allow calls for anti-corruption investigations to continue, and asserting that the election result was ‘illegal’, he has undoubtedly made his position even weaker. With opposition MPs claiming that his self-described ‘final and unchallengeable decision’ amounts to being a ‘coup against the constitution’,[991] it is likely that the government will find it much harder to keep control over future protests. Indeed, most of the recent examples of dissent have been dealt with in a very heavy handed manner. In April 2012 a young Kuwaiti Twitter user was jailed for posting blasphemous tweets about Prophet Muhammad,[992] while in July 2012 even a member of the ruling family[993] was arrested following his tweets that he wanted to stand in the next parliamentary elections and ‘expose corruption among top officials’.[994] Thus, while Kuwait may not yet have witnessed the violent confrontations that have occurred in Bahrain, Oman, and Saudi Arabia, the outlook for its ruling family is perhaps just as bleak, with the monarchy’s traditional authority being gradually eroded by a more confident and demanding citizenry that has already proven that it can embarrass and contain the ruler and his appointed prime ministers.
The UAE’s ruling families appear to be in a stronger position, as most citizens currently seem content with the state’s ability to keep distributing wealth. But as with the Saudi and Kuwaiti spending programmes, it is questionable how long such generosity can be sustained. Indeed, a decree was circulated in Abu Dhabi government departments in March 2012 stating that a number of the promised big salary increases could not, after all, be delivered.[995] Moreover, it is unlikely that the situation in the poorer northern emirates can be contained or remedied in the near future, and street protests or other manifestations of opposition will probably soon emerge, most probably in Ra’s al-Khaimah. Most importantly, the UAE monarchies have faced a serious and likely permanent loss of legitimacy over the past year, largely because of the alacrity with which they resorted to repression. Although the bulk of the population has certainly been scared by the large number of arrests, especially as they have included prominent and educated UAE nationals, the strategy seems to have backfired as total acquiescence has not been achieved and the UAE’s international reputation — which is very important given its described economic model and emphasis on soft power strategies, especially in the West — is undoubtedly going to become tarnished.
Reminiscent of 2011’s collapsing North African regimes, a number of the recent UAE arrests have been accompanied by official government press releases claiming that there is an ‘international plot’ and that the opposition has connections to ‘foreign organisations and outside agendas’.[996] Meanwhile, the ruler of Ra’s al-Khaimah delivered a speech in May 2012, also reported by the official state news agency, warning ‘those who poked their noses into the UAE’s [internal] affairs to mind their own business’. He went on to explain ‘We hear today… that there are some who are trying to tamper with the stability of the UAE. I would like to say to them: the people of the UAE don’t need lessons from anyone. They are confident in themselves and in the solidarity that they share. They don’t change’. Referring to the aforementioned citizenship-stripping practice, he also explained that ‘He who does not like this should leave for another place. Any treachery is a shame for him, and for his country’, before concluding that ‘the UAE is sheltered by the heritage of Sheikh Zayed and by the achievements of the president, His Highness Sheikh Khalifa, and of the rulers and Supreme Council members, and is safeguarded by its people, who are loyal to the nation, the country and its leadership. We don’t care about the raising of trivial things and arguments that have already been defeated’.[997] Most recently, even the ruler of Sharjah — as described, a key benefactor to several Western universities — joined the chorus, explaining that ‘…these people were held at airports, or at border crossings with Oman or Qatar… they were running away to establish an outside organisation’. Most worryingly, in a sort of twisted paternalism he claimed that the arrests were part of a measure to ‘help those who deviated’ and that the state’s measures were ‘to protect its sons’ and to provide ‘treatment, not punishment’.[998] These ruling family backlashes — likely to become anti-Western — will most probably intensify, as a London-based, Syrian-style observatory for human rights — the Emirates Centre for Human Rights — has now been established. Detailing the various human rights abuses in the UAE and recording the status of all political prisoners, it has begun to lobby against the UAE regime in the international community.[999]
989
16. BBC News, 4 August 2012. On 4 August 2012, for example, both a policeman and a protestor were killed in a firefight, as a security patrol was attacked by rioters on motorbikes.
990
17.
992
19. Hamad Al-Naqi, who was later stabbed while in prison. See