According to Al-Kasabi, people used to meet at a house of one of their friends to talk over coffee. This in fact has developed into cultural, intellectual and social gathering. This became obvious after the spread of education. In his salon, people meet weekly to discuss a topic and sometimes they host a lecturer to lecture on a specific theme. Al-Kasabi confirmed that the spread of these Athneyneyat is an indication of the vitality of the Saudi society and its cultural dynamics. He told Arab News that these kinds of salons do not require a license from any official body and that the audience is always between 30 to 50 persons depending on the nature of the lecture and its timing.
“These forums and salons offer an atmosphere of exchange of ideas, widen the intellectual and cultural horizon of audiences and represents a freedom in suggesting ideas within the limit of our habits and Islamic traditions.” He also added that they represent a health phenomenon to address anything that interests society, whether scientific, cultural or social matters. They also express the big trust between state and society.
The lecturer was the Iraqi Ambassador to Riyadh, Dr. Ghanem Al-Jamili. He came along with other diplomats such as the ambassador of Philippines. Al-Jamili is also a researcher specialized in physics and worked for NASA. In one movement, he showed a picture of the planet Earth taken from a spacecraft. He said that this was the small planet that all differed on. For two hours, many questions were asked. The back and forth interaction between the lecturer and the audience could not be more striking. In his lecture, he talked about the Earth’s rotation and movements around itself and the galaxy.
He talked about the galaxy, its nature, and the various sizes of planets. He said the only way to discover other planets was through rays. He mentioned that we can realize or feel some rays only after four hours of its launching but others need longer periods. Some needs 12 million years, which means there are a lot of rays that have not yet reached us. He referred to some planets that are guarding and protecting Earth. The presence of so many planets is amazing. He said the mere fact that these planets do not crash into each other is the function of a divine wisdom.
During the 1970s, intellectuals from the Gulf were less visible at the Arab political stage. In fact, Egypt, the Arab countries and later the Western countries were the destination of the Gulf’s education. Political ideologies were dominant in politics as well as in intellectual activity. The political ideologies (pan-Arabist, Islamic, and liberal) were both exclusive and condescending. They only reinforced the gap between leaders of partisan schools and people who came from the Gulf for education. Clearly, the ideological discourse was arrogant as it referred to the Gulf countries as reactionary whereas other countries were progressive. Today, we discover how revolutionaries kill their own people and how they fail in state-building or in respecting their societies. Therefore, it should not be surprising if a Saudi intellectual tells you that the lack of their interest in ideologies in the past is vindicated. Communism failed because of its totalitarian nature and its marginalization of human beings. Also nationalism failed in building the nation-state. It’s against this background that the Gulf people decided not to get involved in this paradigm while maintaining a blend of Arabism and Islamism simultaneously.
People from the Gulf stayed aloof. Their lack of interest in these ideologies has made them more balanced and objective particularly after these movements failed miserably. In fact, after the collapse of communism in Moscow, Arab republics who called for pan Arab liberation became more repressive. By the same token, radical Islam triggered by Western double standards also failed. Those who come to the Gulf States and get involved in the political salons are amazed by the lack of ideology or political simplicity. Most of the intellectuals in this part of the world speak more than one language and have a rich experience as they graduated from Western universities.
Also, there is a high demand for analytical reading. This generation of intellectuals is financially independent and has a realistic vision of politics, a trait that is immune to the Saudis in particular.
Last Monday, in a political salon in Riyadh belonging to Dr. Khaled Al-Hzeimi, the talk was about an Algerian personality who was on a flight from Riyadh to Istanbul and then to Algeria. Indeed, some of the audience happened to be on the same flight. This Algerian personality kept reciting the Holy Qur’an while in the plane as he was in Saudi Arabia to offer condolences following the death of Crown Prince Sultan. It turned out that this person was none other than the Prime Minister Abdulaziz Belkhadem. Interestingly, he was modest.
During the conference on the Gulf and the World, I talked to Dr. Youssef Makki — a pan-Arabist thinker and the secretary general of the Center for Arab Unity Studies. Makki informed me that the Syrian crisis would peacefully end and there would be a coalition transitional government. Some pondered as to how this could happen while the army kills people. They ruled out a peaceful solution and made the case for a bloody face-off. They argued that President Bashar Assad had two options: Stepping down or a bloody face-off.
This discussion reflects two patterns of thinking: One that is realistic and takes into account the future of Syria in light of disgruntled and embattled people and a leadership that is only interested in power regardless of the human cost. The second plays on the emotional and insists on the possibility of reaching a diplomatic solution. Worse still, this perspective views the internal crisis in Syria as nothing but a plot hatched against Syria and the Muslim and Arab world. Interestingly, the members of such political salons are specialized academics with wide knowledge and experience. For this reason, they have a mind-set free of ideology that believes in the pluralism of ideas. In another political salon, the discussion was on Iran and its interference in internal Arab affairs. On this issue, there is a consensus that Iran is messing in the internal affairs of some Arab countries but there are differences over how to deal with that.
The role of Athneyneyat in spreading
the culture of dialogue
Dr. Zaid bin Ali Al-Fadil, an academic who is specialized in history and a columnist, confirmed that the spread of Athneyneyat is a reflection of human development. These Athneyneyat have become a place for reformist ideas exchange. They constitute a case of familiar homogeneity that has a role in enriching the renaissance movement within society as a whole. People in charge of the King Abdul Aziz Center for National Dialogue realized this fact. For this reason, the center held a special conference entitled, “Cultural Salons and Their Role in Spreading Dialogue.”
Al-Fadil added that the reason behind these Athneyneyat (such as Khmeisiyat Abdulaziz Al-Rifai etc.) was intellectual curiosity. They became a popular idea as they led to more awareness in the need to bring about cultural renaissance in our societies.
With the second economic boom that took place with the turn of this century, the increasing number of educated people and with the emergence of the interested bourgeois who sought to establish cultural salons even as a decoration to the house, the culture of salons began spreading. Yet, most of these Athneyneyat were born with no identity. Additionally, many of those who attend these salons have no valuable cultural presence despite their high academic degrees. Most of them suffer from political short-sightedness and they do not defend certain economic or political ideologies. Some of those who attend these Athneyneyat are looking for personal advantages and they only impoverish dialogue as their contribution is negative.
On the other hand, Al-Fadil pointed out the spread of this phenomenon that only reflects the weakness of intellectual and emotional allegiance toward various institutions that take care of cultural issues. The negative impact of the spread of such negative Athneyneyat pushes me to rethink my position and probe their impact on the pace of life and its fast positive growth. This is true particularly in light of the amazing technological development in communications and electronic journalism. That said, some are careful to have good cultural salons in terms of form and contents, Al-Fadil added. In fact, the importance of such forums is conspicuous given the lack of public institutions or centers that focus on public affairs. Therefore, these Athneyneyat provides breathing space for intellectuals.
