A few months ago I attended an off-the-record discussion with an academic and writer who believed of all the countries in the Middle East and North Africa, Saudi had the least to worry about. He seemed to think the Saudis could keep their people happy by keeping them awash in petrodollars.
Despite public perceptions of all Saudis being rich and happy, there are poor Saudis, even in the country's capital, Riyadh. Blogger Feras Bouqnah and his team were arrested after they released a YouTube
video, below, talking about poverty in Saudi Arabia. His show, "Mal3oob 3aleena," or "We Are Being Cheated," is popular in the Gulf state.
It's definitely worth watching in full.
I told him I thought he was incredibly mistaken. There has been unrest in (oil-rich) eastern Saudi for months, much of it fuelled by minority Shi'ites who feel repressed and marginalized by the Sunni monarchy.
The volatile situation got worse this weekend when two protesters, most recently
Zuhair al-Said, in Qatif were shot dead by security forces; at least three others were injured. Security officials claimed they were responding to live-fire attacks by protesters. Videos posted online by activists showed no such attacks. Activists also posted videos of al-Said's funeral procession and his body.
At least seven have died over the past year in protests in Saudi, who accuses neighbor and Shi'ite power of fueling unrest along their shared border. The Arab country also accuses protesters of collaboration with the Persian country.
