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Breaking Taboos: Youth Activism in the Gulf States

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Breaking Taboos: Youth Activism in the Gulf States ISSUEBRIEF BY KRISTIN DIWAN Breaking Taboos: Youth Activism in the Gulf States MARCH 2014 Shaped by a new media environment and welfare state system. In short, they are laying the emboldened by the early success of the Arab groundwork for the transformations to come. Awakening, activist youth are bringing new forms of civic engagement and political contestation to GCC Youth Mobilized before the Arab the Arab states of the Gulf Cooperation Council Awakening (GCC). The emerging Gulf youth movements New forms of youth activism appeared in the are distinctive in their comprehensive critique Gulf prior to the political upheaval of 2011. of the ruling system and in their dismissal of Social networks grew out of Bahraini and Omani existing political leaders as incapable of delivering Internet forums started over a decade ago. Kuwaiti fundamental political reform. youth championed electoral reform in 2006. And Saudi youth drove a wave of volunteerism in Youth activists are challenging the conservative political culture and traditional social norms of manifestations point to two drivers of youth these oil-exporting monarchies. In Saudi Arabia activism:the wake ofthe the deterioration 2009 Jeddah of floods. the welfare These state early and this has included criticism of the king online the new information environment. and even demonstrations. In Kuwait, a youth campaign of escalating street action forced the The Gulf political order was built on an implicit hand of parliament and prompted the resignation social contract with government promising its of a scandal-weakened prime minister. Bahrain citizens jobs, social services, and housing. In the experienced several years of youth-initiated less wealthy states, this contract is fraying as protests, though these failed to compel political growing populations strain the capabilities of the concessions from a sharply divided monarchy. patrimonial system. The informal competition for public services increasingly relies on tribal, Youth movements are far from achieving their sectarian, and other communal networks demands for greater democratic representation within Gulf bureaucracies, hindering equity and and government accountability in a region where political parties are banned and direct declining services, and identity politics is often criticism of rulers brings imprisonment. But their citedefficiency. by youth This as nexus a barrier of failing to individual state institutions, ambitions and national aspirations. immediate political outcomes. The generational divideinfluence is testing cannot not be assessedonly the state by a narrowbut important focus on Youth politics in the Gulf are shaped not only by mediators of state power: tribes and Islamist demands but also by opportunities. The Gulf’s movements. Youth are struggling against the advanced communications infrastructure, far suffocating lack of space for social engagement more sophisticated than elsewhere in the Middle and political innovation. And they are tapping East, permit near universal access to the Internet, into growing doubts about the capacity of ruling including social media sites such as Facebook, families to manage the coming challenges to the Twitter, Instagram, and WhatsApp. The GCC Kristin Diwan is a nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council. countries make up 85 percent of the active Twitter for a greater role in internal decision-making. users in the Arab world.1 Saudi Arabia leads the In Kuwait, they successfully demanded more world in both Twitter penetration and YouTube autonomy for the Islamic Constitutional Movement, downloads per Internet users.2 the Brotherhood’s political arm, and pulled it more 5 Defectors from Through social media, Gulf youth have found the Muslim Brotherhood—still dominated by an an open venue for sharing news and ideas. They olderfirmly generation—are into the opposition key camp.animators of youth activism in Saudi Arabia and across the Gulf states. 3 and challenge conventional norms. And they In Bahrain and in the Eastern Province of Saudi mobilize.debate their The elders, largest including political governmentgatherings in officials, Gulf Arabia, new political movements formed as Shia history—the Egyptian-inspired protests known youth broke away from the dominant Shia Islamist as the Pearl uprising in Bahrain in February- leadership, rejecting its strategy of accommodation March 2011, and the Dignity of the Nation marches with the government. in Kuwait in October-November 2012—were organized by anonymous appeals via Facebook Youth dissatisfaction with existing political elites and Twitter. is providing an opening for new, more independent leaders who can use social media to attract Challenging the State, Tribes, and Islamist supporters. Non-establishment preachers such as Movements Salman al-Awda and Nimr al-Nimr in Saudi Arabia, The new information environment reshaping and the nontraditional tribal populist Musallem al- youth culture is generating a tangible generational Barrak in Kuwait, have built a political base outside of the conventional power centers by courting make up some 54 percent of the population in the youth. Illegal rights-based organizations such as GCCdivide countries. in the Gulf. The Today, new youth those culture under twenty-five values self- the Saudi Civil and Political Rights Association direction over control, networks over hierarchy, (ACPRA) and the Bahrain Center for Human Rights and transparency over secrecy. This places youth in (BCHR) are also gaining popularity. tension not only with the state, but with important mediators of state power: tribes and Islamist Struggle to Create Social and Political movements. Breathing Space in the Gulf Youth activists in the Gulf face formidable barriers In Kuwait, activist youth are refusing to participate to activism. Political parties are banned throughout in the tribal primaries that augment tribal power the Gulf. States use security forces to crack down in the parliament. Omani youth enacting a “Tahrir- on protests and jail vocal dissenters. Gulf states like” protest camp at a roundabout in Sohar also hold considerable economic leverage over ridiculed the tribal sheikhs sent by the Omani their citizens. The threat of dismissal from public 4 Ministry of Interior to mediate. sector jobs and even loss of citizenship deters many Muslim Brotherhood youth are rebelling against the potential activists. hierarchy and secrecy of their own organization, Societal norms also dictate against many forms publishing their critiques in open blogs and pushing of public protest. Religious authorities in Saudi 1 Dubai School of Government, “Transforming Education in the Arab World: Breaking Barriers in the Age of Social Learning,” Arab Social Media Report 5th demonstrations as un-Islamic, on the grounds that edition, June 2013, http://www.arabsocialmediareport.com/ Arabia and many Salafi movements denounce6 The more UserManagement/PDF/ASMR_5_Report_Final.pdf. 2 Copper Smith, “The Top Twitter Markets in the World,” Business Insider, traditional form of dissent is the petition, which November 7, 2013, http://www.businessinsider.com/the-top-twitter- maintainsthey promote the fitnasemblance or social of nationaldivision. unity and of markets-in-the-world-2013-11. 3 Jane Kinninmont, “To What Extent Is Twitter Changing Gulf Societies?” royal deference. Directly challenging the ruling Chatham House, February 2013, http://www.chathamhouse.org/sites/ family is taboo and acts of lèse-majesté, or insulting Lynch, “After Egypt: The Limits and Promise of Online Challenges to the Authoritariandefault/files/public/Research/Middle%20East/0213kinninmont.pdf; Arab State,” Perspectives on Politics, vol. 9, no. 2, June 2011, Marc pp. 5 Kristin Smith Diwan, “The Muslim Brotherhood and the Arab Spring: 301-310. Kuwait,” paper presented at The Muslim Brotherhood and the Arab Spring, 4 Marc Valeri, “Qaboos Can Make Mistakes Like Anybody Else–the Sultan of IISS-Dartmouth, September 9-10, 2013. Oman Desacralized,” Jadaliyya Forum, November 18, 2012, http://www. 6 “Saudi clerics condemn protests and ‘deviant’ ideas,” Reuters, March 6, 2011, http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/06/bc-saudi-protests-clerics- like-anybody-else_-the-s. idAFLDE7250KW20110306. jadaliyya.com/pages/index/8430/%E2%80%9Cqaboos-can-make-mistakes- 2 ATLANTIC COUNCIL the dignity of the sovereign, are a criminal offense Faced with this forbidding social environment, in Gulf legal codes. Saudi youth are taking to social media in droves.8 Some are using them to develop new modes Given these challenges, many youth activists of personal expression and social connection. see changing the political culture, including Others are using them to initiate a new political normalizing the right to protest, as a prerequisite conversation. to achieving fundamental political change. They are pushing against red lines and introducing innovative ways to organize and express dissent. with the potential to generate greater demands In response, Gulf governments are retaliating forBoth political expressions participation are significant and government developments, with new restrictions on assembly and political accountability. And both are evident in Saudi expression. Twitter campaigns. In the early days of the Arab Awakening in 2011 the hashtag “#Tal3mrak,” an The level of political contestation and the vitality of youth activism vary across the Gulf. The United individuals, emerged as a rare venue for publicly Arab Emirates and Qatar, the Gulf’s wealthiest criticizinghonorific showing
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