JEDDAH: Participants at the national dialogue conference called to abolish all inherited forms of racist discourse, disparaging remarks about certain ethnic groups, and discrimination in the country at their first meeting in Jeddah Tuesday. During the opening session of the third Saudi Cultural Discourse, “Tribalism, Regionalism and Intellectual Classification and Their Impact on National Unity,” Saudi writer EssamYamani spoke out against websites and bloggers making racist comments and encouraging the wave of hatred against certain groups of the Saudi society. Yamani said that racist comments and phrases such as Tarsh Bahar (an Arabic phrase for sea immigrants coming to the Arabian Peninsula) and Haj leftovers or Baqaya Hujjaj (an Arabic phrase used to describe grandchildren of Muslim pilgrims who performed Haj and never returned home to settle in the Arabian Peninsula) were necessarily racist and would only disrupt national unity. The native Arabs of the Arabian Peninsula have tribal affiliations, according to historians. Those sites and bloggers spewing racist comments online must be brought to account, he said. Yamani demanded the removal of these and other racist terms through efforts by civil organizations and education stressing the importance of deepening national bonds. Muhammad Zayed Al-Almaee who wondered about the impact of tribalism, regionalism and intellectual classifications on national unity, said, “Is this a question for official institutions? Or for the society? Or for ourselves?” Several participants shared their thoughts about Al-Almaee's views and questions. Al-Almaee said discrimination leads to egotism and the emergence of tribal and regional conflicts, noting that the responsibility for eliminating tribalism lies in civil community institutions. Muhammad Rida Nasrallah, a member of the Shoura Council, agreed with Al-Almaee and said this vision has already been incorporated into a recent Shoura Council study to allow the establishment of private societies to eliminate the racist affiliation to tribes to create a generic sense of patriotism shared by all citizens. Questions and observations in the meeting also focused on the issue of the incompatibility of original roots and family lineages based on which many marriages were annulled by courts. The participants said granting divorces based on difference in social status or family lineage is strong evidence of increasing tribalism, discrimination, and one's racist beliefs, which would prevent people from being merged into a mindset oriented toward national unity.? Dr. Najah Al-Thahhar said the Kingdom's judicial bodies accepting incompatibility-of-origin cases would give the cases a legal status and favor tribalism and discrimination rather than national unity. Essam Yamani called on authorities to prevent judges from accepting divorce cases filed on the basis of incompatibility of origins – differences in family lineage and social status.? Emtithal Abu Assaud said, “An entity based on tribalism is in contradiction with the Basic System of Governance, which protects human rights.”? He noted that supporting tribalism would generate political groups that threaten the country's unity.? Dr. Muhammad Al-Duhaim warned against classifying citizenship according to regions.? Journalist Abdul Rahman Al-Okaimi criticized the tribal discourse on some satellite channels and held broadcasters responsible for bringing tribalism to the surface in recent times.? Dr. Jameela Saqqa called for deepening the concept of “home,” the home country and citizenship, through school curriculums and media outlets focusing on the issue.? Ahmad Ayl Faqihi, a managing director at Okaz newspaper, stressed the importance of discussing the concept of citizenship and bridging the gap between the culture of the village and the city, and the concept of the “modern state.”? Hashem Al-Jahdali, from the same newspaper, called for understanding the reasons why some citizens resort to focusing more on their tribe than on their state's institutions.? “We won't be able to build a country or a city without recognizing these reasons,” he said. The meeting was opened by Sheikh Saleh Al-Hussayyen, chairman of the Presidential Committee of the National Dialogue Center, and led in its first session by Dr. Abdullah Naseef.
