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| Arabia |
| Frustrations Drive Saudi Youth to the Graffiti Wall |
| 2007-09-23 |
| Young Men Protest Cultural Strictures College dropout Abdullah al-Alwani wanted to stand out among his friends, but he couldn't afford a splashy car or brand-name clothes. Bored by a lack of things to do in this conservative kingdom, he decided to make his mark by spray-painting X 5, his chosen nickname, hundreds of times across the city. Mohamed Jamal Abo-Umara, the newly appointed official in charge of Jiddah's beautification, spent months on Alwani's trail. He alerted the police, told local newspapers he was looking for X 5 and offered a $1,300 reward to anyone who could lead him to the city's most prolific graffiti artist. In May, a journalist offered to introduce the two men to each other on the condition that vandalism charges be waived, and both agreed. But the June encounter, widely covered by the local media because of X 5's notoriety, ended up addressing not just the graffiti problem but also what had fueled it -- a host of frustrations faced by Alwani's generation. Since then, Alwani and his graffiti buddies have appeared smiling and apologetic in dozens of magazine, newspaper and television interviews, focusing a rare spotlight on Saudi youth. Like many of his generation, Alwani, a slight 20-year-old with an Afro tinted volcano red, is buffeted between the Western culture piped into his life via satellite television and the Internet and the strict religious culture prevalent around him. "I want graffiti walls like they have in the West. We need soccer fields and basketball courts in every neighborhood," said Alwani, who prefers low-riding jeans to the traditional white robe commonly worn here. "And I want to dress the way I want without people making fun of me." Saudi Arabia, an absolute monarchy and one of the world's most socially repressive societies, also has one of the world's youngest populations, with more than 50 percent of its 22 million citizens younger than 21. A strict form of Islam implemented by powerful clerics forces stores to close during the five daily prayers and forbids unrelated men and women to mingle in public. The result is that cinemas and theaters are banned, public schools are segregated beginning in first grade, women are not allowed to drive, and single men without female family members cannot enter most shopping malls. That's a new one on me! Abo-Umara, the municipality official and a father of four, was criticized by colleagues for turning Alwani into a local celebrity instead of making an example out of him for vandals who have cost the city close to $1 million in graffiti cleanup. But Abo-Umara, 45, said young men like Alwani should not be held accountable until officials are sure they've done right by local youth. A teen's dream. "What have we done for young people? Have we asked them what they need or want?" said Abo-Umara, wearing a flowing white head scarf and long robe. "Until I talk to them and find out why they are scribbling all over Jiddah and do my part in offering them the services we're supposed to provide, then I can't punish or criticize them." True to his word, Abo-Umara held a two-day workshop called "What Do Youth Want From Jiddah?" in July, shortly after his meeting with Alwani. More than 200 young men and women attended, on separate days, and their list of demands included cinemas, public libraries, and music and art centers. The young women asked for private beaches for women and girls, for at least widows and divorced women to be permitted to drive, and for boys who harass them to be fined. Both groups requested sports facilities, of which there are very few in Saudi Arabia. Abo-Umara was able to implement one demand immediately: walls dedicated to graffiti. At the palm-tree-lined Faisal bin Fahd walkway, women in black cloaks, black head scarves and running shoes walk determinedly, as men in shorts and T-shirts jog past. On a grassy embankment in the middle, more than 40 graffiti canvases have been set up. On a recent day, young men on their knees mixed paint and drew. On one canvas, a dejected face had been drawn between the words "No Girls" and "Why?" Another canvas depicted a group of young men behind cage bars, looking out at a mall-lined street. "Young men are oppressed here," said Mohammad Qarni, 20, sitting on a bench painted with swear words. "We don't have anything to do in our spare time, and we're not even allowed into malls. That's why I started spray-painting. As a protest." "All I want is equality with girls," said Qarni, who has cropped hair and wears glasses. "They're allowed to go to malls anytime, and when they flirt with us and we just flirt back, the cops always believe them." Young men stand outside malls for hours sometimes, mainly on weekends, in the hope of getting in. During a recent evening at a mall on trendy Tahlia Street, Alwani stood with two friends, all dressed in jeans and T-shirts, and pleaded with security guards stationed at the large glass doors to let them in, while groups of young women in black cloaks and colored head scarves, some wearing heavy makeup, breezed past. "My sister is inside," Alwani lied. "I need to talk to her." Finally he called out to a girl he had met online, told the guard she was his sister and walked in. The graffiti artists got to know one another from online chat groups, where they often share photos of graffiti they admire from Web sites such as graffiti.org. "I have a lot of female friends," said Abdullah al-Subaie, 20, a friend of Alwani's who used to spray-paint the nickname K2K, for "kick to kill." Sporting an Ed Hardy baseball cap with rhinestones over a black T-shirt and jeans, Subaie, who's studying to be a pilot "It was a way of showing off," said Qarni, whose nickname is A.H., for Always Homeless. "And of proving ourselves." Though Alwani and his friends write their graffiti in English, they do not speak it, and most have not traveled outside the Arab world. Alwani said he'd love to travel to the United States to see the graffiti walls of New Jersey that he's seen online. In the meantime, he has used his newfound fame to make some money: He was hired last month to paint fluorescent 3-D graffiti on the black walls of the Star Billiards pool hall. But it doesn't quite match the thrill of spray-painting on the streets, he said. "You have to mix paint and draw, then tape. I miss the excitement of a quick spray-paint on the walls. Five minutes and you were done and out of there." |
| Posted by:Bobby |
| #14 Sting-Rays were on the horizon Hose. There was something to live for. |
| Posted by: Thomas Woof 2007-09-23 23:21 |
| #13 Why didn't he and his buddies just dry around and shoot at road signs with shot guns? The level of oppression in middle America during the 50's was amazing and nobody even know it. No Internet, red hair coloring was available only to females, pants fit, 3 channels of balck and white television, no pizza delivery ... Where was HRW? |
| Posted by: Super Hose 2007-09-23 22:29 |
| #12 They also realize the wealth has mostly passed them by. Even for most of the royals, who now number some 12-14,000 or so last I heard. Only a few of the oldest control the wealth. And since the basic tasks of life are beneath the dignity of a 'royal' (especially but not only the males) the future isn't all that inviting. |
| Posted by: lotp 2007-09-23 20:03 |
| #11 Maybe I'm an idjit but this guy seems to be questioning his "religious" and societal norms. He doesn't like what he sees. He seems to prefer the freedoms of Western societies. This is what the Mullahs fear most and why they have such draconian punishments for the most minute infractions. More than 200 young men and women attended, on separate days, and their list of demands included cinemas, public libraries, and music and art centers. These people want more than what 17th Century "Religion" offers them. They realize there is a lot more out there than just sticking your ass in the air 5 times a day. |
| Posted by: Deacon Blues 2007-09-23 19:49 |
| #10 "I want graffiti walls like they have in the West. We need soccer fields and basketball courts in every neighborhood," said Alwani, who prefers low-riding jeans to the traditional white robe commonly worn here. "And I want to dress the way I want without people making fun of me." "However, I am happy to have women - including my own mother - serve me as a slave. And kill the Jews." Thought that quote needed completing. |
| Posted by: Excalibur 2007-09-23 19:09 |
| #9 a lad to do if he hasn't any sisters, john? that's what cousins are for, then you marry them and have deformed |
| Posted by: Frank G 2007-09-23 18:38 |
| #8 True, Barbara, but when you have a totalitarian system as in Saudi Arabia it is extremely hard to do anything. There isn't enough dissatsfaction yet. |
| Posted by: Deacon Blues 2007-09-23 16:58 |
| #7 This article kind of explains a lot. Al Queda didn't spring up in a vacume, after all. |
| Posted by: Secret Master 2007-09-23 16:33 |
| #6 There's something for them to do, Deacon - they just don't have the guts or will to organize themselves and do it. You want liberty, you don't wait for daddy government to hand it to you on a silver platter - for daddy gummit never will. |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2007-09-23 14:04 |
| #5 What's a lad to do if he hasn't any sisters, john? |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2007-09-23 13:34 |
| #4 associating with other young men and doing nothing I have heard tales that it is not nothing they are doing... |
| Posted by: john frum 2007-09-23 11:25 |
| #3 There ia a bit of truth there Barbara. Both sexes are oppressed when young. Women more so than men but there really is no life for young men. There is no social life other than associating with other young men and doing nothing. I can understand their frustration. There is literally nothing for them to do. |
| Posted by: Deacon Blues 2007-09-23 10:58 |
| #2 "Young men are oppressed here" HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! You want to experience real oppression in your Wear a black sack everywhere and be your daddy's property. Oh, how the poor guy suffers! |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2007-09-23 09:49 |
| #1 College dropout Abdullah al-Alwani wanted to stand out among his friends, but he couldn't afford a splashy car or brand-name clothes. Bored by a lack of things to do in this conservative kingdom, he decided to make his mark by spray-painting X 5, his chosen nickname, hundreds of times across the city. Beats the hell out of 'ploding' all over other people in some foreign land. Ship the kid a conex container of Krylon. Tell the magic kingdom to build lots of adobe walls for their utes to 'mark' their spots. Far better than their usual spots they leave in Iraq. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2007-09-23 09:03 |